
Class J] Q_y '^ \ 

Book ^^ ^Ji:.!^ 



THE ILLUSTRATED 



HISTORY OF ROME 






THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



THOMAS KEIGHTLEY, 

AUTHOR OIT " THE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ENGLAND," ETC., ETC. 



TWO VOLUMES IN ONE. 



NEW YORK: 
THE WORLD PUBLISHING HOUSE, 

21 ASTOR PLACE AND I42 EIGHTH ST. 
1877. 



^ 



A 



"b 



PREFACE 



Encouraged by the success of my History of Greece, 1 
now present to the pubUc, and particularly to those who 
are engaged in the task of education, that of Rome simi- 
larly executed. The inadequacy of Goldsmith's and other 
compilations to convey correct historical knowledge is now 
generally felt and acknowledged, and works of a higher 
order are required for education. 

Most readers are aware that in consequence of the labors 
of Niebuhr (a man of whom I never can either think or 
speak but with admiration and respect) the history of the 
early centuries of Rome h.as assumed an entirely new char- 
acter. These new views should be known, and I have 
therefore introduced them ; but as every one may not be 
disposed to acquiesce in them, I have, though convinced of 
their general soundness, kept them distinct from the common 
narrative, which I have given in all the fulness that my 
limits would allow ; and teachers will use their discretion 
with respect to the chapters which contain them. In the 
Second Part of this work I have followed this writer's nar- 
rative, as it would have been presumption in me to do 
otherwise. The study of Niebuhr's own work I however 
most strongly recommend to every one ; and I can answer 
with confidence for the correctness and fidelity of the trans- 
lation of it by MM. Hare and Thirlwall. 

It may startle some readers to find so much of the early 
Roman history treated as fabulous, and Rome's first two 
kings presented as the mere creations of imagination. Their 
surprise I can assure them arises entirely from ignorance of 
mythology as a science ; for were they well acquainted with 
its principles, it would probably be of another kind, and they 
would wonder how such palpable fictions ever came to pass 
for realities. I have labored, and I hope with success, to 
raise mythology from the contempt in which it has long lain 



iV PREFACE. 

in this country, and I look forward to its enjoy.r^ h3 full 
share of consideration which it deserves. 

As I find that my other works have already made their 
way into some highly respectable ladies' schools, and know- 
.ng to what ridicule, though unjustly, the wrong accentua- 
tion of classic names exposes people, I have followed the 
Greeks in circumflexing the penultimate syllables when 
long otherwise than by position or the union of consonants, 
The apex which I have employed is constantly used in 
marking the long vowels in Oriental words, and it is more 
agreeable to the eye than an accent, or the mark of long 
quantity. Thus Cethegus and Perpernn have both the 
accent on the penultimate syllable, while in Catulus, Han- 
nibal, and others, it is on the antepenultimate. 

I take this opportunity of informing the heads of schools, 
that if life and health are spared me I propose writing a 
volume of Roman Antiquities as a companion to the present 
work. I shall feel most grateful to those who will point 
out to me any defects or omissions they may discover in my 
works, and I now return my thanks to those who have done 
so in my Greece, and assure them that their suggestions 
will be attended to in the next edition. I would finally 
request that my History of Greece should be always read 
befoie that of I^me ; for as I regard these works as one 
whole, it is frequently referred to in the following pages. 

T. K. 

London, Dec. 15th, 1835. 



In this Second edition a few corrections and improve 
ments have been made. I am happy to be able to add thai 
the First volume of my History of England, containing the 
history from the earnest tunes to me end of the House of 
Tudor, is in the press, and will be published before mid- 
summer. The Second and concluding volume will follow 
It with all convenient speed. 

London, April, 1837. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

THE REGAL PERIOD. 



CHAPTER 1. I AGE. 

nKsCRiPTioN of Italy. — Ancient Inhabitants of Ita!}'. — The Pelas^ans. 

— The Oscans. — The Latins. — The Umbrians. — The Sabellians. 

— The Etruscans. — The Ligurians. — The Italian Greeks. — Italian 
Reli^on. — Political Constituiion 1 

CHAPTER II. 

/Eneas and the Trojans. — Alba. — Numitor and Amulius. — Romulus 
and Renins. — Building of Rome. — Reign of Romulus. — Roman Con- 
stitution. — Numa Pompilius. — Tullus Hostilius. — Ancus Marcius. ... 8 

CHAPTER III. 

L. Tarquinius Priscus. — Scrvius Tullius. — L. Tarquinius Superbus. — 
Tale of Lucretia. — Abolition of Ro3'alty. — Conspiracy at Rome. — 
Death of Brutus. — War with Porsenna. — Battle of the Regillus 20 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Regal Period of Rome, according to the views of Niebuhr 37 

CHAPTER V. 

The Origin and Progress of the Roman Constitution according to Nie- 
buhr 49 



PART II. 
THE REPUBLIC — CONQUEST OF ITALY. 



CHAPTER I. 

Beginninfr of the Republic. — The Dictatorship. — Roman Law of Debt. 
Distress caused by the Law of Debt. — Secession to the Sacred Mount 



n CONTENTS. 

PAGS. 

— The Tribunate. — Latin Constitution. — Treaty with the Latins. — 
War with the Volscians. — Treaty wilji the Heniicaiis tl 

CHAPTER n. 

Tin- public Land. — ACTarian Law of Spurius Cassius. — The Consulate. — 
\'olscian Wars. — V eicniine War. — The Fibii at the Crcmera. — SicM 
of Rome. — Murder oflheTril)UMe Genucius. — Rogation of V'olcro PuD- 
lilius. — Defeat of the Roman Army. — Death of Appius Claudius 60 

CHAPTER in. 

Volscian War. — Legend of Coriolanus. — The Tcrcntilian Law. — Sei- 
zure of the Capitol by ihe E.\ilcs. — Dictatorship of Ciiicinnatus. — The 
first Dcccmvirale. — The second Deccmvirate. — Siciiiius Dentatus. — 
Fate of Virginia. — Abolition of the Di;ccinvirate 81 



CHAPTER IV. 

Victories of Valcpus and Horatius. — Canuleian Law. — Censorship a. id 
military Tribunal!;. — Feud at Ardea. — Sp. Ma-lius. — .^^ouiaii and 
Volscian War. — Ca)>turc of Fidenie. — Volscian War. — iNlurder of 
Posluniius by his own Solilicrs. — Veientine War. — Capture of Veii. — 
Siege of Falerii. — E.\ilc of Camillus 9!) 



CHAPTER V. 

The Gauls. — Their Invasion of Italy. — Siege of Cliisium. — Baltic of the 
Alia. — Taking of Rome. — Rcbuildinir <f the (^ity. — Distress of the 
People. — JI. iManlius. — 'J'he Licinian Rogations. — Pestilence at I{ome 
— iM. Curlius. — Hcniican War. — Combat of Manlius and a Gaul. — 
Gallic and Tuscan Wars. — Combat of V'alerius and a Gaul. — Reduc- 
tion of tlie Rate of Interest 113 



CHAPTER VI. 

First Samnitc War. — Mutin_v in llie Roman Army. — Peace with Ihe Sam- 
nitcs. — Latin War. — .Manlius put to Death by his Father. — Hatll" of 
Vesuvius, and Self-devotion of Decius. — Reduction of Latium. — Pub- 
lilian Laws. — Second Sanuiiie War. — Se\ eiity of the Dictator Papiriiis. 

— Surrender at the Caudine Forks. — Capture of Sora. — Tuscan War. 

— Pnsstiire of the Ciminian Wood. — Samnite and Tuscan \\'ars. — 
Peace with the Samnites > 131 

CHAPTER VII. 

Third Samnite and Etruscan Wars. ^Rattle of Seniinum, and Self-de- 
voiion of Decius. — Hatilc of A(]uilonia. — Reduction of the Saiuniies. 

— Hortensian Law. — Wor>5hip of ./Ksculapius introduced.—- Lucanian 
^^^^r. — Roman Embassv insulted at Tarciitum. — Gallic and Etruscan 
War .' 15! 



CHAPTER VIIL 

Arrival of P rrlius in ItaU'. — BatUe on the Siris. — Cineas at Rome. — 
Approac a( Pyrrhus to Rome. — Battle of -Asculum. — Pyrrhus •a Sici- 



! ! 



CONTENTS. Vil 

PAGE. 
y. — Battle of Benevent m. — Departure of Pyrrnus. — Italian Allies. 
— Censorship of Ap. Claudius. — Change in the Constitution. — The 
Roman Legion. — Roman Literature. 16t 



PART III. 



THE REPUBLIC — CONQUEST OF CARTHAGE ANf 
MACEDONIA. 



CHAPTER L 

Carthag-e. — First Punic War. — Sic^e of A^rigentum. — Roman Fleet. — 
Naval Victory of Duilius. — Invasion of Afrir-a. — Defeat and Capture of 

Reguhis. — Losses of the Romans at Sea. — Battle at Panormus Death 

of Regulus. — Defeat of Claudius. 1 — Victory at the iEgatian Isles. — 
Peace with Cartilage. — Eflects of the War 174 

CHAPTER II. 
Civil War at Carthage. — Illyrian War.— GaHic Wars ,.190 

! I CHAPTER in. 

I i 

I J Conquests of the Carthasinians in Spain. — Taking of Saguntum. — 

I I March of Hannibal for Italy. — Hannibal's Passage of the Alps. — Bat 

i tie of the Ticinus. — Battle of the Trebia. — Battle of the Trasimene 

I Lake. — Hannibal and Fabius Cunctalor. — Battlo of Camia?. — Prog 

ress of Hainiibal 191 



CHAPTER IV. 

Hannibal in Campania. — Defeat of Postnmius. — Affairs of Spain. — 
Treaty between Hannibal and King Piiilip. — Hannibal repulsed at 
Nola. — Success of Hanno in I'ruttium. — Affairs of Sardinia, — of 
Spain, — of Sicily. — Elections at Rome. — Defeat of Hanno. — Siege 
of Syracuse. — Affairs of Spain and Africa. — Taking of Tarentuni. — 
Successes of Hannibal 21 J 



CHAPTER V. 

Taking )f Syracuse. — Defeat and Death of the Scipios. — Hannibal's 
March to Rome. — Surrender of Capua. — Sripio in Spain. — Taking 
of IVew Carthage. — Affairs in Italy. — Retaking of Tarentum.— 
Defeat of Hasdru'bal in Spain. — Death of Marcellus. — March of Has- 
drubal. — His Defeat on the 3Ietaurus 22S 



Vlll CONTENTS 



CHAPTER VI 

FAGB 

Successes of Scipio in Spain. — Mutiny in his Army. — Carths^nians ex- 
pelled from Spain. — Scipio's Return to Rome. — His Preparations for 
invading- .Vfrica. — Invasion of Africa. — Horrible Destruction of a Punic 
Army. — Defeat of the Carthnginians. — Attack on the Roman Fleet. — 
Deatli of Sophonisba. — Return of Hannibal. — Interview of Heumibal 
and Scipio. — Battle of Zama. — End of the War 231 

CHAPTER VII. 

Macedonian War. — Flig-ht of Hannibal from Carthage. — Antioclius in 
Greece. — liivaijoM of .A.sia and Defeat of Antiochus. — Death of Han- 
nihal. — Ijnst Days of Scipio. — Characters of Hannibal and Scipio. — 
War with Perseus of Macedonia — Conquest of xMaccdonia. — Triumph 
of vEmilius Paulas 253 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Affairs of Carlhnsrc. — Third Punic AVan — Description of Carthage. — 
111 Succe-ss of thp Romans. — Scipio made Consul.— He saves Man- 
cinus. — Restores Discipline in the Army. — .All.ick on Carthage. — At- 
tempt to close the Harlior. — rnpturc and Destruction of Carthage.— 
Recluction of Macedonia and Greece to Provinces 2G4 



CHAPTER IX. 

Affairs of Spain. — War with the Lusilanians. — Treaclicrv of Lucufius. — 
Viriathian War. — Murder of Virinihus. — INumaniine War. — Capture 
of Numanlia. — Servile War in Sicily. — Forciirii Relations of Rome. — 
Government of the Provinces. — The Publicans. — Roman Superstition. 
Roman Literature > 275 



PART IV. 



THE REPUBLIC — CONQUEST OF THE EAST, AND 
DO^VNFALL OF THE CONSTITUTION. 



CHAPTER I. 



State of Things at Rome. — Tiherins Gracchus : — his Tribunate and Laws : 

— his Death. — Death of Scipio Africanus. — Caius Gracchus: — his 
Tnbunatcs and Laws: — his Death. — The Gracchi and their Measures. 

— Insolef cc and Cruelty of the Oligarchs. — Conquests in Asia and Gaul 296 



CC^NTENTS. IX 



CHAPTER n. 

PAGK 

The Jugurthine War. — Defeat and Death of Adherbal. — Beslia in Africa. 
— Jugurtha al Rome, — Defeat of Aulus. — Metellus in Africa. — At- 
tack on Zama. — Negotiations with Jugurtha. — Taking of Thala. — 
Caius Marius. — Taking of Causa. — Taking of the Castle on the Mulu- 
cha. — Sulla and BoccTius. — Delivery up of Jugurtha. — His End. — 
Cimbric War. — Victory at Aquae Sextiae. — Victory at Vercellae. — 
Lisurrection ci" the Slaves in Sicily 309 



CHAPTER HI. 

Slate of Rome. — Tribunate of Saturninus. — His Sedition and Death.— 
Return of Metellus. — Tribunate and Death of Drusus. — Social orMarsic 
War. — Murder of tl\e Praetor by the Usurers. — Sedition of Marius and 
Sulpicius. — Sulla al Rome. — Flight of Marius 324 



CHAPTER IV. 

State of Asia. — First Mithridatic War. — Sulla in Greece. — Victories of 
Chaeronea and Orchomenus. — Peace with Mitliridates. — Flaccus and 
Fimbria. — Sedition of Cinna. — Return of Marius. — Cruelties of Marius 
and Cinna. — Death and Character of Marius. — Return of Sulla. — His 
Victories. ^- Proscriptions of Sulla. — His Dictatorship and Laws. — He 
lays down his Office, and retires. — His Death and Funeral. — His 
Character 357 

\ 

CHAPTER V. 

Sedition of Lepidus. — Sertorian War in Spain. — Death of Serlorius and 
end of the War. — Spartacian or Gladiatorial War. — Defeat and 
Death of Spartacus. — Consulate of Ponipeius and Crassus. — Piratic 
War.— Reduction of Crete 353 



CHAPTER VI. 

Second Mithridatic War. — Third Mithridatic War. — Victories of Lucul- 
lus. — His Justice to the Provincials. — War with Tigranes. — Defeat of 
Tigrnnes. — Taking of Tigranocerta. — Invasion of Armenia. — Defeat 
of a Roman Anny. — Intrigues of Lucullus' Enemies at Rome. — Man- 
ilian Law. — Pompeius in Asia. — Defeat of Milhriciatcs. — Pompeius in 
Armenia : — in Albania and Iberia : — in Syria and the Holy Laud. — 
Dea'.h of Mithridates. — Return and Triumph of Pompeius 302 



CHAPTER VH. 

Cati'ina's Conspiracy. — Arrestand Execution of the Conspirators. — Defeat 
and Death of Catilina. — Honors given to Cicero. — Factious Attempts at 
Rome. — Clodius violates the Mysteries of the Bona Dea. — His Trial.. 375 

CHAPTER VIII. 

P )mpeius and Lucullus. — C. Julius Caesar. — M. Licinius Crassus. — M. 
Porcius Cato. — M. Tullius Cicero. — Pompeius at Rome. — Consulate 

b 



: CONTENTS. 

of Ctesar. — Exi e cf Cicero — Robbery of the King of Cyprus. — Kecdll 
of Cicero. — His Couduct after bis Return 384 



CHAPTER IX. 

Second Consulate of Pomncius and Crassus. — Partliian War of Crassus. 
— His Defeat and Dealli. — Anarchy at Rome. — Death of CJodius. — 
Pompeius sole Consul. — Trial and Exile of Rlilo. — Gallic Wars of 
Csesar 399 



CHAPTER X. 

/ 

Commencement of the Civil War. — Csesar at Rome. --^ Caesar's War in 
Spain. — Surrender of Alassilia. — C»sar's civil Regvifations. — Military 
Events in Epirus m 415 



CHAPTER XI. / 

Patlle of Pharsalia. — Fliclit and Death of Pon^peius. — His Character. — 
Cwsar's .'Viexandrian War. — The Pontic War.' — Affairs of Itome. — 
Mutiny of Cfpsar's Loffions. — ACriran \Var. — Death of Cato. — His 
Character. — Cwsar's Trium[>hs. — Keformalion of the Calendar. — Sec- 
ond Spanish War. — Battle of Ahuxla. — Honors bestowed on Ccesar. — 
Conspiracy against him. — His Death. — His Character 428 



CHAPTER XH. 

Affairs at Rome after Csesar's Death. — His Funeral. — Conduct of Anto- 
nius. — Ociavius at Rome. — Quarrel between him and Antonius. — Mu- 
tniensian \\'ar. — < Vsar made C'<)nsul. — Tiie Triumvirate and Proscrip- 
tion. — Death of Cicero. — His ('haractcr. — Acts of the Triumvirs.— 
War with Hrutus and C'assitis. — Haiile of Philippi. — Death of Brutus 
and Cassius. — Antonius aiitl Cloopaira. — Cspsar's Distribution of Lands. 

— I'crusi.TJi War. — Return of Antonius to Italy. — War with Sex. 
Pompeius. — Parihian War. — Rupture between Csesar and Antonius. 

— Battle of .\ciium. — Last ElTorts of Antonius. — Death of Ai tonius 
and Cleopatra. — Sole Dominion of .Csesar. — Conclusion 446 



CHR050LOCIC1L TaBLE OF CoNTEMPOKART IIlSTORT. .. . , 478 



PRELIMINARY NOTICES 



Roman Chronology. 

The taking ot the City bj' the Gauls is the event which was usen 
to connect the Grecian and Roman chronology, from which 360 years 
A'ere reckoned back to the foundation of Rome. By some that event 
was placed in Ol. 98, 1, B. C. 388 ; by others in Ol. 98, 2, B. C. 387. 
Fabius, taking the former without a necessary correction of four years, 
placed the building of Rome in 01. 8, 1, B.C. 747 j Cato, from the 
same date with the correction, in Ol. 7,1, B.C. 751; Polybius and 
Nepos, taking the latter date with the correction, in 01. 7, 2, B. C- 
750; while Varro placed it in Ol. G, 3, B.C. 753. The eras in use 
are the Catonian, Varronian, and that of the Capitoline Marbles, (as 
they are called,) which is a mean between those two; the date of the 
commencement of our era being 752 Cat., 753 Cap. Mar., 754 Varr 
The Catonian is that used in tlie following pages, and the year B.C. 
may always be obtained by subducting any given date from 752. 

Roman Money. 

The lowest Roman coin, the .^s, was originally a pound weight of 
brass, (as,) but it was gradually reduced to half an ounce. The Ses- 
terce (sestertius, i. e. semis-lertms) contained 2^ asses, and was usually 
expressed by HS. (an abbreviation of L. L. S. Libra, libra, semis, or of 
1.1.^.) The Denar (denarius) contained JO (deni) asses. 

As the Greek talent was equal to 24,000 sesterces, four sesterces 
(that is, ten asses or one denar) were equal to one drachma. 

The As is usually said to be equal to 3^^q., and the sesterce to Id. 
3|y. of our money ; but if the Greek drachma be worth 9|<Z., (see 
Hist, of Greece,) the sesterce is equal to 2j^jrf. ; the As is therefore 
nearly equivalent to an Englisli penny, and the denar to a French 
franc. 

Roman Measures of Length and Breadth. 

The Roman Foot was equal to 11.604 English inches. Five feet 
made the Pace (passus) = 4 feet 10.02 inches; 1000 paces (viilte 
vassus) are called the Roman Mile, a word derived from mille. 



KU PRELIMINARY NOTICES. 

The Riman Jlctus was a square of 120 feet, contairing therefore 
14,400 squire feet; two Actus made the Juger, (from jugum,) which 
consequently measured 240 feet by 120. 

Roman J^awea. 

llie Romans liad two, three, four, or more names: 1, The nomen, 
or Gentile name, (that of their gens,) as Julius, Furius ; no Roman 
was without this name ; it always ended in ius. 2, The prcBJiomen, 
or Christian name, as we may term it, as Aulus, Caius, ending (the 
antiquated Ka;so, Lar, Opiter, Agrippa, and Volero excepted) in us. 
•i, Tlie cognomen, or family name, as Scipio, Sulla, Marcellus. 4, 
The agnomen, or name of honor, as Africanus. Ex. gr. I'ublius Cor 
nelius Scipio Africilnus. 

The abbreviations of the preenomina are as follow : 

A. Aulus; Ap. or App. Appius; C. Caius; Cn. Cnseus ; D. De- 
cimus ; K. Keso or Ca?so ; L. Lucius; Mam. Mamercus; RI. Mar- 
cus; M'. Manius; N. Numerius; P. Publius; Q. Quintus; S. or 
Sex. Sextus; Ser Servius ; Sp. Spurius; T. Titus; Ti. or Tib. 
Tiberius. 

Tliese prenomina (Appius and CiEso excepted) were common to 
most families; the more unusual ones were peculiar to some families: 
thus none but the Menenii and Furii bore that of Agrippa, none 
but '.he Fabii, Quinctii, Atinii and Duilii that of Ctcso ; the Cominii 
and iflbutii alone bore that of Postumius; Volero was peculiar to 
the Publilii, Opiter to the Virginii, Lar to the Herminii, Vopiscus to 
tlie Julii, and Appius to the patrician Claudii. 

Women had not a projnomen; tiie daughters of a Fabius, for 
example, were called Fabia prima, secunda, etc. 

The Roniins when adopted placed their own gentile or family 
name last: thus, iEinilius, when adopted by Scipio, was named P. 
Cc "nelius Scipio ^miliAnus ; and >;'. Junius Brutus, when adopted 
by Jspio, became C^. Servilius Ctep ? Brutus. 



THE 








HISTORY OF 


ROME. 


1 


PART 


I 






THE REGAL 


PERIOD. 





CHAPTER I. 

DESCRIPTION OF ITALY. ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF ITALY. -— 

THE PELASGIANS. THE OSCANS. THE LATINS. THE 

UMBRIANS. THE SABEl.LIANS. THE ETRUSCANS. THE 

LIGURIANS. THE ITALIAN GREEKS. — '■ ITALIAN RELIGION, 

POLITICAL CONSTITUTION. 

The peninsula named Italy, the seat of the mighty re- 
public whose origin and history we have undertaken to 
relate, is separated from the great European continent by 
the mountain range of the Alps, and extends about five 
hundred miles in a south-eastern direction into the Medi- 
terranean Sea. The part of this sea between Italy and the 
Hellenic peninsula was named the Adriatic or Upper Sea, 
{31(/rr, SupcJ-um ;) that on the west toward the Iberian 
peninsula, the Tyrrhenian or Lower Seaj [Mare Inferum.) 
A mountain range, the Apennines, commences at the Alps 
on the north-western extremity of Italy, and runs along it 
nearly to its termination, sending out branches on either 
side to the sea, between which lie valleys and plains gene- 
rally of extreme fertility. The great plain in the north, 
extending in an unbroken level from the Alps to the Apen- 
nines and the sea,* and watered by the Po [Padus) and 

• Now called the Plain of the Po, {La Pianura del Po.) 
1 A 



K HISTORY OF RC IE. 

Other streams, is the richest in Europe; and that of Campa- 
nia, on tlie west coast, yields to it in extent rather than in 
fertility. The rivers wliich descend to water these plains and 
valleys are numerous ; and many of them, such us the I'o, the 
Adige, (Atcsis,) the Arno, and the Tiber, are navigable. 

The mountains of Italy are composed internally of gran- 
ite, which is covered with formations of primary and sec- 
ondary limestone, abounding in minerals, and in ancient 
times remarkably prolific of copper. The white marble of 
Carrara, on the west coast, is not to be rivalled. Forests of 
timber-trees clothe the sides of the Apennines and their 
kindred ranges, among whose lower parts lie scattered lakes 
of various sizps, many of them evidently the. , craters of ex- 
tinct volcanoes. The western side of Italy has been at all 
times a volcanic region, and Mount Vesuvius, on the Bay 
of Naples, is in action at the present day. 

The fruitful Isle of Sicily, with its volcanic mountain 
yEtna, lies at the southern extremity of Italy, separated 
from it by a channel five miles in its greatest, two in its 
least, breadth. It is by no means unlikely that, as tradition 
told, Italy and Sicily were once continuous, but that, u' 
a point of time long anterior to history, a convulsion of 
nature sank the solid land, and let the sea run in its place 
Besides Sicily, there are various smaller islands attached to 
Italy, chiefly along its west coast, of which the most re- 
markable are the volcanic group of the Liparean isles anc 
the Isle of Elba, {llva,) which has at all times been produc- 
tive of iron. 

The magnificent region which we have just described, so 
rich in all the gifts of nature, has never, so far as traditior 
and analogies enable us to trace, been abandoned by Prov- 
idence to the dominion of rude barbarians living by the 
chace and the casual spontaneous' productions of the soil 
without manners, laws, or social institutions. To ascertain, 
however, its exact condition in the times anterior to history 
is beyond our power; but by means of the traditions of the 
Greeks, and the existing monuments of the languages and 
works of its ancient inhabithuts, wc are enabled to obtain a 
view of its ante-Roman state, superior perhaps in definite- 
ness to what we can form of the ante-Hellenic condition of 
Greece. 

Under the guidance of the sharp-sighted and sagacious 
investigator whose researches have given such an aspect of 



ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF ITALY. 3 

clearness and certainty to the early annals of Rome,* we ,vill 
now venture to pass in review the ancient peoples of Italy. 

In the most remote ages to which we'can reach by con- 
jecture, Italy was the abode of two distinct portions of the 
human family, different in language and in manners; the 
one dwelling on the coasts and plains, the other possessing 
the mountains of the interior. The former were probabl)i 
a portion of that extensive race which we denominate the 
Pelasgian, and which dwelt also in Greece and Asia ; t the 
latter were of unknown origin, and no inquiry will enable 
us to ascertain any thing more respecting thein, than that 
they belonged to the Caucasian race of mankind. We 
cannot, by means of language or any other tokens, trace 
their affinity to any known branch of the human kind, or 
even make a conjecture as to the time and mode of their 
entrance into Italy. They may therefore, under proper re» 
strictions, be termed its indigenous inhabitants. 

The Pelasgians, it is probable, entered Italy on the north- 
east. Under the names of Liburnians and Venetians, thev 
possessed probably the whole plain of the Po and the easf 
coast down to Mount Garganus ; thence, as Daunians, Peu 
cetians, and Messapians, they dwelt to the Bay of Tarentum 
and inlands ; as Chones, Morgetes, and QEnotrians, they then 
held the country from sea to sea to the extreme end of the 
peninsula; and finally, as Tyrrhenians and Siculans, dwelt 
along the west coast to the Tiber and up its valley, perhaps 
even to the Umbro (Ombrone) in Tuscany. Italians was 
the name of the people, Italia that of the country, south of 
the Tiber and of Mount Garganus. | 

The Pelasgians of Italy seem to have been similar in char- 
acter to those of Greece. We find various traces of their 
devotion to the pursuits of agriculture ; their religion ap- 
pears to have been of a rural character ; and Cyclopian walls 
are to be seen in some of the districts where they dwelt. 
If they entered the country as conquerors, it was probably 
their superior civilization which gave them the advantage 
over the ruder tribes which occupied it. 

At length, in consequence of pressure from without, or 
from internal causes, such as excess of population, the 

* G. B. Niebuhr, with whom K. O. Mailer, In his Etruscans, {Dit 
Etrusker,) in general agrees. 

t See History of Greece, Part I. chap. ii. 

t Those skilled in etyinology will easily see that Italus and Sieulus 
are but different forms of the same word. 



; i 



4 HISTORY OF ROME. 

tribes of the interior came down on and conquered the peo- 
ple of the coasts and plains A people named Opicans, o; 
Oscans, overcame the Daunians and other peoples of the 
east coast, and the region thus won was named from them 
Apulia; they also made themselves masters of the country 
thence across to the west coast, and along it up toward tiie 
Tiber. Here they were divided into the Saticulans, Si- 
diciuians, Volscians, and iEquians, while Auruncans, or 
Ausonians, was the more general appellation of the whole 
people.* 

Another tribe, named Cascans and Priscans,t who are 
supposed to have dwelt in the mountains from the Fucine 
Lake to Reate and Carseoli, being pressed from behind by 
the Sabines, came down along the Anio and subdued the 
Siculans, named Latins, who occupied the country there- 
I { abouts. A part of this people retired southwards ; and 

1 I this movement gave, it is said, occasion to the occupation 

of the Island of Sicily by the Siculans ; the remainder coa- 
lesced with the conquerors, and the united people Was named 
Priscans and Latins, {Prisci Laiini,\ ) or simply Latins, and 
their country Latium. 

Further north, a people named the Umbrians descended 
from the mountains and conquered the country to the Po ; 
they also extended themselves to the sea on the west of the 
Apennines, and down along the valley of the Tiber. 

The Latin language, which we have still remaining, is 
evidently composed of two distinct elements, one akin to 
tlu; Greek, and which we may therefore assume to be Pe- 
lasgian, the other of a totally ditferent character. § Tho 

* According to etymoloiry, the root being op or \t .Opici,Osci, .ipvli, 
l^olsci,J£qui, are all kindrt'd terms. We ntigiit perhaps venture to add 
Umliii. and Safiini, Jluso7irs\s l)ie Greek foriii of .iiiriini, wiieoce ,■?!/- 
ruvici, .^iirunri. 'Phe Latin language luxuriates in adjectival termi- 
nations. See Niebuhr, i. G9, nn/e; and Butimann's Lexilogus, in v. 
itnltj yaia, note. 

t See Niebulu, i. 7b and 371. This writer (i. 79. JrO) says that it 
is to the Latins that the term .■ihoiiiriucs, annwenng to the ^'lutorJithuucs 
of the Greeks, belongs. The general usage of ancient and modern 
writers names the people of tho interior the Ahnrisrhits. 

X It was the old Roman custom to omit the copulative between 
words wliicli usually apjjeared in union, as cm/iti rtmliti, locali con- 
durti. socii Latini, acccnxi nlati. Like Gothic au)ong ourselves, Cusctis 
and Priscus came to signify old or old-fashioned. 

§ In the Latin, the terms relating to agriculture and the gentler 
modes of life are akin to the Greek ; those belonging to war and the 
chase are of a different character. Of the former we may instance 



THE SABELLIANS. 5 

existing monuments in ».he Oscan and Umbrian languages 
present exactly the sam^; appearance, and the foreign element 
seems to be the sarn*? in all. Hence it may without pre- 
sumption be inferred, that kindred tribes speaking the same, 

or dialects of the same language, conquered and coalesced | ! 

with the Pelasgians, and new languages were formed by inter- ! { 

mixture, just as the Englisii arose from the Anglo-Saxon and 1 \ 

the Norman-French. ' i 

The people who are supposed to have given totheCascans ' 1 
and Oscans the impulse which drove them down on the ■ | 
Pelasgians, are the Sabines, who dwelt about Amiternum in | 
the higher Apennines. The Sabellian race (under which ; 
name we include the Sabines and all the colonies which ( I 
issued from them) was evidently akin to those above men- ( | 
tioned, for there can be little doubt of their language being ■ | 
the non-Pelasgic part of the Latin and Oscan. This race ■ \ 
spread rapidly on all sides. The Sabines, properly so called, | | 
having occupied the country of the Cascans, gradually [ \ 
pushed on along the valley of the Tiber into Latium ; the i 
Picenians settled on the coast of the Adriatic; the four I 
allied cantons of the Marsians. Marrucinians, Vestinians, | { 
and Pelignians dwelt to the south of them and the Sabines ; ] | 
and below them were the Samnites, divided into the cantons \ j 
of the Frentanians, Hirpinians, Pentrians, and Caudines, 
who conquered the mountain-country of the Oscans, hence- 
forth named Samnium. At a later period, (about the year \ \ 
of Rome 314,) the Samnites made themselves masters of [ 
Campania and the country to the Silarus. Under the name [ \ 
of Lucanians they also conquered, much about the same f [ 
time, the country south of Samnium, the more southern \ 
part of which was afterwards wrested from them by the . i 
Bruttians, a people which arose out of the mercenary troops i 
employed by the Lucanians and Italian Greeks in their ^ 
wars, and the CEnotrian serfs of the latter.* Another Sa- \ \ 
bellian people were the Hernicans, who possessed a hilly 
region south of Latium in the midst of the iEquian and | 
Volscian states. j , 

Different in origin, language, and manners from all the 

bos, tniirus, sits, ovis, agnus, cards, ager, silva, vinufn, lac, tnel, sal, oleum, \ 

malum ; of the latter, arma, tela, hasta, ensis, gladivs, arcus, sagitta, \ 

clupeus, cassis, halteus. (Niebuhr, i. 62. Mailer, i. 17.) 

* In Oscan, and perhaps in old Latin, brutus signified a runaway 
slave, a inrToon. Names of reproach have often been acquiesced in 
Dy peoples and parties ; witness our Whig and Tory. 
1 * 



i !. 



i 1 



b HISTORY OF ROME. 

tribes already enumerated were the people named by them 
selves Rasena, by the Romans, Etruscans and Tuscans, 
who occupied tiie country between the Tiber and the Arno, 
and also dwelt in the plain of the Po. The common opiin 
I ion was that they were a colony from Maonia or Lydia 

j in Asia, who landed on the coast of Etruria, where they re- 

; duced the inhabitants to serfship, and, afterwards crossing 

the Apennines, conquered the country thence to the Alps. 
Against this it was urged * that there was not the slightest 
\ sin:-|arity in manners, language, or religion between them 

• and the Lydians, and that the latter retained no tradition 

i whatever of the migration. It has been further remarked t 

j that the Rx'tians and other Alpine tribes were of the Tus- 

; can race ; and it is so highly improbable that the owners 

j of fruitful plains should covet the possession of barren 

) mountains, tliat it is more reasonable to suppose them to have 

J dwelt originally among, or northwards of, the Alps, and 

I that being pressed on by the Germans, Celts, or some other 

I people, they descended and made concpiests in Italy. J 

Their language, as far a.s it is understood, has not the 
slightest resemblance to any of the primitive languages of 
Europe or Asia; their religious system and their science 
were also peculiar to themselves ; the love of pomp and 
I J state also distinguished them from the Greeks and other 

European peoples. Taken all together, they are perhaps the 
most enigmatic people in history. 

The Tuscan political number was twelve. North of the 
Apennines twelve cities or states formed a federation : the 
same was the case in Etruria Proper.^ Eacii was indepen- 
j ! dent, ruling over its district and its subject towns. The 

« Tuscan Lucuraones or nobles were, like the Chaldaeans, a 

* Dionysins, i. 28. 
I Nil'buhr. This author is inclined to extend the original seals of 

the Tuscans far north even to Alsatia. 

* MolUr would fain reconcile the two opinions. He regards the 
Rasena as an original Italian people of the Apennines and plain of the 
Po, who, when they proceeded to conquer P'.truria from the Unibrians 
and Liwurians, leagued themselves with tJie Tyrrhenian Pelasgians 
fVom the coast of Asia who had settled on the coa.st. Hence he ex- 
plains the use of flutes, trumpets, and other usages, common to the 
Tuscans with the people of Asia. 

§ These last, Niebuhr says, are Ctere, Tarqiiinii, RusellcD, Vetulo- 
niuin, Volaterrae, Arrelium, Cortt'ina, Clusium, Volsinii, Veil, and Ca- 
pena or Cossa ; of the former he can only name Felsina or Bononia, 
Melpum, Mantna, Verona, and Hatria. "He denies that the Tuscans 
ever settled in Campania, as waa asserted by the incients. MuUcr 
maintains the convrrse. 



THE ITALIAN GREEKS. ^ 

sacerdotal military caste, holding the religion and govern- 
ment of the state in their exclusive possession, and keeping 
the people in the condition of serfs. In some of their cities, 
such as Veii, there were elective kings. The Lucumones 
learned the will of heaven from the lightning and other celes- 
tial phenomena ; their religion was gloomy, and abounding 
in rites and ceremonies. Both the useful and the orna- 
mental arts were carried to great perfection in Etruria. 
Lakes were let off by tunnels, swamps rendered fertile, 
rivers confined, huge Cyclopian walls raised round towns. 
Statues, vessels, and other articles were executed in clay 
and bronze with both skill and taste. These arts, however, i I 

may have been known and exercised by the subject people | \ 

rather than by the Tuscan lords. \ 

The Ligurians, a people who dwelt without Italy from | I 

the Pyrennees to the maritime Alps, also extended into the [ j 

peninsula, reaching originally south of the Arno and east \\ 

of the Ticinus. They were neither Celts nor Iberians, but i 

of their language we have no specimens remaining. 1 | 

Such were the peoples of Italy in the ages antecedent to ( 

history. About the time of the Dorian migration, the \ 

Greeks began to colonize its southern part. The Chal- \ \ 

cidians and Eretrians of Eub(£a founded Cuma3, Parthenope, | 

and Neapolis on the west coast, and Rhegium at the strait; I | 

Elea (Velia) was hi'ilt on the same coast by the Phocaeans. | \ 

On the east coast, Locri was a colony from Ozolian Locris; I 

and it founded in its turn Medma and Hipponium on the | 

west coast; the Achajans were the founders of Sybaris, Cro- i 

ton, and Metapontum ; and Sybaris having extended her I 

dominion across to the Lower Sea, founded on it Laos and \ 

Posidonia : the Crotonians built Caulon on the Upper, Terina I 

on the Lower Sea ; and Tarentum, in the peninsula of Japy- I 

gia, was a settlement of the Lacedajmonians. The ancient 
CEnotria became so completely Hellenised, (its original 
population being reduced to serfship,) that it was named 
Great Greece — Magna Grcscia. The flourishing period, 
however, of these Grecian states, was anterior to that which 
our history embraces, and we shall have occasion only to 
speak of them in their decline. 

The religion of the two original portions of the Italian I 

population was, as far as we can conjecture, of a simple, 
rural character. It does not seem to have known the hor- 
rors of human sacrifice; and though polytheistic, it related 
UD tales of the am lurs of its gods, and no Italian princes 



8 History of rome. 

boasted an affinity with the deities whom the people wor- 
shipped. Partly from this, partly from othe;* causes, the tone 
of morals was at all times higher in Italy, especially among 
the Sabelliau tribes, than in Greece. A remarkable feature 
of the old Italian religion was the immense number of its 
deities;* every act of life had its presiding power; a man 
was ever under the eye, as it were, of a superior being : the 
true doctrine of the omnipresence of the one God was thus, 
we may say, resolved into the separate presence of a multi- 
tude, the moral effect, though far inferior, was, we may 
hope, similar. Finally, the ancient Italians are perhaps 
not to be esteemed idolaters, as images of the gods were 
unknown among them till they became acquainted with 
Grecian art. 

The prevailing political fbrm of ancient Italy wa^ that' of 
aristocratic republics united in federations. The hereditary 
monarchy of the heroic age of Greece was unknown, and 
the pure democracy of its historic period never developed 
itself in Italy. Political numbers are to be found here as in 
Greece and elsewhere ; four, for example, was the Sabellian 
number ; thirty, or rather perhaps three subdivided by ten, 
that of Latium.t This principle e.xtended even to the Tus- 
cans, whose number, as we have seen, was twelve. 



CHAPTER Il.t 

^NEAS .\ND THK TROJANS. ALU A. NUMITOR AND AMULIUS. 

ROMULUS AND RKMUS. UUILDINU OF ROME. REIGN 

OF KOMULUS. ROMAN C0NSHTUTION. NUMA POMI'lLIUS 

— rTULLUS HOSTILIUS. ANCUS MARCIUS. 

On the left bank of the river Tiber, at a moderate distance 
from the sea, lies a cluster of hills, § which were the destined 

* Wlicn, therefore, Varro spoke of 30,000 goda, he must have meant 
the ItaHai). not the Grecian system ; for tlic Olympian deities, even 
including the Nymphs, never extended to any such number. 

t The thirty Latin and tliirty Alban towns, the thirty patrieiaa 
curies in three tribes, and the thirty plebeian trih«es at Rome. 

X The principal authorititjs for this Part are Dionysius and L'Vj , 
%Cd Plutarch's lives of Romulus, Numa, and Poplicola, 

§ They were seven in number, lying in the following order : the 



iENE4.S AND THE TROJANS. 1^ 

seat of the city whose dominion gradually extended until 
it embraced the greater portion of the then known world ; 
and whose language, laws, and institutions gave origin to 
those of a large portion of modern Europe. 

The origin and early history of this mighty city have 
been transmitted to us by its most ancient annalists in the 
following form.* 

When the wide-famed Troy, after having held out for ten 
years against the Achaean arms, was verging toward its fall, 
^neas, a hero whom the goddess Venus (Aphrodhe) had 
borne to a Trojan prince named Anchises, resolved to 
abandon the devoted town. Led by the god Mercurius, 
(Hermes,) and accompanied by his father, family, and 
friends, he left Troy the very night it was taken, and retired 
to Mount Ida, where he remained till the town was sacked 
and burnt, and the Achaeans had departed. The god, con- 
tinuing his care, built for them a ship, in which they em- 
barked : an oracle (some said that of Dodona) directed them 
to sail on westwards, till they came to where hunger would 
oblige thenTi to eat their tables, and told them that a four- 
footed animal would there guide them to the site of their 
future abode. The morning-star shone before them, day 
and night, to guide their course, and it never ceased to be 
visible till they reached the coast of Latium in Italy. t They 
landed there on a barren, sandy shore ; and as they were 
taking their first meal, they chanced to use their flat cakes 
for platters; and when, at the conclusion of their repast, 
they began to consume their cakes also, vEneas' young son 
cried out that they were eating their tables. Struck with 
the fulfilment of a part of the oracle, the Trojans, by order 
of their chief, brought the images of their gods on shore ; 
an altar was erected, and a pregnant white sow led to it as 
a victim. Suddenly the sow broke loose, and ran into the 
country, .^neas, with a few companions, followed her till 

Tarpeian or Capitoline, the Palatine, and the Aventine along the 
river ; the Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, and Cselian, behind the Tar 
j>cian and Palatine. The hill named the Janiculan was on the oppo- 
site side of the Tiber. 

* " I insist," says Niebuhr, " in behalf of my Romans, on the light 
of taking the poetical features wherever they are to be found, when 
they have dropped out of the common nari'ative." The circumstances 
in the following narrative, differing from those in Livy and Virgil, will 
be found in Dionysius, Cato, (in Servjus on the iEneis,) and Ovid, and 
other poets. 'Ar.t yu' • ''' ,"i:^' ' 

1 Varrd in Servius on iEn. ii. 801 ''' "' '"' ';j '■ ' ' '"- 



10 HISTORY OF ROME. 

she reached an eminence about three miles from the sea, 
where, exhausted by fatigue, she laid her down. This then, 
*^neas saw, was the site designated by the oracle; but his 
heart sank when he viewed the ungeiiial nature of the sur- 
rounding soil, and the adjacent coast without a haven. He 
lay that night on the spot in the open air; and as he pon- 
dered, a voice from a neighboring wood came to his ear, 
directing him to build there without delay; broad lands, 
It was added, awaited himself, and wide dominion his de- 
scendants, who, within as many years as the sow should 
i'arrow young ones, would build a larger and a fairer town. 
In the morning he found that the sow had farrowed thirty 
white young ones, which with herself he offered in sacrifice 
to the gods. He led his people thither, and commenced the 
building of a town.* 

The country in which the Trojans were now settling was 
governed by a prince named Latinus, who, on hearing that 
strangers were raising a town, came to oppose then). Jle 
was, Jiowever, induced to allow them Ho proceed, and he 
granted them seven hundred jugers of land around it.t The 
harniony which prevailed between them and the natives was, 
however, soon disturbed by the Trojans' wounding a favorite 
stag of King Latinu.s'. This monarch took up arms; he 
was joined by Turnus, the Rutulian prince of Ardea ; but 
victory was with the strangers; Latinus' capital, Laurentum, 
was taken, and himself slain in the storming of the citadel. | 
^lis only daughter Lavinia becai^e the prize of the victor, 
who made her his wife, and named his town from her La- 
vinium.§ 

Turnus now applied for aid to Mezentius, king of Caere 
in Etruria. The Tuscan demanded, as the price of his as- 
sistance, half the produce of the vintage of Latium in the 
next year, and the Rutulians readily agreed to his terms. 

* According to Cato, (Serv. on JF.n. i. G. vii. l.">8,) the town first built 
by yEneas and Anchises (who also reached Italy) was not on the future 
site of Laviniuiu, and it was named Troja. In Latin, troja is a sow, 
hence probably the legend ; alba (white) refers to Alba ; the thirty 
youn<r. to the Latin political number. 

t Supposing that, accordiog to the Roman custom hereafter to be 
noticed, this was 7 jugers a man, the Trojans, according to this tradi- 
tion, were but 100 in number. 

+ Cato in Servius on JUn. ix. 745. 

§ The reader will observe how ihis differs from the narrative in 
Virgil. We may take it as a rule, th:it the rudest and most revolting 
form of a legend is its most ancient one. 



NUMITOR AND AMULIUS. 11 

Their united arms encountered those of the Latins, led by 
^neas, on the banks of the Numicius ; Turnus fell, l)ut the 
Trojans were defeated. ^Eneas plunged into the stream, and 
never more was seen, and after-ages worshipped him on its 
banks as Jupiter Indiges. The Tuscans then beleaguered 
Lavinium , but lulus, the son of iEncas, having vowed the 
half-produce of the vineyards claimed by Mezentius to Ju- 
piter, led forth his troops to battle. The favor of the god 
was with the pious youth, and Mezentius fell by his hand. 

After thirty years, lulus left the low sandy coast, and led 
his people to a mountain twelve miles inland, on the side 
of which he built a town, named Alba Longa, {Long ivhiti,) 
from its appearance, as it stretched in one long street along 
the precipitous margin of a lake. During three hundred 
years, his successors (named the Silvii) reigned at Alba, the 
lords of the surrounding country; but tradition spake not of 
their deeds. Procas, one of these kings, when dying, left two 
sons, named Numitor and Amulius. The former, who was the 
elder, being of a meek, peaceful teujper, his ambitious brother 
wrested from him the sceptre of the Silvii, leaving him only 
his paternal demesnes, on which he allowed him to live in 
quiet; but fearing the spirit of Nuraitor's son, he caused 
him to be murdered as he was out a-hunting ; and he placed 
his daughter Silvia, his only remaining child, among the 
Vestal virgins, who were bound to celibacy. The race of 
Aphrodite and Anchises seemed destined to become extinct, 
for Amulius was childless, when a god interposed to pre- 
serve it and give it additional lustre. One day when Silvia 
was gone into the sacred grove of Mars to draw water for 
the use of the temple, a wolf suddenly appeared before iier; 
the terrified maiden fled for refuge into a cavern ; the god 
descended and embraced her. When retiring, he assured 
her that she would be the mother of an illustrious progeny. 
Silvia told not her secret; and at the due time the pains of 
labor seized her in the very temple of Vesta. The image 
of the virgin goddess placed its hands before its eyes to 
avoid the unhallowed sight, and the perpetual flame on the 
altar drew back amidst the embers.* She brought forth 
two male children, whom the ruthless tyrant ordered to be 
cast, with their mother, into the River Tiber. Silvia here 
became the spou*i of the god of the stream, and immortal. 
The care of Mars was extended to his progeny ; the bole oi 

* Ovid, Fasti, iii. 4o— 4S. 



12 HISTORY OF ROME. 

ark in which the babes were placed floated along the river 
which had overflowed its banks, till it reached the woody 
hills on its side,* at the foo' of one of which, the Palatine, 
and close to the Ruininal fig-tree, it overturned on the soft 
mud. A she-wolf, the sacred beast of Mars, which came 
to slake her thirst, heard the whimpering of the babes; she 
took and conveyed them to her den on the hill, licked their 
bodies with her tongue, and suckled them at her dugs. 
Under her care they throve ; and when they required more 
solid food it was brought them by a woodpecker, (/>?>?/.<,) 
an animal sacred, like the wolf, to their sire ; and other birds 
of augury hovered round the cave to keep off noxious in- 
sects. At length, this wonderful sight was beheld by Faus- 
tulus, the keeper of the royal flocks : he approached the cave; 
the siie-wolf retired, her task being done; and he took 
home the babes and committed them to the care of his wife, 
Acca Larentia, by whom they were carefully reared along 
with her own twelve sons in their cottage on the Palatine. 

When the two brothers, who were nanied Romulus and 
Remus, grew up, they were distinguished among the shep- 
herd lads for their strength and courage, which they dis- 
played against the wild beasts and the robbers, and the neigh- 
boring swains. Their chief disputes were with the herds- 
men of Numitor, Mho fed their cattle on the adjacent Aven- 
tine, and wliom they frequently defeated ; but at length 
Remus was made a prisoner by stratagem, and dragged 
away as a robber to Alba. The king gave him up for 
punishment to Numitor, who, struck with the noble ap- 
pearance of the youth, incjuired of him who and what he 
was. On hearing the story <>( his infancy, he began to 
suspect that he might be his grandson; but he confined his 
thoughts to his own bosom. Meantime, Faustnhis had re- 
vealed to Romulus his suspicions of his royal l)irth, and the 
youth resolved to release his brother and restore his grand- 
eire to his rights. By his directions liis comrades entered 
Alba at different parts, and there uniting under him, fell 
on and slew the tyrant, and then placed Numitor on the 
throne of his ancestors. 

The two brothers, regardless of the succession to the 
throne of Alba, resolved to found a town for themselves on 
the hills where they had passed the happy days of child- 
nood. Their old »')stic comrades joined them in their pro- 

" Conon, Narr. 48. 



BUILDING OF ROME. IjSj 

ject, and they were preparing to build, when a dispute arose 
between them, whether it should be on the Palatine and 
named Roma, or on the Aventine and called Remoria.* It 
was agreed to learn the will of heaven by augury. Each at 
midnight took his station on his favorite liill, marked out 
the celestial temple, and sat expecting the birds of omen. 
Day came and passed ; night followed ; toward dawn, the 
second day, Remus beheld six vultures flymg from north to 
south; the tidings came to Romulus at sunrise, and just 
then twelve vultures flew past. A contest arose ; though 
right was on the side of Remus, Romulus asserted that the 
double number announced the will of the gods, and his 
party proved the stronger. 

The Palatine was therefore to be the site of the futuro 
city. Romulus yoked a bullock and a heifer to the plough, 
whose share was copper, and drove it round the hill to form 
the pomcerium, or boundary line. On this line they began 
to make a ditch and rampart. Remus in scorn leaped over 
the rising wall, and Romulus enraged slew him with a 
blow, exclaiming, " Thus perish whoever will leap over my 
walls I " t Grief, however, soon succeeded, and he was not 
comforted till the shade of Remus appeared to their foster- 
parents, and announced his forgiveness on condition of a 
festival, to be named from him, being instituted for the 
souls of the departed. J A throne was also placed for him 
by Romulus beside his own, with 'he sceptre and other 
tokens of royalty.^ 

As a means of augmenti«g the population of his new 
town, Romulus readily admitted any one who chose to re- 
pair to it ; he also marked out a spot on the side of the 
Tarpeian hill as an asylum to receive insolvent debtors, 
criminals, and runaway slaves. The population thus rap- 
idly increased, but from its nature it contained few women, 
and therefore the state was menaced with a brief duration. 
To obviate this evil, Romulus sent to the neighboring 
towns, proposing to them treaties of amity and intermar- 
riage ; but his overtures were every where received with 
aversion and contempt. He then had recourse to artifice ; 

* Another account says at a place four miles further down the river 
Ennius makes Romulua take his augury on the ATcntine. 

t Those who would soften the legend said he was slain by a man 
named Celer. 

t The Lemuria, Ovid, Fasti, v. 461—430. 

§ Servius on JE.n. i. 276. 
O 



M HISTORY OF ROME. 

he proclaimed games to be celebrated at Rome on the fes- 
tival of the Consualia, to which he invited all his neigh- 
bors. The Latins and Sabines came without suspicion, 
briiiL^ing their wives and daughters; but in the midst of 
the festivities, the Roman youth rushed on them with drawn 
swords, and carried off a number of their maidens. The 
parents fled, calling on the gods to avenge the perfidious 
breach of faith, and the neighboring Latin towns of Ca?- 
nina, Cru^tuinerium, and Anternna', joined by Titus Tatius, 
king of the Sabines, prepared to take up arms. But the 
Latins, impatient of the delay of the Sabines, and acting 
without concert among themselves, singly attacked and 
were overcome by the Romans. At length, Tatius led his 
troops against Rome. The Saturnian or Tarpeian hill, op- 
posite the town, was fortified, and had a garrison ; but Tar- 
peia, the daughter of the governor, having gone down to 
draw water, met the Sabines, and dazzled by the gold 
bracelets which they wore, agreed to open a gate for them 
if they would give her what they bore on their left arms. 
She kept her promise ; but the Sabines cast their shields 
from their left arms on her as they entered, and the traitress 
expired beneath their weight. The hill thus became the 
possession of the Sabines. 

Next day the armies encountered in the valley between 
the two hills. The advantage was on the side of the Sa- 
bines, and the Romans were flying, when Romulus cried 
aloud to Jupiter, vowing him a temple under the name of 
Stitor, {Staj/er,) if he would stay their flight. The Romans 
turned; victory was inclining to them, when suddenly the 
Sabine women came forth with garments rent and disliev- 
elled locks, and rushing between the two armies, implored 
their fathers and their husbands to cease from the impious 
conflict. Both sides dropped their arms and stood in silence ; 
the leaders then advanced to conference, a treaty of amity 
and union was made, and Romulus and Tntiiis became joint 
sovereigns of the united nation, the Romans taking the 
name of Quirites from the Sabine town of Cures. As a 
mark of honor to the Sabine women, Romulus named from 
ihem the thirty curies into which he divided his p(!ople. 

Some years after, when Laurentine ambassadors came 
to Rome, they were ill treated by some of Ta4ius' kinsmen; 
and as he refused satisfaction, he was fallen on and slain 
at a national sacrifice in Lavinium. Romulus henceforth 
reigned alone ; he governed his people with justice and 



ROMAN CONSTITUTION. 15 

moderation, and carried on successful wars in Latiurn and 
Etruna. At length, when he had reigned thirty-seven vears, 
the term assigned hy the gods to his abode on earth being 
arrived, as he was one day reviewing his people at the place 
named the Goat's Marsh, (Palus Copra;,) a sudden storm 
came on ; the people fled for shelter; and, amid the tempest 
of thunder, lightning, wind, and rain, Mars descended in 
his flaming car, and bore his son off" to the abode of the 
gods.* When the light returned, the people vainly sought 
for their monarch; they bewailed him as their father,''as 
him who had brought them into the realms of day ; t and 
they were not consoled till a senator, named Procnlus Julius, 
came forwards, and averred that as be was returnina by 
moonlight from Alba to Rome, Romulus had appeared to 
him arrayed in glory, and charged him to tell his people to 
cease to lament him, to cultivate warlike exercises, and to 
worship him as a god under the name of Quirinus. 

As the founder of the state, Romulus had necessarily been 
its lawgiver. The chief features of his legislation were as 
follows : — 

He divided the whole people into three Tribes, (Tr/bti^,) 
named Ramnes, Titienses, and Luceres, each of which con- 
tained ten Curies, (Curia;,) and each cury consisted of a 
decad of Houses, {Gtntes.) The tribe was governed and 
represented by its Tribune, {Tribumis,) the cury by its Cu- 
rion, {Curio,) the house by its Decurion, (Decurio.) The 
territory of the state, with the exception of what was set 
apart for religion and the public domain, was divided into 
thirty equal portions, one for each cury. Romulus again 
divided the whole people into two orders. The first °was 
composed of the persons most distinguished for merit, birth, 
and property: these were called Patres, (Fathers,) and their 
descendants Patricians, as a mark of reverence, or as tliev 
resembled fathers in their care. The other order was named 
the Plebes or Plebs, (People ;)f they were placed under the 
care of the patricians, whence they were also called Clients, 
(Clientes, i. e. Hearers, or Obei/ers.) § All the offices of the 
state were in the hands of the patricians; the plebeians 
served in war, and paid taxes in return for the protection 

* Horace, Carm. iii. 3. 1.5. Ovid, Fasti, ii. 496. Dionys. ii. 50. 

t Ennius in Cic. de Rep. i 41. 

t Plehes is probably akin to the Greek ttX>-j»oi;. 

§ These relations, and their lru> nature, will be explained in Chap- 



in 

1 



16 HISTORY OF ROME. 

they received. A hundred of the elders of the p* -e 
formed a Senate, {Senatus,) to deliberate with the niiijj in 
affairs of state. Tliree hundred young men, selected Irom 
the curies, and named Ce4eres, guarded his person ; and 
twelve Lictors {Lictorcs) * or sergeants, bearing axes in 
bundles of rods, {fmcts,) attended to execute his commands. 
Romulus also gave dignity to his royal authority by splendor 
oi attire and iu)perial ensigns. 

After the assumption of Romulus, Rome remained aii 
entire year without a king; the senators, under the title of 
Interreges, {Brtween-kings,) governing in rotation. At 
length the people becon>ing impatient, they proceeded to 
elect a king. It was agreed that the Ron)ans should choose 
from among the Subines; and the choice fell on Nunia 
Pompilius of Cures, who had married the daughter of Ta- 
tius, and had been the pupil of the Grecian sage Pythagoras. 
He was brought to Rome, and as Romulus had learned the 
will of the gods by augury when founding the city, this pious 
prince would not ascend the throne without obtaining their 
consent in the same manner. Led by the augur, he mounted 
the Saturnian hill, and sat on a stone facing the south. The 
augur sat on his left, his head veiled, and holding the 
litiius'f in his right hand; then marking out the celestial 
temple, he transferred the lituus to his left hand, and laying 
his right on the head of Numa, prayed to Jupiter to send the 
signs he wished within the designated limits. The signs 
appeared, and Nuina came down, being declared king. 

The new monarch set forthwith about regulating the 
state. He divided among the citizens the lands which Rom- 
ulus had conquered, and founded the worship of Terminus, 
ihe god of boundaries. lie then proceeded to legislate for 
religion, in which he acted under the direction of the Ca- 
mena t Egeria, who espoused him, and led him into the grove 
which her divine sisters frequented. Numa appointed the 
Pontiffs to preside over the public religion ; the Augurs, to 
loam the will of heaven ; the Flamens, to minister in the 
temples of the great gods of Rome ; the Vestal Virgins, to 
guard the sacred fire ; and the Salii, to adore the gods with 
hymns, to which they danced in arms. He also built the 
temple of Janus, which was to be open in time of war, 

c /KflU I .1-1,1 - 

n 
* That is, Liaratorcs, (Binders,) from their office of binding criininala 
t A staff with a croolicd head, hke a bishop's crosier, 
t The Camcnee answer to tlie Grecian Mujes. 



TULLUS H0STILIU5. 17 

cloFcd when Rome was at peace. At a time when the anger 
of heaveii was manifested by ♦.errific lightning, Numa, in- 
structed by the rural gods Piciis and Faunus, whom he had 
caught by pouring wine into the fount whence they drank, 
caused by cotijnrationp Jupiter to descend on the Aventino 
to tell him how his lightnings might be averted. The god, 
thence named Elicius, also sent from heaven the Ancilc* as 
a 1 ledge of empire. Thirty-nine years did Numa reign in 
tr K.-qtiillity, and then the favorite of the gods fell asleep in 
derub, full of years and of honors. 

After an interreign of a short time, the royal dignity was 

■-■-. -.ferted on Tulkis Hostilius, a Roman, and more allied in 

acter to Romulus than to Numa. He sought and soon 

d an occasion fdf war. The Roman and the Alban 

,itry folk had mutually plundered each other ; envoys 

e sent from both towns to demand satisfaction ; but the 

ans, beguiled by the hospitality of the Roman king, re- 

\ed idle at Rome, while the Romans had made their de- 

d, and been refused. As, by the maxims of Italian law, 

Romans were now the injured party, war was formally 

ared. Preparations were made on both sides, and at 

th the Alban army came and encamped within five miles 

lome, where the deep ditch, named the Cluiliaii, (from 

name of their King Cluilius,) long informed posterity of 

site of their camp. Here Cluilius died, and Mettius 

etius was chosen dictator. Meantime King Tullus had 

red the Alban territory, and Mettius found it necessary 

lit his entrenched camp, and advance to engage him. 

two armies met, and were drawn out in array of battle, 

n the Alban chief demanded a conference. The leaders 

ooth sides advanced to the middle, and Mettius then 

ving how the Tuscans, their common enemies, would 

^ advantage of their mutual losses, and destroy them 

h, proposed to decide the national quarrel by a combat 

'■bampions to be chosen on each side. The Roman 

; larch assented, though he would have preferred the 

slv>ck of two numerous hosts. 

'^hcre were in each army three twin-brothers, whose 
noftiers were sisters ; the Romans were named the Horatii, 
he! \IbaiiS the Curiatii.t To these the fates of their respec- 

*' '1%' sacred shield borne by the Salii ; lest it should be stolen, 
NtJWife Ufl several others made lik° it Sen Ovid. Fasii, iii. 259 — 392. 

I Ac&tf cling 10 some, iht Horatn Wfce the Albans. The Horalian 
gefts at ivio-i<» heioi>,(/od to the Luceres. 

2* c 



18 



HISTORY OF HOME. 



#' 



live countries wore conirnitted The ireaty was made in 
due form, aud that state, whose champions were vanquislied, 
was to submit to the rule of the other. The brothers ad- 
vanced on each side ; both armies sat down in their ranks 
to view the important combat ; the signal was given, the 
champions drew tlieir swords, and engaged hand to hand ; 
dread and expectation bound ti»e spectators in silence. At 
length, two of the Romans were seen to fall dead, the third 
was unhurt; the Albans were all wounded. A shout o 
triumph rose in the Albatj army; hope fled from the Re 
mans. The surviving Horatius, unable to cope with hi 
three adversaries, though enfeebled, feigned a flight. Th^^ 
pursued, but, owing to their weakness, at different interval \ 
Soon he turned, and slew the first, "i-ii Albans vainly called 
to his brothers to aid ; they fell each in turn by the swora 
of the Roman, and Alba submitted to Rome. 

When the dead on both sides had been buried, the two' 
armies separated. Horaiins, bearing the spoils of the slain 
Curiatii, walked at the head of the Romans. At the Ca- 
pene gate, when about to enter the city, he was met by 
his sister, who had been betrothed to one of the Curiatii, 
and recognizing her lover's surcoat, which she had woven 
with her own hands, she let fall her hair, and bewailed his 
fate. The victor, enraged, drew his sword and struck it 
into her bosom, crying, " Such be the fate of her who be- 
wails an enemy of Rome ! " Horror seized on all at the atro- 
cious deed : the murderer was taken for trial before the 
king ; but Tullus shratik from the office, and the affair was 
committed to the ordinary judures in such cases, (the Duum- 
virs,) by whom he was sentenced to be scourged, and to 
be hung with a rope from the fatal tree with his head cov- 
ered. The lictor approached, and was placing the halter 
on him, when, at the suggestion of the king, he appealed 
to the people. His father pleaded for him with tears ; the 
people were moved, and let him go free. Purgative sacri- 
fices were performed, and he was made to walk with covered 
head under a beam placed across the way. 

The treaty, thus sealed with kindred blood, did not remain 
long unbroken. The Albans, weary of subjection, sent se- 
cretly to excite the people of Fidens to war against R<>me, 
promising to go over to them in the battle. The >-' ide- 
nates, joined by their allies, the Veientines of Etrur.a, de- 
clared war, and Tullus, having summoned an Alba» army 
to his standard, crossed the Anic and took his pot at its 



TULLUS HOSTILIUS. 1-6 

confluence with the Tiber. The Romans were opposed to 
the Veientines, the Albans to the Fidenates. Mettius, cow- 
ardly as treacherous, would neither stay nor go over to the 
enemy. He gradually drew ofF to the hills, and there dis- 
posed his troops. The Romans, finding their flank thus left 
exposed, sent to inform the king, but Tullus telling them 
that the Albans were acting by his order, desired them to 
fall on. The Fidenates, hearing these orders, and deemincr 
that Mettius was a traitor to them, turned and fled. Tullus 
then brought all his forces against the Etrurians, and drove 
them with great slaughter into the river. The Albans 
came down, and their general congratulated the king on 
his victory. Tullus received him kindly, and directed that 
the two armies should encamp together, and a lustral sacri- 
fice be prepared for the morrow. Next morning he called 
a general assembly ; the Albans, with affected zeal, came 
first, and stood unarmed around the king, by whose direc- 
tions they were encompassed by the Romans in arms. Tul- 
lus then spoke, reproaching Mettius with his treachery, and 
declaring his intention of destroying Alba, and removing 
the inhabitants to Rome. Resistance was hopeless ; Met- 
tius was seized, and to suit his punishment to his crime, 
two chariots were brought, to which his limbs were tied, 
and one driven toward Rome, the other toward Fidenre, 
and the traitor's body thus torn asunder. Meantime the 
horsemen had been sent to Alba to remove the people to 
Rome; the infantry followed, in order to demolish the town 
The people, yielding to necessity, quitted with tears the 
homes of their infancy and the tombs of their fathers ; all 
the buildings, both public and private, were destroyed; the 
temples of the gods alone were left standing. At Rome 
the Albans were favorably received, and their nobles ad- 
mitted among the patricians. The Cfelian hill was added 
to the city for their abode, and the king himself dwelt on 
it among them. 

The warlike king next engaged in hostilities with the 
Sabines, on the pretext of their having seized some Roman 
traders at the fair held at the temple of Feronia. The Sa- 
bines hired mercenary troops in Etruria, but victory was on 
the side of Rome in a battle fought at the Evil Wood, {Silva 
Malitiosa.) Tullus was now at peace with mankind, but a 
shower of stones on the Alban Mount announced the dis- 
pleasure of heaven. At the mandate of a celestial voice 
heard on the mount, a nine-day festival was instituted, and 






20 HISTORY OF ROME. 

the pro(|igy ceased ; but soon after a pestilence came on^ 
and TuUus, broken in mind and body, gave himself up to 
superstition. Having read in the books of Nunia of the 
sacrifices to Jupiter Elicius, he resolved to perform them ; 
but erring in the rites, he offended the god, and the light- 
nings descended and destroyed himself and his house. Tul- 
lus had reigned thirty-two years. 

The next king, Ancus Marcius, v^as of the Sabine line, 
being the son of Nuina's daughter. His character was a 
mean between those of his grandsire and Ronnilus. Like the 
former, he applied himself to the revival of religion; and he 
had the ceremonial law transcribed and hung up in public. 
But the Latins, despising his pacific occupations, soon pro- 
voked him to war, where he showed a spirit not unworthy 
of the founder of Rome. He took the towns of Politorium, 
Tellcna, and Ficana, and having given the Latin army a 
' I total defeat under the walls of Medullia, he removed the 

people of this and the other towns to Rome, where he as- 
signed thein the Aventine for their abode. 

Ancus also won from the Veientines some of the land 
beyond the Tiber, where he fortified the .laniculan bill, and 
united it to the city by a wooden bridge, {Pons i^i/blirii/i;.) 
To secure Rome on the land side he dug a deep ditch 
{Fossa Qiiirituuii) before the open space- between the 
Coelian and Pahitine hills. He extended his dominion on 
both sides of the river to the sea, where he built the port 
of Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber, After a useful and a 
prosperous reign of twenty-four years, King Ancus died in 
peace. 



CHAPTER HL 

L TARQUIiNIVS PRISCl'S. SERVIUS TULLIU8. L. TARQUIMUS 

8UPER1JUS. TALE OF LUCRETIA. .\ROMTION OF KOVAL- 

TV. CONSPIRACY AT ROME. DEATH OF BRUTUS. WAR 

WITH PORSENNA. BATTLE OF THE REGILLUS. 

Hitherto the kings had been Romans and Sabines alter- 

nately ; the sceptre now passes into the hands of a strnnger. 

When Cypseius overthrew the oligarchy of the Baciyiuads 



L. TAR^UINIUS PRISCUS. ^ 

at Corinth,* a member of this family, named Dtmaratus, 
resolved to emigrate. He fixed on Tarquinii, in Etraria, for 
his abode, as, being an extensive merchant, he had formed 
many connections in that city ; and he came thither accom- 
panied by the sculptors, Euchir, {Good-hand,) and Eugram- 
mus, {Good-drawer,) and the painter Cleophantus, {Deed- \ \ 

displaycr,)\ whose arts and that of writing he communicated { 

to tfie Etruscans. He married a woman of the country, who j 

bore him two sons, named Aruns and Lucumo. The former \ \ 

died a little before him, leaving his wife pregnant ; but \ \ 

Demaratus, unaware of this fact, bequeathed the whole of his I 

wealth to Lucumo, and the new-born babe, who was there- i. \ 

fore named Eg'erius, {Lacker,) was left entirely dependent 
on his uncle. I 

Lucumo espoused an Etruscan lady named Tanaquil, and 
finding, on account of his foreign origin, all the avenues to 
honor and power closed against him, he listened to the \ 

suggestions of his wife, and resolved to emigrate to Rome, | 

where there was no jealous aristocratic caste to contend with, | 

He therefore quitted Tarquinii, and set out for that city. \ 

As he and Tanaquil were sitting in their chariot, taking \ 

their first view of Rome from the top of the Janiculan, an [: 

eagle came flying, and gently descending took off his bonnet, | 

and with a loud noise bore it into the air ; then returning 'i 

placed it again on his head. Tanaquil, as a Tuscan skilled | 

in augury, joyfully received the omen, and congratulated 'i 

her husband on the fortune it portended. Elate with hope, | 

they crossed the Sublician bridge and entered Rome, where | 

Lucumo assumed the name of Lucius Tarquinius Prisons, ji 

and, by his polished manners and his liberality, soon won | 

the affections of the people. He became, ere long, known ] 

to the king, Ancus, who employed him in both public and 
private affairs of importance, and when dying appointed him 
guardian to his sons. 

But Tarquinius now deemed himself sufficiently strong 
in the favor of the people to aspire to the vacant throne. 
Having sent the young Marcii out a-hunting, so that they 
should be away at the time of the election, he offered him- 
self as a candidate ; the people unanimously chose him king, 
and the senate confirmed their choice. To gratify his friends, 
he forthwith added one hundred members to the senate, and 
then to augment his fame engaged in war with the Latins, 

• See History of Greece, p. 68. t Pliny, xrxv. 5. 



22 BISTORT or ROlklE. 

from whom he took the town of Apiolse ; and with the 
plunder, whose amount exceeded what might have been 
expected, he gave the people a spectacle of horse-racing and 
boxing superior to any they had yet seen. A war with the 
Sabines soon followed, and, before the Romans were aware 
of it, the Sabine army had crossed the Anio. The battle 
that ensued was bloody, but undecisive ; and Tarquiuius, 
finding that his deficiency in cavalry h^d alone prevented 
the victory, prepared to add three new tribes, to be named 
from himself and his friends, to the tribes or equestrian cen- 
turies of Romulus. But the augur Aitus Navius forbade to 
change without auspices what had been instituted with them. 
The king, annoyed, to put him to shame desired him to 
augur, if what he was then thinking on could be done. 
Attus, having observed the heavens, replied in the affirmative. 
" Then," cried the king, triumphantly, " I was thinking that 
you should cut a whetstone through with a razor." Attus 
took the razor and stone, and cut it through ; the king gave 
up his project, but he doubled the amount of the old centu- 
ries without interfering with the original names. 

The Sabines meantime remaining on the hither side of the 
Anio, Tarquinius had a large heap of thnber which Jay on 
the banks of the stream set fire to and cast into it, and it 
floated along and burned the wooden bridge behind them ; 
he then attacked and routed them with great slaughter, 
and their arms being carried alojig the stream into the Ti- 
ber gave the first tidings of the victory at Rome. Tar- 
quinius passed the Anio and received the submission of the 
town of Collatia, over which he set his nephew Egerius. 
He afterwards made war on the Latins, and reduced seyeral 
of their towns. We are also told that all Etruria was forced 
to submit to his supremacy. 

Tarquinius, at peace and abounding in \v< alth, now de- 
voted his thoughts to the imi)rovement of the city. As the 
valleys between »he hills were mostly under water from the 
overflowing of the Tiber, he embanked that river, and built 
nuge sewers to drain the swamps and pools it had formed. 
The ground thus gained between the Tarpeian and the 
Palatine hills he laid out a.s a place for markets and the 
meetings of the people; the, space between the Palatine and 
the Aventine was made a race-coucse, and named the Circus 
Maximus. Tarquinius ^l60,,P0Wfiienced, building a wall of 
hewn stone around the city, and he levelled and enlarged 
bj extensive substructions thenrea of one of ♦•".e suramita 



SERVIUS TULLIUS. 23 

of the Saturhian hill for a temple which he had vowed to 
Jupiter. 

The king had reigned thirty-eight years in glory. 'Svhen 
his life was terminated by assassins hired by the sons />f his 
predecessor. The occasion was as follows. When the Latin 
town of Corniculum was taken, one of the captives, named 
Ocrisia, was placed in the service of the queen. As she was 
one day, according to usage, placing cakes on the hearth 
to the household gods, an apparition of the fire-god ap- 
peiared over the fire. She told the king and queen, and Tan- 
aquil had her instantly arrayed as a bride and shut up alone 
in the apartment. She became pregnant by the god, and 
in due season brought forth a son, who was named Servius 
Tullius. One time, the child fell asleep during the heat of 
the day in the porch of the palace, and suddenly, to the sur- 
prise of the beholders, his head was seen enveloped in flames, 
which played innocuously, and departed when he awoke. 
Tanaquil, who saw in this the favor of his divine sire, had 
him brought up with the greatest care. When he attained 
to manhood, he displayed the utmost valor in the field ; 
the king bestowed on him the hand of his daughter, and 
intrusted him with the exercise of the royal authority, and 
it was expected that he would appoint him his successor 
The sons of Ancus had hitherto borne patiently their exclu- 
sion from the throne, expecting to obtain it on the death of 
Tarquinius, who was now eighty years old; seeing, how- 
ever, the favor shown to Servius, they resolved to wait no 
longer, but to kill the king and seize the throne. They 
therefore engaged two ferocious peasants to accomplish the 
deed, and these ruffians proceeding to the palace pretended 
to quarrel ; the noise they made attracted the attention of 
the royal servants, and as they mutually appealed to the 
king for justice, they were led before him. Here, as Tar- 
quinius was listening to the one, the other gave him a deadly 
wound with an axe on the head. The murderers fled, but 
were pursued and taken. The dying monarch was brought ^ 
into the palace, which Tanaquil ordered to be shut, and then 
telling Servius that now was his time to secure the succes- 
sion, went up to a window, whence she addressed the people, 
telling them that the king's wound was not fatal, that he 
would soon recover, and that meantime Servius was to ex- 
ercise the functions of royalty. The gate was then opened, 
and Servius issued forth with the royal insignia. He took 
his seat, and administered justice, in some case* f»* onc^ in. 



64 HISTORY OF KOHE. 

Others he feigned that he would consult the king After 
some days the death of Tarquinius was made known, and 
without an interreign the royal dignity was conferred on 
Servius. Tlie Marcii, haying gained nothing but infamy 
by their crime, retired in despair to the town of Suessa 
Pometia. 

Tlie reign of Servius was, like that of Numa, one of peace, 
and only distinguished by internal legislation. Like Numa, 
too, he was favored with the love of a deity. The goddess 
Fortuna loved him and used to visit him in secret; and 
when, one timo at a later period, the temple which he had 
raised to her was burnt, the Harries, mindful of his origin, 
spared the wooden statue of the king which stood rn it. 

Servius, the poor man's friend, paid out of his royal treas- 
ure the debts of such as were reduced to poverty ; he re- 
deemed those whose labor was pledged for debt, and he 
assigned the people portions out of the conquered lands. 
He also divided all the people into classes, regulated by 
property, so that each person should contribute to the sup- 
port and defence of the state in proportion to the stake he 
had in it.* This able prince, moreover, brought about a 
federal union with the thirty Latin towns in which the su- 
premacy w;ls accorded to Rome ; and, as was usual in such 
cases, a common temple was built to Diana (the moon-god- 
dess) on the Aventine. The Sabines also joined in the 
worship at this temple. Among the cattle of a Sabine 
husbandman was an ox of prodigious size, and the sooth- 
sayers declared tirat the supreme power would be with that 
people, by one of whom this ox was sacrificed to Diana of 
the Aventine. The Sabine drove his beast to the temple 
on a proper day, and was preparing to sacrifice, when the 
Roman priest, who had heard the response, crjed out, " What, 
with unwashed hands ! The Tiber runs down below there." 
The Sabine, anxious to perform the sacrifice duly, went down 
to the river, and the crafty Roman otTered up his beast while 
he was away. The huge horns were nailed up in the ves- 
tibule, where they remained the wonder of succeeding ages- 
Warned by the fate of his predecessor, Servius endeav- 
ored to disarm the resentment of those who might fancy 
they had a claim to the throne. The late monarch had left 
two sons,t Lucius and Aruns, and Servius gave these youths 

* Thia constitution will be developed in Chapter. V. 

♦ Those who saw the difficulty in tlie poetic narrati 
soni. 



larrative said grond 



SERVIUS TULLIUS. 5<5& 

his two daughters in marriage. But the youths were differ- 
ent in temper, one being mild and gentle, the other proud 
and violent ; the king's daughters likewise were of opposite 
dispositions, and chance or the king's will had joined those 
whose tempers differed. The haughty Tullia soon despised 
her gentle mate Aruns, and placed her love on the haughty 
Lucius. An adulterous intercourse succeeded, which was 
speedily followed by the sudden deaths of those who stood 
in the way of their legal union, to which a reluctant con- 
sent was extorted from the king, now far advanced in years. 

Urged on by his unprincipled wife, Tarquinius now openly 
aspired to the kingdom. A large portion of the Patricians, 
offended at the wise and beneficent laws of the king, readily 
entered into a conspiracy against him, and Tarquinius, in 
reliance on their support, at length ventured one day to 
enter the market surrounded by armed men, and placing 
himself on the royal seat in the senate-house, ordered the 
herald to call the senate to King Tarijuinius. The senators 
came, some through fear, others already prepared for the 
event ; and he addressed them, setting forth his claims to the 
throne. Just then Servius arrived, and demanded why he 
had dared to take his seat ; the rebel made an insolent re- 
ply ; a shout was set up by their respective partisans. Tar- 
quinius, seeing tiiat he must now dare the utmost or fail, 
seized the aged king by the waist and flung him down the 
stone steps. He then returned into the senate-house ; the 
king, whose adherents had fled, rose sorely bruised, and 
slowly moved toward home ; but at the foot of the Esquiline 
(on which he resided) he was overtaken and slain by those 
sent after him by the usurper. 

Tullia, regardless of female decorum, drove in her chariot 
to the senate-house, called her husband out, and was the 
first to salute him king. He prayed her to return home ; as 
she drove, she came to where the corpse of her father was 
lying ; the mules started, the driver paused in horror and 
looked his mistress in the face. " Why doyou stop? " cried 
she. " See you not the body of your father ? " replied the 
man ; she flung the footstool at his head, he lashed on the 
mules, and the wheels passed over the monarch's body, 
whose blood spirted over the garments of the parricide. 
Ever after the street was named the Wicked, ( Vicus Scele 
ratus.) When, some time afterwards, Tullia ventured to 
enter the temple of Fortune, the statue of her father was 

;3 D 



26 HISTORY OF ROMK. 

seen to place its hands before its eyes, and cty, '* Hide my 
face ! that I may not behold my impious caughter." * 

Thus, after a reign of forty-four years, perished this best 
of kings, and with him all just and moderate government at 
Rome. 

L. Tarquiaius, named the Proud, (Stipcrbus,) resolved to 
rule by terror the empire he had acquired by crime. He 
deprived the people of all the privileges conferred on them 
by Servius; he put to death or banished such of the sena- 
tors as he feared or disliked, and like the Greek tyrants, 
surrounded himself with a body-guard of mercenaries. He 
rarely called together the diminished senate. To strengthen 
himself by external alliances, he gave one of his daughters 
in marriage to Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum, the leading 
man among the Latins. 

As the head of the Latin nation, Tarquinius summoned 
a congress to the grove of Ferentina (the usual place of 
meeting) to deliberate on matters of common weal. The 
deputies met at dawn, and waited all the day in vain for 
the appearance of the Roman monarch. Turnus Herdonius 
of Aricia, one of them, then loudly inveighed against the in- 
solence and pride which this conduct denoted, and advised 
them to separate and return to their homes. In the evening, 
however, Tarquinius arrived, and excused his delay under 
the pretext of his having had to make up a quarrel between 
a father and a son. Turnus treated this as a flimsy excuse, 
and the council was put off till the next day. During the 
night Tarquinius, who was resolved to destroy Turnus, had 
his slave bribed to convey a great number of swords secretly 
into his lodging, and a little before day he summoned a 
meeting of the deputies. His delay the precedmg day he 
declared had been most providential, for he had since dis- 
covered that Turnus had planned to kill both him and them, 
and thus become the ruler of Latiutn. He had, he under- 
stood, collected arms for that purpose, and he now prayed 
them to come and try if the intelligence was true. Their 
knowledge of Turnus' character induced them to give credit 
to the charge ; they awoke him from his sleep, the house was 
searched, the arms were found, Turnus was laid in chains 
and brought before the council ; the swords were produced, 
he was condemned untried, taken to the fount of Ferentina, 
cast in, a hurdle placed over him laden with stones, and 

• Grid, Fa»ti, vi. 613. 



L. TAB^UINiUS SUPERBJS 2X 

thus drowned. The league with Latium w \s then solemnly 
renewed, and Tarquinius declared head of die confederacy, 
which was also joined by the Heruicans ; and a common 
festival, to be annually held at the temple of Jupiter Latiarit 
on the Alban Mount, was instituted. 

The arms of the confederates were soon turned against 
their neighbors, and Suessa Pometia, a flourishing town 
of the Volscians, was the first object of attack. The town 
was taken by storm, the inhabitants sold, the tithe of the 
booty reserved for building the temple of Jupiter, and the 
remainder distributed among the soldiers. 

The city of Gabii, which lay about twelve miles from 
Rome, relying on the strength of its walls, would not be 
included in the treaty of federation with Rome. It gave 
an asylum to the Roman exiles, and for some years the 
Romans and Gabines carried on a harassing warfare, wasting 
and plundering each other's lands. At length, treachery 
effected what force could not achieve. Sextus, the youno-est 
son of the tyrant, in concert with his father, fled to Gabii to 
seek a refuge, as he alleged, from his father's cruelty, which 
menaced his life. The simple Gabines believed the lying 
tale ; they pitied and received him. Soon they admitted 
him to their councils ; at his impulsion they renewed the 
war, which had languished ; Sextus got a command ; fortune 
every where favored him; he was at length made general ; 
the soldiers adored the chief who always led them to victory, 
and his authority in Gabii finally equalled that of Tarquinius 
at Rome, He now sent a trusty messenger to his father to 
ask him how he should act. Tarquinius received the mes- 
senger in his garden, and as he walked up and down he 
struck off the heads of the poppies with his staff, but made 
no reply. The messenger returned and told of the strange 
behavior of the king, but Sextus knew what it meant ; he 
accused some of the leading men to the people, others he 
caused to be assassinated, others he drove into exile; in 
fine, he deprived the Gabines of all their men of talent and 
wealth, and then delivered up the city, void of defence, to 
his father, 

Tarquinius now turned all his thoughts to the completion 
of the temple on the Saturnian hill. As, since the time of 
Tatius, it had been covered with the altars and chapels of 
various deities, it was requisite to obtain the consent of each 
for their removal by augury. All, save Terminus and Youth, 
readily gave it, whence it was inferred that R'iMne Would 



28 HISTORY OF ROME. 

flourish in perpetual youth, and her boundaries never re- 
cede. The fresh-bleeding head (caput) of a man was alsc 
found- as they were digging the foundation ; whence the tem- 
ple, and from it the hill, was named the Capitoliuin,* and 
It was aimounced that Rome would be the head of Italy. 
Artists came from Etruria, task-work was imposed on the 
people, and at length the united fanes of Jupiter, Juno and 
Minerva, crowned the summit of the Capitolium. 

One day a strange woman appeared before the king with 
nine books, which she offered to sell for 3U0 pieces of gold. 
Tarquinius declined the purchase ; she went away, burned 
three of them, came back and demanded the same price for 
the remainder. She was laughed at ; she burned three more, 
and still her price was the same. The king, suspecting some 
mystery, consulted the augurs, who blamed him for not 
having purchased the whole, and advised him to hesitate no 
longer. lie paid the money, the woman delivered the 
books and vanished. These books, which contained Sib- 
ylline oracles, t were placed in a stone chest in an under- 
ground cell in the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter, under 
the custody of two men of noble birth, and were directed to 
be consulted in emergencies of the state. 

But prodigies sent by Heaven soon came to disturb the 
tyrant's repose. While a sacrifice was being offered one 
day in the palace, a serpent came out of the altar, put out 
the fire and seized the flesh that was on it.| Tarquinius, 
appalled at such an event, sent his two eldest sons, Titus 
and Aruns, to Greece to consult the Delphic oracle, then so 
renowned. The royal youths were accompanied by their 
cousin L.Junius, surnamed Brutus, (Fool ;) (or when the 
tyrant put the elder brother of the Junii to death for his 
wealth, Lucius, to save his life, had counterfeited folly ; eat- 
ing, in proof of it, wild figs and honey. § 

The Pythia, on hearing the prodigy, replied that the 
king would fall when a dog spake with a human voice. || 

* The Satumian or Tarpcian hill had, on the end furthest from the 
river, two euniniits separated by a hollow. The one was the Arx or 
citadel ; the other, being enlarged by substructions or walls built round 
it and filled up within, so ns to give an area of 800 feet in compass, 
was the site of the temple. 

t That is, of the prophetic women, named Sibyls by the Greeks 
The Sibylline books jf the Romans were in Greek. 

t Ov. Fasti, ii. 71 . 

§ Macrobius, Sat i. 16. 

{| Zonaras, ii. 11. 



TALE OF LUCKETIA. 29 

The Tarquinii then asked which of them should reign at 
Rome. " He who first kisses his mother," was the response. 
They agreed to keep this a secret from Sextus, and to de- 
cide by lot between themselves. But Brutus, who had oifered 
to the god his staff of cornel-wood, which he had secretly 
filled with gold emblematic of himself, divined the meaning 
of the oracle ; as they came down the hill he pretended to 
stumble and fall, and as he lay he kissed the earth, the 
common mother of all. 

In the palace garden stood a stately plane-tree in 
which two eagles had built their nest. One day, in the 
absence of the parent birds, vultures came, threw the 
eaglets out of the nest, and drove off the old birds on their 
return. The king also dreamed that two rams were brought 
to him at the altar, he chose the finer for sacrifice, the other 
then cast him down with its horns, and the sun turned back 
from east to west.* In vain was the tyrant warned to be- 
ware of the man who seemed stupid as a sheep ; fate would 
tread its path. 

Tarquinius had laid siege to Ardea, a city of the Rutu- 
lians built on a steep, insulated hill. As from its situation 
it could only be reduced by blockade, the Roman army lay 
in patient inactivity at its foot. The king's sons diverted 
their leisure by mutual banquets, at one of which, given by 
Sextus, they and their cousin Collatinus, son of Egerius of 
Coilatia, fell into a dispute respecting the virtues of their 
wives. Collatinus, who warmly maintained the superiority of 
his Lucretia, proposed that they should mount their horses 
and go and take their wives by surprise. Warm with wine, 
the youths assented ; they rode to Rome, which they reached 
at nightfall, and found the royal ladies revelling at a ban- 
quet ; they thence sped to Coilatia, and, though it was late 
in the night, Lucretia sat spinning among her maidens. The 
'prize was yielded at once to her, and with cheerfulness and 
modesty she received and entertained her husband and his 
cousins. 

Unhappy Lucretia ! thy simple modesty caused thy ruin. 
Sextus, inflamed by the sight of such virtue and beauty 
united, conceived an adulterous passion, and a few days 
afterwards he came, attended by a single slave, to Coilatia. 
Lucretia entertained him as her husband's kinsman, and a 
chamber was assigned him for the night. He retired; and 

* Attius in Cic. de Div. i. 22. 



so HISTORy OF ROME. 

when all was still he rose, took his drawn sword, and sought 
the chamber of his hostess. He awoke her, told his love, 
prayed, besought, then menaced to slay her, and with her 
his slave, and to declare that he had caught and slain her 
in the base act of servile adultery. The dread of posthumous 
disgrace prevailed where that of death could not, and she 
yielded to his wishes. In the morning Sextus, elate with 
conquest, returned to the camp. Lucretia rose from the 
scene of her disgrace, and sent trusty messengers to Ardea 
and to Rome to summon her husband and her father Lucre- 
tius. The latter came, and with him P. Valerius ; Colla- 
tinus was accompanied by L. Junius Brutus, whom he met 
by chance on the way. They found her sitting mournful 
in her chamber ; she told the direful tale, she implored them 
to avenge her, she declared her resolve to die. They sought 
to console her, urging that she was stainless in thought, 
and therefore free from guilt ; but she drew a concealed 
knife, and, ere they were aware, she had buried it in her 
heart. The husband and father gave a loud cry of grief; 
but Brutus, bursting forth from the cloud of folly which 
had hitherto enveloped him, drew the reeking weapon from 
her heart and swore on it eternal enmity to Tarquinius and 
his race. He handed the knife to the others, and all, 
amazed at the change, took the same oath. Grief gave 
place to rage; the body of Lucretia was brought out into 
the market; Brutus, pointing to her wound, excited the 
spectators to vengeance ; the youth ranged themselves 
at his side, and leaving a sufficient number to guard the 
town he hastened at their head to Rome. By virtue of 
his office as Tribune of the Celeres, he called an assembly 
of the people; he told his own story ; he told the more af- 
flicting t:ile of Lucretiti'a fate ; he dwelt on the crimes, the 
cruelty, and the oppression of the tyrant. The multitude 
took fire ; they declared royalty abolished, and Tarquinius* 
and his family exiles. Leaving Lucretius to take charge 
of the city, Brutus then hastened with a select body of men 
to the camp at Ardea. Tarquinius meantime, hearing of 
what had occurred, was on his way to Rome ; Brutus 
avoided meeting him, and was received with acclamations 
by the troops ; the tyrant finding the gates of Rome closed 
against him, retired with his family to Caere. Sextus went 
to Gabii, which he esteemed his own ; but he was there 
slain by the relations of some of those whom he had caused 
to be put to death. 



CONSPIRACY AT KOMR. 83 

Thus after a duration of twenty-five years, ended the 
reign of L. T arcuinius, the last king of Rome, in the 244th 
year from the building of the city. The anniversary of 
it, under the name of King's-flight {Regifugiuvi,) was till 
remote times celebrated on the 24th oi' February in each 
year. 

A truce was made with Ardea, and the army led back to 
Rome. An assembly was then held, the city was purified by 
sacrifices, and the people all swore upon the victims never 
to readmit the Tarquinii, or to endure a king in Rome. Two 
annual magistrates, under the name of Consuls, were placed 
at the head of the state, and the just laws of Servius were 
restored. Brutus and Collatinus were appointed to be the 
first consuls. 

Tarquinius, meantime, had not resigned all hopes of recov- 
ering his power. The exiles of his party were numerous ; 
many in the city were in his favor, and if he could obtain 
the aid of some powerful state, he yet might enter Rome a 
conqueror. He therefore applied to the Tarquinians, as 
his family had originally come from their city. They re- 
ceived him favorably, and ambassadors were sent to Rome 
to demand his restoration, or at least the property there 
belonging to himself and his friends. The senate would 
not listen to the former proposal ; but they agreed to give up 
the movable property. The ambassadors tarried at Rome 
under the pretext of collecting the property and getting 
vehicles for its conveyance, but in reality to organize a plot 
in favor of the tyrant. They had brought letters to that 
effect from the exiles to their friends and relatives ; and a 
great number of the young nobility, who could ill bear the 
authority of law and the power given to the people, and 
who regretted the license of the days of the tyrant, readily 
entered into a conspiracy to restore him. Among these 
were the two Aquilii, the nephews of Collatinus, and the 
Vitellii, the nephews of Brutus, whose own two sons, Titus 
and Tiberius, were induced to engage in the foul conspiracy 
to undo the glorious work of their father. 

The ambassadors required from them letters to the tyrant 
sealed with their signets. They met for this purpose at 
the house of the Aquilii under pretext of a sacrifice. After 
the solemn banquet they ordered the slaves to retire, and 
then with closed doors composed and wrote the letters. 
Sul one of the slaves, named Vindicius, suspecting what 
they were about, remained outside and through a slit in tho 



33 filSTORY OF ROME. 

door beheld all their proceedings. He sped away and gave 
uifoi^mation, and all the conspirators were ' seized in the 
feet. 

Early in the morning the consuls took their seats of jus- 
tice in public ; the conspirators were led before them ; Bru- 
tus, in right of his paternal authority, condemned his sons 
to death ; the lictors stripped and scourged them according 
to usage, the consul's features remained unmoved, and he 
calmly saw the axe descend and deprive his offspring of 
life. No mercy could be expected for the others; all bled 
in turn. Liberty, a gift from the treasury, and citizenship 
were the reward of the loyal slave. The rights of nations 
were respected in the ambassadors ; but the properly of the 
tyrant was given up to pillage to the people. A large field 
which he possessed outside of the city, by the Tiber, vvas 
consecrated to the god Mars. There was on it at this time 
a ripe crop of spelt • religion forl)id(ling it to be used for 
food, it was cut and cast into tlie Tiber. As the river was 
then low, the corn stopped on tiie shallows, and from the 
addition of other floating matter it gradually formed an 
island before the city. 

The jealousy of the people now extended to the whole 
Tarqiiiiiian house, and even Collatinus had to yield to the 
remonstrances of his colleague and quit Home. He re- 
tired with all his property to Lavinium, where he ended 
his days. Valerius was chosen consul in his stead, and a 
decree was passed declaring the whole Tarquinian house 
exiles. 

Tarquinius, convinced that his return could only be ef- 
fected by force, addressed himself to the Veientines, whom 
by large promises he induced to arm in his cause. Their 
troops, united with those of the Tarcpiinians and the Roman 
exiles, entered the Ronian territory on the Tuscan side of 
the Tiber ; the Romans advanced to meet them, Valerius 
commanding the foot, Brutus the horse. The enemy's 
horse was led by Tartjninius' son Aruns, who, recognizing 
the consul, spurred his horse against him. Brutus did not 
decline the combat ; rago stimulated both ; (hey thought not 
of defence ; the spear of each pierced his rival's shield and 
body, and both fell dead to the earth. A general engage- 
ment, first of tne horse, then of the foot, ensued ; the Veien- 
tines, used to defeat, turned and fled ; the Tarquinians routed 
those opposed to them. Night ended the conflict ; neither 
side owned itself vanqaished ; bnt at the dead hour of night 



DEATH OF BRUTUS. 33 

the voice of the wood-god Silvanus was heard to cry from 
the adjacent forest of Arsia that the Tuscans were beaten,, 
as one more had fallen on their side. At dawn no enemy 
was to be seen ; the Romans counted the slain, and found 
11,300 Tuscans, 11,299 Romans on the field. Valerius 
collected the spoil and returned in triumph to Rome. Next 
day the obsequies of Brutus were performed : the matrons 
of Rome mourned a year, as for a parent, for the avenger 
of violated chastity. In after-times his statute of bronze, 
bearing a drawn sword, stood on the Capitol, in the midst 
of those of the seven kings.* 

Valerius delayed the election of a successor to Brutus; he 
was moreover building himself a house of stone on the sum- 
mit of the Veliia,t above the Forum, and a suspicion arose 
that he was aimitig at the kingly power. When he heard' 
of this, he stopped the building,; the people then gave him 
a piece of ground at the foot of the hill to build on, and the 
privilege of having his doors to open back into the street. 
The honor of precedence at the public games was accorded 
to him and his posterity, as also was that of burying theii 
dead within the walls. These honors were the reward of 
the public spirit of Valerius, His object in delaying thq- 
election had been that he should not be impeded by a col-, 
league in the good measures he proposed. He convoked^ 
the curies, I before whom he lowered his fasces in acknowl- 
edgment that the consular power proceeded from them,,§, 
and proposed a law, outlawing any person who should usurp, 
the regal power. He assembled the centuries, H and had 
the right of appeal from the consuls,^ which the patricians 
had to their peers in the curies, extended to the plebeians in 
their tribes, and, as an evidence of this right, directed that 
no axes should be borne in the fasces within the city. He 
then held the ,cQn§ujar,^lpctio;ii,§p,. ^UjCf;9^ii|s,\y^xhj9^|n, 
' ■ ur.ii ,jllr.y7 fdth.ii K (I'nii : <)'.r.<i>i hi vlivrMd 

* Plutarch, BtutUkl. See also Dion dassiHS, xliii; 45;' ^ Ovid, Fasti- 
VI 624. • _ • ' : 

t The Velia was a ridge running fr">m the Palatine to the Esquiliiie. 

t " Vocato ad coiuiUum popul.o," Llv. ii. 7. For the meaning of 
populus, see helow, Ch. V. ' 

§ Henee he was named Poplicola, i. e. Publicus. <' The rififht un* 
derstanding of .the word pnpuhis dissipates tlie fancy that Fo/ilicol<f^ 
was the designation of a demagogue like Pericles, who coiirted the 
iavor of the multitude." Niebuhr, i. p. .521. " ' '.^ '" . 

ilCicerodeRepii.nl. ■:■; •-,■;:■::>, 

it The right of appeal for both on!\r extended to a mile from tha 
city ; the unlimited iinperium began there 

E 



34 HISTORY OF ROME. 

but he dying shortly after, M. Horatius was elected. As 
the temple of Jupiter was now finished, the lot was to decide 
which consul should dedicate it : fortune favored Horatius 
Valerius went to war against the Veientines, but his kinsmen, 
vexed that such an honor should f;dl to Horatius, sought to 
impede the ceremony. He had laid hold of the door-post, 
according to usage, and was pronouncing the prayer, when 
one came crying, " Thy son is dead, thou canst not dedicate 
it;" one word of lamentation had broken the ceremony. 
" Let the corpse be brought forth," replied he calmly, and 
concluded the prayer and the dedication. 

The banished tyrant now applied to Lars Porsenna, lord 
of Clusium, the most powerful prince of Etruria. The 
Tuscan, fired at the idea of extending his sway beyond the 
Tiber, set his troops in motion. He suddenly appeared at 
the Janiculan ; those who guarded it fled over the Sublician 
bridge into the city ; the Tuscans pursued ; they reached the 
bridge ; but Horatius Codes, who had the charge of guard- 
ing it, and two other heroes, Sp. Larcius and T. Herminius, 
there met and withstood them. At the command of Hora- 
tius those behind broke down the bridge ; he forced his two 
brave mates to retire, the Tuscans raised a shout and sent 
a shower of darts, which he received on his shield; they 
rushed on to force the passage, a loud crash and a shout 
behind told that the bridge was broken; Horatius, calling 
on Father Tibrr to receive his soldier, plunged into the 
stream, armed as he was ; in vain the Tuscans showered 
their darts ; he reached the fiirtlier side in safety. Though 
suffering at the time from famine, the citizens gave him each 
a portion of his corn, and the republic afterwards bestowed 
on him as much land as he could plough round in a day, 
and erected his statute in the Comitium. 

Porsenna encamped along the Tiber ; the famine pressed 
heavily at Rome: then a noble youth, named C. Mucius, 
conceived the thought of delivering his country. He went 
to the senate, and craved permission to pass over to the 
Tuscan camp. Leave was granted ; he concealed a dagger 
beneath his garments, and crossed the Tiber. He entered 
a crowd collected around the king, who was issuing pay tr> 
his troops : at the side of Porsenna, habited nearly as the 
king, sat his secretary busily engaged. Mucius, fearing tn 
inquire which was Porsenna, struck his weapon into the 
secretary, whom he took for the king. He turned, and 
tried to *orce his way through the throng but he was seized 



WAR WITH PORSENNA- 35 

and dragged before Porsenna's judgment-seat. He told his 
name and country boldly, adding, that many noble youths 
were prepared to act as he had done. Porsenna, terrified, 
threatened to burn him alive if he did not make an ample 
confession. There was a fire on an altar close by ; Mucius 
thrust his right hand into it, and held it there with an un- 
moved countenance. The king in amaze leaped from his 
seat, had him removed from the altar, and gave him his life 
and liberty. Mucius then told him that he was one of three 
hundred youths who had sworn his death ; the lot had first j 

fallen on him, but that each would take his turn. He re- 
turned to Rome, and he was afterwards rewarded by a grant 
of land, similar to that of Horatius Codes. He and his t 

posterity bore the name of Scaevola, {Left-handed,) to com- i 

memorate his daring deed. 

Ambassadors from Porsenna came soon after to propose a j 

peace. The interests of Tarquinius were neglected by his j 

ally, who only required that the Romans should give the j 

Veientines back their lands. These terms were accepted, ' 

and ten patrician youths, and as many maidens, were sent ' 

as hostages into the Tuscan camp. But Clcelia, one of the \ 

maidens, urged her companions to attempt escape ; and she | 

and they, eluding their guards, plunged into the Tiber and \ 

swam across. Porsenna sent to demand their restoration : I 

the senate sent them back, and the admiring monarch gave \ 

Cloelia leave to select such of the hostages of thp other sex I 

as she wished, and presented her with a horse anu trappings; | 

and the Romans afterwards raised an equestrian statue in | 

her honor. When Porsenna was departing, he presented 
the Romans with his well-stored camp on the Janiculan. 
The senate in return sent him an ivory throne, a sceptre and 
crown of gold, and a triumphal robe, such as their kings 
were wont to wear. 

Some time after Porsenna sent his son ArUns with an 
army against Aricia, one of the chief towns of Latium. 
The Aricines were aided by the other Latins and by the 
Greeks of Cumae in Campania: the Tuscans were defeated, 
and their general slain. The fugitives met with such kind 
treatment at Rome, that many of them remained there, and 
built the Tuscan Street, [Vicus Tuscus ;) and Porsenna, not 
to be outdone in generosity, gave back the hostages and the 
lands beyond the Tiber. 

Tarquinius had finally taken refuge with his son-in-law at 
Tusculum, and he at length succeeded in inducing the Latin 



36 HISTOKY 01 ROME. 

federation to arm in his cause. As the two nations had long 
been closely Qonuected, a year's truce was agreed on to ar- 
range all private affairs; and permission was given to the 
women of each .people, who had marr-^ed into the other, to 
return to tlieir friends. All the Roman women came to 
Rome, and but two of the Latins departed from it. 

The shores of tlie Lake Regillus, in the lands of Tuscu- 
lum, witnessed the last effort in the cause of the Tarquinii. 
The Romans were commanded by the dictator, A. Postu- 
mius> and the master of the horse,* T. /Ebutius ; the Latins 
were led by Octavius Mamilius. King 'J'arquinius, regard- 
less of his advanced age, headed the Roman exiles; and as 
soon as he beheld the dictator, he spurred hia.horso against 
him, but a wound in the side from the spear of Postumius 
forced him to retire. On the other wiiig, yli^butius ran 
against Mamilius; the former had an arm broken; the Latin 
was struck iu the breast, but, uninjured by the bh)w, he 
brought up the corps of exiles, and the Romans began to 
give way. M. Valerius, the brother of Poplicola^ ran at the 
younger Tarcjuinius; the prince drqw back, Valerius ru.shed 
among the exiles, and fell piercc4 by » spear; tlie two eons 
of Poplicola perished iu Uic attempt fn recover his body. 
The dictator, now falls Oil the exiles,. ;i;»d routs th^nj ; RLi- 
milius brings troops to tlieir aid; he ,ia 'iiiet,and slain by 
T. Herminius, who himself receives a mortal wound as he is 
stripping th^ body of the slain. The dictator Uies to the 
horse, and implores thcni to dismount and restore the battle; 
they obey; ftred by. their example, the foot clrarge once 
more; the, Latins turn and fly ; Uie Romnn /horse remount 
and pursue, .and the., Latin cjiti(ip is takqn. During the 
battle, the dictator vowetl ,a tpjnple to .Custor and Pollin. 
Two youths of great size were seen ip,iountcil on white 
horses in the van of the fight, and ere the pursuit, )v,as over, 
they appeared at Rmno, covgrcd with blood and dirt, washed 
themselves and tV^ir arms at the fount of Juturna, by the 
templje of Vesta. i and having announced the victory, dis- 
appeaTcd. After-ages beheld on a basaltic rock,'by Uie Lake 
Regillus, the print of a horse's. hoof t 

Tarquinius fled to Cumoe, whose tyrant Aristodtynu? gav« 
him a friendy reception. . He died in that town, and ,wjtll 
aim expired ail hope^s^pfreij^t^hli^hing- royalty a^ Rome. , 

. r .■■••■ ,■ ,' ',, ! 

• These offices will be explamed in the sequel-' 
t Cicero de Nat. Deor. ili. 5. 



THE REGAL PERIOD OF ROME. 37 



CHAPTER IV. 

TUB REGAL PERIOD OF ROME, ACCORDING tO TH& TIEWS OF 

y , . ' .'.i .'Nffl:»C»R.li'' : ^'-y 

'.i. ..:' ,u::i <:',- .1; lii jnu lu; u; 

Such are the earlier events of the history of Rome, aa 
they were sung in the poetic Annals of Ennius, and related 
by Fabius Pictor, the father of Roman history. That they 
are mythic and semimythic must be at once discerned by 
every one who is acquainted with the character of early 
home-sprung liistory ; but we are not thereby entitled to 
view them with contempt, and fling them away as useless. 
They have been closely interwoven into the institutions and 
literature of the state, and therefore must be known; and it is 
only by means of them that the real history can be divined ; 
nor should the deligbt which they afford the imagination, 
and the exercise which they furnish for the powers of the 
mind in general be overlooked. We therefore make no 
apology for having lingered among thern. 

Nearly a century ago, this character of the early Roraar 
history was discerned by Beaufort, who, however, carried his 
scepticism somewhat too far. The fullest and most satisfac- 
tory examination of it was reserved for our own days; and 
the learning, the labors, and the sagacity of Niebuhr have 
altered the whole face of the early Roman story. We will 
now briefly give his views of the portion of the history 
above narrated.* 

The war of Troy is so corapleitely mythic, that we cannot 
with safety regard any portion of it as strictly historical. 
The voyage of iEneas to Latium' is therefore entitled to 
little more credit than the tale of his divine birth ; yet, in 
the opinion of Niebuhr, it is no Grecian invention, but a 
domestic Roman tradition. It is, he thinks, indebted for 
its origin to the circumstance of the original population of 
both Troy and Latium being Pelasgian. As the religion of 
the whole of this race was the same, and the sacred isle of 
Samothrace a place of common pilgrimage, those who met 
there, such, for example, as the Lavinians of Latium and 
the Gergethians of Mount Ida, may have easily accounted 



* In the text of this and the next ehitpter we confine ourBelves to 
Niebuhr's views. Our own remarks and those of others will be placed 

in the notes. 

4 



38 HISTCHY OF ROME 

f<)r their siniiltrity '^f faith and institutions, by supposing 
the more distant oi.es to be colonies from Asia ; and the 
destruction of Troy and dispersion of its inhabitants offered 
a ready derivation of the colonies. It was, then, no diffi* 
cult matter to make an ignorant people, like the early 
Romans, believe in an origin thus calculated to do them 
honor. 

The succession of Alban kings* from lulus to Numitor 
is a pure fiction, intended to fill up the space which the 
Greek chronology gave between the fall of Troy and the 
building of Rome. Alba stood at the head of thirty towns, 
[Populi Albenses,) and was in union with the confederation 
of the thirty Latin towns. She had the supremacy, and 
all shared in the fiesh of a victim, annually slain on the 
Alban mount. Lavinium was founded by settlers sent 
from the thirty Alban and thirty Latin towns, (ten from 
each,) and, like the Panionion, it was so named as being the: 
seat of cougress of the Latins, who were also called La- 
vines.t 

The Siculans, Tyrrhenians, Aborigines, or however the 
early P«lasgian inhabitants of Latium may have been named, 
dwelt in villages on eminences which might be easily de- 
fended. Tluis beyond the Tiber there was Vaticum, or 
Vatica.l and another, whose name is unknown, stood on 
the summit of the Janiculan. On the Palatine was a town 
named Roma, and on the Cselian another, which we have 
reason to think was named Lucer or Lucerum ; and further 
down the river >§i probably anotlicr called Remuria ; while on 
the Quirinal and Tarpeian above Ron)a, being separated by 
a swamp and marsh from the Palatine, was anotlier town 
named Cluirium. This last belonged to the Sabines, who 
had extended themselves thus far along the Tiber. Roma 
was probably one of the towns that acknowledged the su- 
premacy of Alba, and warfare of course was frequent be- 
tween it and Quijrivipi, and the former would appear to 
k .U'.i 

* The names of these kings in Livy are, SilviuB, ^ncas, Latfnus, 
Alba, Atvs, Capys, Capetus. Tiberinus. A^rippa, Romulus, Aven- 
tinus, Proca», Numitor. and Amutius. The lista in Dionysius and 
Ovid (iMet. xir. 609: F^sU, iv. 41) difer slightly from this. 

t Turr.us, Latinus, and Lavinia are nothingr but personifications of 
Tyrrhenians, Latins, and Lavines. 

t For there was an ag sr , jVutuanufi, aJB^, as nunoerous examplm 
rfio\%'.4his infers a town. , ;• • '^ 

§ Not on Uie Aventine, jr then Roma could have had no territonr 



THJi REGAL PERIOD OF ROME. 39 

have at length become subject to lie latter. The tale of 
the rape of thj Sabine maidens,* jnd the consequent war, 
may represent how at one time there had been no right of 
intermarriage (connubhim) between the two towns, and how 
the subject one, by force of arms, raised itself to an equality 
in civil rights, and even acquired the preponderance. When 
the two were united^ they built the double Janus on the 
road leading from the Quirinal to the Palatine, with a door 
facing each. It was open in time of war for mutual suc- 
cor, shut in time of peace to prevent quarrels, or in proof 
of the towns being distinct, though united. 

For some time each town had its own king, senate, 
and popular assembly, and they used to meet on occasions 
of common interest on the Comitium, in the valley between 
the two towns. At length, as the two peoples coalesced 
more and more, and the danger from Etruria or Alba became 
more pressing, they agreed to have but one senate, one 
assembly, and one king, to be chosen alternately by one 
people out of the other. On all solemn occasions the two 
combined peoples were now styled Populus Romdnus et 
Quirites.f 

In early antiquity, almost every state was divided into 
tribes, resulting from conquest or from difference of origin. 
We might therefore expect to find this the case in the 
present instance ; and accordingly we learn that the Ro- 
mans formed a tribe named Ramnes, and the Sabines one 
named Titienses. But we meet a third, the Luceres, whose 
origin it is much more difficult to ascertain. Another form 
of the name, however, Lucertes, leads to the supposition of 
their being the inhabitants of a town named Lucer or Lu- 
cerum, which is to be sought on the Cselian, which be- 
longed to Roma in the time of Romulus, that is, befdre its 
union with Q,uirium ; for it was here that Tullus Hostilius 
placed the Albans, and a branch of the Roman people is 

* In the more ancient form of tlie legend there are but thirty 
maidens, who are, therefore, nothing but personifications of the names 
of the Curies. 

t Or, after the old Roman manner, Populus Romanus Quirilcs, 
which was afterwards corrupted to Populus Romanus Quiritium: see 
above, p. 4. The fixedness of the Roman character showed itself even 
in the retention of old names and forms ; a name was never let go out 
of U3e so long as an object to apply it to could be found. Thus, when 
the distinction between the two original component parts of me 
Rom!in jeople had ceased, the term Quirites was retained, and applied 
.0 th \ Plebs ! 



assT^'e(i to TuIIiis, as the Ranines and Titienses are to Romu 
lui^' atid Numa, and the Plebs to Ancus, and none remains 
foi" him but the Luceres. These were of" Latin origin, and 
were siubject to the Romans. They long continued inferior 
to the otlier two, and were not admitted to the deliberations 
on the Comitium. 

The whole legend of Romulus and Remus is purely hiy- 
thic. When Rome became a state of some importance, its 
people naturally looked back and sought to trace its origin. 
It is probable that at this time they had some knowledge 
of Grecian literature ; and a^ the Greeks had adopted the 
practice of deriving the names in their topography from 
those of supposed kings and princes, the Romans inferred 
that their city must have "been founded by a Romus or Rom- 
ulus.* If, as is above hinted, there was a town named 
Remuria in the neighborhood, whose people were of the 
s&m'e race as thetnselves, and had been sometimes at peace, 
sometimes at war with them, and had finally been overcome, 
they might have inferred that Remus, its founder, had been 
the twin-brother of Romulus, and was slain by him in a fit 
of anger. The notion of their city having been founded by 
twins would gather strength from the circumstance of their 
state having all along developed itself in a double form. 
That the legend grew up on the spot is proved by the wolfs 
den, the Ruminal fig-tree, and the other local circumstances. 
Gradually, as is always the case, the story received various 
additions, and the legends of other countries were perhaps 
transferred to it, and it thus assumed the form in which it 
hcis been transmitted to us.t 

U^ i i I !<• Hit. 

* One acquaiiiU'd willi mythologj^ will not bo easily led to believe 
that, in remote antiquity, countries and towns were named from per- 
sons. The Greek logographerB gave vogue to litis notion, of which 
no trace appears in Homer or liesiod ; but the first town really named 
after a man was Philippi, after Philip of Macedonia. (See History 
of Greece, p. ikT) 

t The tale of the exposure of the twins, and tlieir preservation, re- 
lYiinds us at once of the legend of Cj'rus, and of those of Asclepifis, 
Paris, and others in Grecian mythology- ^^ niore closely resembles 
the fberian legend of Habis, (Justin, .\liv.) which last is e.\treniely 
similar to that of Orson in the romance. It is remarkable that many 
name? in the early Roman legends seem to be of Greek origin. Thus 
we have Evander, (GonH-vwn.) Ct\c»s, {Bnd.) Amulius, (Cunninir, 
aii0^Xoc.) Numitor and Numa, (LaTrful, rvftoc.) It does not, how 
ever, hence follow that the legendary history of Rome was the inven 
tfon'of the Greeks ; the Romans themselves may have had a fondness, 
oven in the eaily ages, for using Greek names. 



THE REGAL PERIOD OF ROME. 41 

Numa, like Romulus, is an ideal personage, the symbol 
of the early religious institutions of the state. As these 
were chiefly Sabine, he was made to be of that nation, but 
ill the original legend he must have been a native of Q,ui- 
rium, not of Cures. v^ 

The purely mythic portion of Roman story terminates 
with Numa. The dawn of reality begins to glimmer with 
the reign of Tullus Hostilius. That Alba was destroyed, 
and that a portion of its population migrated to Rome, are 
liistofic facts ; but the probability is, that the Romans and 
Latins in conjunction took Alba and divided its territory 
and people ; for it was the Italian law of nations that the 
lands of the vanquished became the property of the con- 
queror, and we find the territory about Alba belonging to 
the Latins, not to the Romans. Or Alba may have been 
destroyed by the Latins alone, and its people have sought 
refuge at Rome. 

The reign of Ancus offers none of the features of poetry ; 
the events which it contains are all historical, though they 
may not all belong to that time. 

With Tarquinius Priscus the poetic history reappears. 
The Corinthian, and even the Etruscan, origin of this prince 
is apparently mere fiction ; while his surname of Priscus, 
Caia Caecilia the name of his wife in an old legend, and 
the fact of there being a Tarquinian house at Rome, testify 
strongly for his Alban, that is, Latin origin. For, as has 
been shown above,* the Pris^ans were a people united with 
the Latins, like the Quirites with the Romans ; and as the 
names Auruncus, Siculus, and others, afiixed to those of per- 
sons in the early ages of Rome, denote from what people 
they sprang, that of Priscus could only have been attached 
to a person of Priscan origin. t Moreover as the Servilii, 
with whom Priscus was a surname, were one of the Alban 
houses on the Cfelian, and therefore belonged to the Lu- 
ceres, it seems to follow that the Tarquinii also belonged 
to this tribe, and of this sufficient proofs appear. Caia 
Cecilia's name, for instance, refers us to Praeneste, said to 
have been built by Caeculus the Eponymus, or heroic fc under 
of her house. ,, lii .flftorepver,. Tarquinius ,, was pf ,41)^^1 

* See p. 4. •' '■"- "'' • ■■'•' 

f To ns it appears more probable that PrLcus nnd iupfrbns were 
filfst used in after-times, and after the former haa gotten the significa- 
tion oi old, to distinguish the Tarquinii. If Priscus was a cognomen 
it would have adhered to the family. 

4 * F 



42 HISTORY OF ROME. 

extraction, the wo-ship of the Greek gods at the Roman 
games, said to have been introduced by him, and so inex- 
plicable on the theory of his being an Etruscan, becomes 
easy of solution ; for the Albans, though mixed with Pris- 
cans, were mainly Tyrrhenians, and the religion of Rome 
had been hitherto chiefly Sabine. 

The poetic legend of Servius Tullius is utterly at variance 
with the following passage in a speech of the Emperor 
Claudius, who was well acquainted with Etruscan litera- 
ture.* " According to our annals," says he, " Servius Tul- 
lius was the son of the captive Ocrisia ; if we follow the 
Tuscans, he was the faithful follower of Ca;les Vivenna, 
and shared in all his fortunes. At last, being overpowered 
through a variety of disasters, he quitted Elruria with the 
remains of the army that had served under Caeles, went to 
Rome, and occupied the Caelian hill, calling it so after his 
former commander. He exchanged his Tuscan name Mas- 
tarna for a Roman one, obtained the kingly power, and 
wielded it to the great good of the state." Still the truth 
of this statement is not to i)e at once acquiesced in. Clau- 
dius was a man of no judgment ; Etruscan annals contin- 
ued to be written down at least to the time of Sulla, 
when Elruria lost her independence; each annalist, without 
having any new sources of knowledge, expanded and en- 
larged the accounts of his predecessors; there may have 
been an old tale of a chief named Mastarna retiring to and 
settling at Rome, and some annalist may have chosen to 
assert that he was Servius Tullius. It moreover does not: 
follow that this account gained general credence even in 
Etruria. It is to be remarked, that among the Luceres 
there was a house of the Tullii, which would seem to make 
Servius, like Tarquinius, one of them. t 

" The legends of Tarquinius and Servius, however," saya 
Niebuhr, " ckarly imply that there was a time when Rome 
received Tuscan institutions from a prince of Etruria, and 
was the great and splendid capital of a powerful Etruscan 



* It was on two brazen tables, found at Lyons in the 16th century. 

t There is something very strjng'e in a leader of mercenary troops, 
like the Charid/imuses of Greece, the Sforzas and Braccios of modern 
Italy, being the author of a wise and beneficent system of legislation, 
■ucii as that of Servius Tullius. Is there any other instance of the 
total rejection of a foreign, and the assumption of a Roman name, in 
the early ages .'' The change of Atvus Clausus to Appiuf Claudius, 
even if real, is of quite a different kind. 



J 



THE REGAL PERIOD OF ROME. 43 

Btate." Perhaps Veil, or one of the adjoining Tuscan sta es. 
conquered Rome; perhaps Cseles or Mastarna, or some 
other Tuscan leader, got the government .nto his hands ; * 
possibly it may have been the transient dominion of Por- 
senna, presently to be noticed.! 

The tragic fate of Servius and the crimes of TuUia are, 
perhaps, purely imaginary events ; this much, however, is 
certain that the noble system of legislation which bears his 
name was rendered abortive by a counter-revolution ; wheth- 
er it was attended with bloodshed and atrocities or not, 
is a matter of little importance. 

The whole poetic tale of the last Tarquinius is full of 
inconsistencies and contradictions. Thus Brutus, we are 
told, was of the same age with the king's sons, and was re- 
garded as an idiot. We may therefore suppose him not to 
have been more than five-and-twenty at the time of the rev- 
olution, yet he had grown-up sons at that time, and 
though a natural, was invested with one of the highest of- 
fices in the state, the tribunate of the Celeres, and could 
therefore convene assemblies and exercise sacerdotal func- 
tions ! His name probably gave occasion to the tale of his 
idiotcy, which tale knew nothing of his office, and the an- 
nalists, as usual, heedlessly combined the two accounts. 

The narrative of the taking of Gabii is evidently made 
up from two stories in Herodotus,^: and is quite irrecon- 

* Sforza, from a leader of mercenaries, became duke of Milan by 
marrying the daughter of the last of the Visconti. 

t Niebuhr is certainly perplexed about the Tuscan dominion at 
Rome, especially as he rejects the Tuscan origin of the Tarquinii. 
Mailer (i. 118 — 123) thinks that at a time when the city of Tarquinii 
had extended her supremacy over all Etruria, she also ruled over 
Rome and a part of Latium. Hence he explains the walls, sewers, 
Capitoline temple, built on the Tuscan scale of magnitude, and the 
Grecian games, &c., for Tarquinii was intimately connected with 
Corinth. Mastarna, at the head of an army from Volsinii, the enemy 
of Tarquinii, conquered Rome, and gave it a new constitution ; but his 
government was overthrown by the Tarquinians, and finally Lars Por- 
senna of Clusium put an end to the dominion of Tarquinii, conquering 
Rome among other places belonging to her. This writer, therefore, 
supposes the Tuscan dominion at Rome to have lasted a century. 
After all, we may ask, is there any absolute necessity for supposing it 
at all ? 

t That of Zopyrus, (iii. 154,) and the counsel given to Periander by 
Thrasybillus, (v. 92.) A Spanish abbot gave the same counsel to 
Ramirez king of Arragon, (Mariana, x. 16,) and Pope John VIII. gave 
it to Charlei) the Bald, of France, and Theodoric, count of Holland. 
(Scriverius Batavia Vetus.) The pope and abbot had no doubt rea^ 
Livy. 



44 HISTORY OF ROME. 

cilable with the fact of the treaty with that town which RX 
isted even in the time of Augustus, written on a bullVhide 
stretched on a shield. In like manner, the war with Ardea 
rnust be a baseless fiction ; for, as will appear, it was at 
the lime of the expulsion a Latin town subject to Rome. 
The tale of Lucretia rnay or may not be a fiction ; but the 
oath of the four Romans is plainly symbolical of the union 
between the three Patrician tribes and the Plebs against the 
tyran ; Lucretius being a Ramnes, Valerius a Titiensis, 
Collatinus a Lucer, and Brutus a Plebeian.* The consulate 
of Collatinus, a Tarquinius, looks like a compromise with 
the powerful house to which he belonged, allowing that one 
of them, to be chosen by the people, should share in the 
supreme power : but the-' whole house was banished shortly 
afterwards. t 

Of the war with Porsenna, not a single incident can be 
t^gnnled as a portion of real history , Porsenna himself was 
a mythic hero of Etruria, probably belonging to the ante- 
Historic times, possibly connected in the Roman tradition 
with the war in which Rome fell before the Tuscan arms. 
For Rome actually had to surrender to a Tuscan power, to 
give back all the lands beyond the Tiber, and her citizens 
were prohibited the use of iron except for agricultural pur- 
po^es.j: But when the Tuscans were defeated before Aricia, 
the Romans rose and recovered their independence, but not 
the ceded lands. Then it may have been that property be- 
longing to the Tuscan lord in the city was sold by auction, 
which may have given rise to the symbolic custom of selling 
♦he goods of King Porsenna. 

The battle of the Regillus is thoroughly Homeric, with 
its single combats of heroes, and gods sharing openly in it. 
It closes the Lay of the Tarqtuns;^ thevvbole generation 
who had been warring with each other since the crime of 
Sextus II perish in it; " the manes of Lucretia are appeased, 
and tjhe men^of the heroic age depart out of tAe world, be- 
— .■,,■; r. :.,,..■.. •i'-!,.,i'';,/ '>,'',."■'., 

* The Jcnii were always a plebeian house. Nicbuhr (iii. 41, Ger- 
man) would seem to have regarded Brutus as the tribune of the ple- 
beian knights. 

•f The atory of th« slave Vindicius is aiiction, to give a historical 
origin to the custom of emancipating slaves by tiie Vindicla. 

X TaoUus. Hist. iii. 72. Pliny, H. N. xx.xiv. 3D 

§ So Niebuhr names it after the Kihelungen Lied,i. e. Lay of the 
Nibelungs, a celebrated German poem. 

II According to one account Sextus was killed in this battle. 



THE KOMAN CONSTITUTION. 45 

fore injustice begins to domineer, and gives hirth to inaurr 
rection in the state which they Jiad delivered." -._■,. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OP THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION 
ACCORDING TO NIEBUHR. 

In the preceding chapter we have given a sketch of 
Niebuhr's views of the history of Rome in the regal period. 
We now proceed to give some of his ideas on the origin alid 
development of the constitution during the same time. 

No institution in ancient times was more general than 
that of the division of a people into tribes.* These were 
either genealogical or local; the former were the more an- 
cient kind, and mostly arose from a difference of origin ante- 
cedent to their political union. These tribes were divided 
into a certain number of Houses, (G&ntes,) each of which 
again was composed of a greater or lesser number of Fami- 
lies, (FamilicB.) The territory of the state was divided 
among the tribes, and thus the genealogic tribes must have 
been local ones also at the time of their formation : but this 
local position was not their bond' of union. ,'' 

To apply this principle to Rorae. When :Roma and Qui- 
rium united, their inhabitants, under the name of Ramnes 
and Titienses, formed two tribes, equal in all respects, save 
that the former had the precedence in rank ; the third tribe 
(for there must have been three)t was the Luceres, who, as 
previously subordinate to the Romans, were not yet placed 
on an equality with the former two. This inferiority of the 
Luceres is proved by the circumstance of the original nunibec 
of the Vestals, the Pontiffs, the Flamdns, and the lagurs 



* For both Sparta and Athens see History of Greece, Part 1. c. v. 
and vii. • > : . 

t The word trihus, equivalent to the Greek •7>Ayie, eyidentlyi comes 
from tres, and,' like the Attic to/tti;?, indicated the original number of 
the tribes of Rome. In like manner cenlurij originally indicated 100 
(centum) houses or individuals. They both became in the courge of 
time mere terms of division, and we read of 20, 21, 30, 35 tribes, and 
centuries of even 30 persons. ■■ . , • 



46 HISTORY OF ROME. 

being four, two for each of the superior tribes, and by other 
similar divisions in the state. Hence the members of tlie 
first two tribes were called those of the Greater Houses, 
{Majorum Gentium,) — those of the latter, of the Lesser 
Houses, [Minorum Gentium.)* 

Each tribe was divided into ten Curies, {Curia;,) and each 
Cury contained ten Houses, {Ginfcs.) Each tribe was pre- 
sided over by its Tribune ( Tribunus) who was its leader in 
the field, its priest and magistrate at home. Each Cury had 
in like manner its Curion, {Curio,) whose title in the field 
was Centurion, as he commanded a hundred {cciituni) men 
in the original Roman armv. 

The members of a house, though bearing the same name, 
are not to be regarded as kinsmen. t Their union was 
solely a political one ; it was kept up by common sacred 
rites, at stated times and places, to the expense of which 
all its members contributed. The Gentiles (?. e. the mem- 
bers of the house or gens) were bound to aid one another 
in paying fines, ransoms, etc. ; and if a man died without 
kin and intestate, his property wont to his Gentiles. These 
members of the houses of the three tribes formed the 
burghers or original citizens of Rome. Their common 
names seems to have been Celeres : J they were also called 
Patres, Patroni and Patricians, from the following cause. 

The states of antiquity were extremely jealous of their 
civic rights, and slow to commimicate them to strangers; 
there moreover was not in them that equal law for the cit- 
izen and the stranger, to which rrc are accustomed. When 
therefore for the sake of trade, or from some other cause, 
a man wished to settle in a town which was at amity or in 
a federal relation with his native place, he was obliged to 
choose some citizen of his new abode as his legal protector 
and guardian. In Greece a sojourner of this kind was 
named a Metocc, at Rome he was called a Client ; the me- 
toec relation however might be dissolved at will, that of 
clientship descended to the posterity of the first client. 
The relative term to client was patron, with which Pater 

* The equpstrian centuries of Tarquiniiis, or the Con^crtptt of Brutus, 
were thought by some to be the Lesser Houses. 

f Thus the Lentuli and the Scipiones were both of the house ot 
the Cornelii, but they were never regrarded as kinsmen. 

t Celer seems to be akin to the Greek >rf/t>/c, a race-horse or riding- 
iunse. The Roman Celeres or Patricians answered to the Inniit or 
innofoxai of the Greeks. 



THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION. 47 

[Father) and P.itricius (homo) may be regarded as synony- 
mous, and denoting the paternal care which a Roman 
burgher exercised over his children, servants, and clients. 

If the client did not exercise a trade, keep a shop, or so 
forth, the patron usually granted him on his estate, two 
juffcrs of arable land, with space to build a cottage on, 
which he held as tenant at will. The patron was bound to 
relieve his client when in distress, to expound to him the 
law, both civil and religious, and to appear for him in courts 
of justice.* The client on his side was to be obedient to his 
patron, to aid him in paying fines to the state, and in bear- 
ing public burdens, to contribute to ransom him if made a 
prisoner, and to help to make up the marriage-portion of his 
daughters. Altogether this relation has a striking similar- 
ity to that of lord and vassal in the feudal times, which in 
all probability was derived from it. 

The Patricians or burghers formed the general assembly 
or Populus.f They met on the place called the Comitium, 
and they voted by curies, whence the assembly was named 
Comitia Curidta. The votes taken in the curies were those 
of the houses, not of individuals. 

No state in antiquity was without its senate ; that of 
Rome was composed of representatives, one for each of the 
houses, and consequently contained at first 100, then 200, 
and finally 300 members. It was divided into decuries, 
corresponding to the number of the curies, and therefore 
gradually increasing in number from ten to tnirty. The 
Ramnes had the superiority in the senate also ; ten persons, 
one from each of their decuries, were named the Ten First 
[Decern prinii) of the senate. On the death of a king, these 
ten formed a board, each member of which enjoyed for five 

" Hence lawyers still call those who employ them their clients. 

\ The following passages of Livy prove that the populus was distinct 
from the plehs. " A plebc, consensu jmpuli, consulibus negotiiim 
mandatur," iv. 51. " Non populi scd phhis magistratum," ii. 56. 
" Prajtor is qui populo plehiqiir, jus dabit summum," xxv. 12. In 
Cicero's Epistles we meet the following superscriptioiis, (Ad Divers, x. 

8:) Pl-ANCUS IMP. CONS. DES. S. D. COSS. PR. TRIB. PLEB. SEN. POP. 

PL. q. R., and (Id. x. 3.5) Lepidus imp. iter. pont. max. s. d. senat. 
POP. PI-. Q. K. Fabius and Dion Cassias, as appears from Diodorus 
nnd Zonaras, used i^ifioc for ■populus, nifj&oc for plehs. SeeNiebuhr, i. 
117, and ii. 1G8, note. We think that these passages ait ijuite demon- 
strative on the subject. It js impossible to explain them on tiie theory 
of the populus being the whole, the plebs a part of the people. See 
also Cic. Muren. 1. Verres, v. 14. Ad. Divers, viii. 8. Dion. lii. 20., 
liii. 21., Iv. 34. 



48 HISTORY OF HOME. 

days, as Interrex, {Between-kin^,) the royal power and dig- 
nity. If al the end of fifty days no king was elected, the 
rotation of Interrexes commenced anew. ■! 

When the King (Hex) was to be elected, the senate agreed 
among themselves on the person whom the Interrex should 
propose to the curies. If they accepted him, the sanction 
of the gods was sought by augury, and the signs being fa* 
vorable, the new king had himself to propose a law for 
investing him with the full regal power (imperiv/n) to the 
curies who might tlien if they pleased annul their former 
decision.* It was probably thought, that in a matter of 
such importance it was prudent to deliberate twice, or, like 
the Athenian magistrates, the Roman king may have had 
to undergo a Dokimasy,t or scrutiny. 

The regal office at Rome very much resembletl that of 
the heroic ages in Greece, hut it differed from it in being 
elective, not hereditary. The king had the absolute com- 
mand of the army ; he offered the sacrifices for the nation ; 
he convoked the senate and people, and laid laws before 
them ; he could punish by fines and corporal penalties, but 
an appeal from his sentence lay for the citizens (that is, the 
patricians,) to the assembly of the curies ; his power over 
sojourners and others not belonging to the houses was un- 
limited. The king moreover sat every ninth day, and ad- 
ministered justice himself or assigned a judge. He could 
dispose of the booty and the land acquired in war, and a 
large portion of the contiuered territory belonged to the 
crown, which was cultivated by tlie king's clients, and 
yielded him a large revenue. 

Such was the constitution of Rome in the period desig- 
nated by the first three kings. With Ancus the state re- 
ceived a new element, the Plebes, or Plebs. 

In every stafe regulated on the principle of houses, there 
naturally grpws up a Demon, P/tbs, or commonalty, the 
members of which are free, under the protection of the law, 
mav acquire real property, make by-laws for themselves, but 
though 'bound to serve in war, are excluded from the 
government.| This commonalty is composed of various 
elemeute, and in some cases, as at Athens, it acquired 

* Cicero de Rep. ii. 13. 17, 18,20, 21. For the general principle oP 

a double election of ma^strates see Cicero, Rullns ii. 11. ' > < 

t History of Greece, p. 65. ' 

\ Compare the Perioecians of Laconia and the Demos of Altica 

before the time of Solon. 



THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION. 49 

such a preponderance of strength as to draw all political 
power to itself, and thus convert the state into a democracy. 
But destiny favored Rome in this respect ; for though her. 
Plebs was the most respectable commonalty that ever ex- 
isted, the Popolus always had sufficient strength to balance 
it, and thus the development of the constitution was grad- 
ual and beneficent.* - I ' ; . . '/ 

The Roman Plebs was thus formed. In the period whiQh; 
we have just described, there was probably at Rome some 
kind of a commonalty, consisting of. emancipated clients 
and of pfersoris who hadTlot entered into the client-relation, 
but it was of no accouhu -When, however, on the destruc- 
tion 'of Alba, a division of conquests and a new arrangement 
of territory took place between the Romans and the Latins, 
the Plebs, which had been already augmented by the inhabi- 
tants of those Latin towns whioii had been conquered before 
that time, now received a'great accession to its body. King 
Ancus assigned the Aventine' for the abode of such of the 
Latins as chose to t-emove to Rome, and it became the site 
of the plebeian city.t The greater part of the Plebs,; how-' 
ever, who were mostly land-owners, staid on their lands, 
away from Rome. It was, moreover, the Italian law of, 
nations, that when a town was taken or surrendered, its 
territory fell to the conqueror: the Roman kings had always 
reassigned a part of it to the old possessors, and the Plebs 
therefore contained all the people, gentle and simple, of such 
Latin towns as fell to Rome : many of its members might 
consequently vie with the patricians in nobleness of descent, 
and equalled them in wealth ; though the jealousy of these 
last would not allow them to intermarry with them, and most 
legal relations were to the disadvantage of the plebeians. 

The Romulian constitution, which we have been descri- 
bing, received its complete developrrtent by the calling iup 
of the Luceres into the senate, but the time when this oc- 
curred is uncertain. The great change of this constitution 
commenced with Tarq'uinius Priscus in the following' man- 
ner. ■ :.. r ■'• ' 

It is the nature of ah ejfclusive aristocracy to diminish 
with great rapidity, and eventually to die away, if it refuses 
• >•; 'Vj-t ..(it )(.ft ,^w,VnX ffi >.'> ".frf< -, r.rniii.»,A' * 

* The real cause of this difference was probably that the Aptnvia 
wefe an agricultural, the Athenians a trading people. ' ' . . 

t The Aventfne was noi included within the walls of .S«tiHui» 
Tullius : the plans of Rome which so represent it are wrong. ., ■, 

5 G 



50 HISTORY OF ROM£. 

to replace the houses which become extinct. Such appears 
to have been the case with that of Rome at this time ; the 
curies did not on an average contain more than five houses 
apiece. Tarquinius therefore proposed to form three new 
tribes of houses out of his own retainers and the plebeians, 
and to name them from himself and his friends. As this 
would be making six instead of three tribes, and thus be al- 
tering the form of the constitution, the augur Navius was 
put forward to oppose it, and even Heaven, as we have seen, 
called to aid. It would appear that a compromise was ef- 
fected between the king and the patricians, as he in reality 
did what he proposed, for he doubled the number of the 
houses, but left that of the tribes untouched ; each tribe 
therefore now consisted of two parts or centuries. 

The Plebs, meantime, advanced daily in numbers, wealth, 
and power by the various accessions which it received. 
The legislator whom we name Scrvius Tullius saw the 
advantage of giving it more organization than it had yet 
obtained, and he accordingly divided it into local tribes. 
The number of these tribes was thirty, answering to that 
of the patrician curies and of the Latin towns ; four of 
them were civic or in the city, the remaining twenty-six 
were rural ; of these, ten lay beyond the Tiber in Etruria. 
These tribes being local, each had its separate rrgivn, which 
bore the same name with itself. Each tribe had its tribune, 
who was its captain in war, its chief magistrate in peace; 
he apportioned the tax {tributum*) which the tribe had to 
pay among the tribesmen, {tribnhs,) regulated their con- 
tingent in the army, and inspected the condition of every 
family. The plebeian tribes when met in assembly elected 
their tribunes and other magistrates, made laws for their 
own regulation, imposed rates for common objects, etc. 

Rome now consisted of two united but distinct peoples, 
governed by one prince, with a common public interest, but 
yet without even the right of intermarriage. These were 
the Populus or burghers, and the Plebs or commonalty ; 
equally free, but with the advantage in point of honor on 
the side of the former. t But the legislator saw danger in 

* Trihutum comes from tribua, not the reverse. 

f Tlio assemblies (com/tw) of the Populus were held on the Comi- 
tiUm, those of the Plebs in the Forum ; the Rostra, a long stage from 
which the magistrates spoke in public, separated these two places, 
which lay on the same level, and which were, in common use, in- 
eluded under the name Forum. 



THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION. 



51 



this sepaiation, and he sought to obviate it by an institution 
in which both should be comprised, and by which birth and 
wealth should have their due and full influence in the state. 
This he proposed to effect by arranging the whole popula- 
tion in Classes, subdivided into Centuries. The form in 
which we must conceive the people in this arrangement is 
that of an Army, {Exercitus,) as it was called, composed 
of cavalry, infantry, artillery, and its baggage-train, and it 
met on the Campus Martius without the city. 

The three original tribes or centuries of Romulus, with 
the three of Tarquinius, contained all the patricians without 
distinction of property : they were named the Six Suffrages, 
(Sex Suffragia.) To these Servius added twelve centuries 
of plebeian notables, or men of superior wealth, a kind of 
plebeian nobility, whose honors descended to their posterity ; 
these centuries were open ; any plebeian might be raised to 
them. The eighteen centuries, under the name of Knights 
or Horsemen, (Equites,) formed the cavalry of the Roman 
army. If any member of them was so reduced in circum 
stances as not to be able to purchase a war-horse for himself, 
and a slave and horse to attend and follow him to the field, 
the state assigned him a sum of 10,000 asses for that pur- 
pose, and for their maintenance an annual rent-charge of 
2000 asses on the estates of single women and orphans, who 
were thus made to contribute to the defence of the state 
which gave them protection. If a knight was degraded, as 
sometimes occurred, his horse was sold to reimburse the 
state, and his pension was assigned to another. 

After the eighteen equestrian Centuries came the infan- 
try, composed entirely of plebeians, arranged in five Classes 
in the order of their property, and armed in the same pro- 
portion, as the following table will show : 

Cntturi'ef. 



doss . Property. 
I. 100,000 asset and upwards, 40 of old, 40 of ywung men 



JJrnu. 
Helmet, 
Shield. 
Corselet. 
Greaves. 
Sword. 
Spear. 
Helmet. 
Shield. 

U. 75,000 asses and upwards. 10 of old, 10 of young men = 20-<| Greaves. 

I Sword. 
I. Spear. 
2Q < Helmet, shield 



III. 90,000 asses and upwards. 10 of old, 10 of young men 

IV 25,000 asses and upwards. 10 of old, 10 of young men 
V. 12^500 asses and upwards. 15 of old, 15 of young men 



' Sword, spear. 
: 30 Spear and dart 
: 30 Slings. 



'62 HISTORY OF ROME. 

' 'tfThose vhose property was under 12,500 asses were ar 
'>Bsngerl in centuries out of the classes. Of these centuries 
there were four, as will thus appear. All in the centuries 
taken together were divided into Asssiduan or Locupletcs 
and Proletarians, the former containing all down to those 
who had 1500 asses, the latter those who had less than that 
sum. Now the Assiduans below the classes were divided 
into Accensi, or those who had from 7000 to 12,500 asses, 
and Velati, who had from 1500 to 7000; and the Pro- 
letarians were again divided into Proletarians, or those who 
had from 375 to 1.500 asses, and Capite Ceusi, or those who 
had lesrthan 375 asses, thus making four in all. The cor- 
porations of carpenters, {^fahri,) trumpeters, (liticenes,) and 
horn-blowers, (rornichtps,) formed tiiree centuries, of which 
the first stood and voted with the first class, the last two 
with the fifth. The entire'<nuiniber> of centuries therefore 
waB-105,* vizu n -.. ; , M . • .-, ,r. . ' 

iii<»il rtili l«> yi I/, /fio Equestrian.. :...18 -Kill in 

•li'i iti bo-Tnlfft <iX;ias3es . . .1. .. 4,J70 : i .-/inin 

>>riufl iri't tavtii-v ft Assiduans ,.^.,.,.,,1.2 ^,j ^,, ,,,j, ^^ vo'uinJ?! 

">tt 9il» «»» fruM ""''"Mechanist*'.'. .'!'. ^3"" ""*= '>'ti\\' i, bnr 
-iifq Jcrll lot i-yf-r. 000,1(1 ti hm - »r-Hiiii h')nvi»fr, '*Uii^. 'i;<r 

'"''When the fcfetituries wete assembled on the Field of Maife, 
Ififeir place of meeting", they voted on Sections, law's, or a*i'y 
other matters previously prepared in the senate. Their 
power to inject was absolute, but their assent required to be 
confirmed by the patricians in their curies. They voted in 
the following order. The Six Snftrages; thePiebeiati eques- 
trian centuries ; the first class; and the carpenters ; the re- 
niaining classes ; the two centuries bf fnu^sicians; the A<5- 
censi ; the Velati ; the Proletarians ; tHfe'<L'apite Censi. 'If 
the first three divisioais were unanimous, it wa^ needles to 
call up the remainder ; for, as we may see, they formed a ma- 
jority of d9 to 90 of the whole. Hence the design of the 
legislator is apparent ; he aimed at forming a mingled aris- 
tocraoy and timocracy,t by placing the political power in 
the han4s of the noble and the wealthy ,|: and to stave off 

* This View depends on Niebuhr's (vol. i. p. 444) emendation of a 
passage in Cicero de Republica. 

f The timocracy of Solon (Hist. 6f (Greece/P. t.'i. Viff) ^as -^ite 
diffpTpnt ftfem this. * It related solely to eligibility t« office; thie of 6er 
vius to elections. ' 

t " Curavit, tie plurimum vahant plurimi." (Cicero de Rep. ii. 22) 



THE JftOMAt^ CON'S'tltUl'iCil. 



9^ 



the evils of democracy, while at the same time all should 't»i 
content, no one being without a place in the constitutioti. ' 

This principle of giving influence to the minority was 
also attended to in the division of the classes into centuries 
of old men and young meii. The former contained those 
who were past forty-five years, and calculations show that 
their number could not have been more than one half of 
that of the latter ; yet, as we sefe, the number of their ceh- 
turies, and therefore of their votes, was equal. '' ' "' '^^' "I 
; We must not let ourselves be misled by the Vford'centiiry^ 
and suppose that because the first class had four times as 
many centuries as the second, it therefore contained four 
times the number of individuals. The real fact was, it 
had four times as many votes ; it being the legislator's 
design that the votes of each class should be to those of the 
whole five, as the taxable property of that class ' was to that 
of the five, and consequently the number of citizens' in each 
be in inverse proportioh tb* the'iSiitris desig'nating their 
property; therefore as " "'^ ' -''• ' -^ 

tidt vd// 0-3« tiH fiuiaii/': 25,000 : : 12 : 3'' '^"^ yiuimol <'.h- 
!i'»[.ii-,ii-.jl. ;:-iv.>-,;ii-ai -.r 12,500 : t 24 : 3 -■ -loiinK lo (nmiuv 

Three of the first must have had as mu,?h property as four 
of the second, six of the third, and so on; while the centu- 
ries of the third, for instance, must haye contained twice, 
those of the fifth eight times, as many citizens as those of 
the first. In like manner, the property of each of the three 
classes following the first must have been a fourth, that of 
the fifth three eighths, of its propefty.*, JVIultiplying, then, 
the centuries by the relative numbecsi p^,th^vproperties of 
the classes, we find .^ „..i . i 

80 X 3 == 240 i hi-.il ii!3(ii .oiol'JiodJ ,ci»oJ>^« sidJ »il 

-"; "IS i t-mi<^^ ^1-ding'by 4o^h.ir)i';i^i;H;^::; 

'"'""'20 V 12 = 240 i •=^'»™*'" measure, \ *' ''' "'"^I 

.i)j<|flii»p'« tlluul 9V3V/ v;iiCL«c ,v.i^^i^r.\> 
,,i, ,!>•!!.. u:.'i!> hdi; [>■»>•. lodiiU -vr^i-'i ■85)^/ ^ijri: ■-. 

So that of thirtp6vi'<^iti5iferts;'sik were in the'lirs^ class) and 
had more influence in the state than the remaining twenty- 

'■■ '. '■:•■■. ■ '^ 

'''l^or Soj S!oi 2b, 20, 30, (the numbers of the centuries,) are to each 
•therasl.i, i, ii. 

6* 



i ; 



5|4 HISTORY OF ROME. 

nine ; the number of citizens in the second class was a thira 
of those in the first; that of the third a half, and so on. If 
then, as there is reason to suppose, the first class contained 
6000 citizens, the whole five contained 35,000 — the number 
of plebeians (exclusive of the knights) possessing property 
above 12,500 asses. 

As we have above observed, the Centuries, when assem- 
bled on the Field of Mars, formed an army; the eighteen 
equestrian centuries were the cavalry ; the Classes the in- 
fantry ; the Proletarians the baggage train ; there were also 
the artillerists (fabri) and the musicians. The first class 
usually sent forty centuries of thirty men each, (one from 
each tribe,) or 1200 men, to the field ; the second and third 
together gave the same number, as did also the fourth and 
fifth ; making a total of one hundred and twenty centuries, 
or 3600 men, consisting of three divisions of 1200 men each, 
one of hoplites or men in full armor, one of men in half ar- 
mor, and one of light troops. This body, named a Legion,* 
was drawn up in phalanx after the manner of tlie Greeks, 
each century composed of the first two divisions being 
■drawn up three in front and ten deep, the men of the first 
class forming the first five ranks ; whence we see why the 
quajitity of armor was diminished as the classes descended, 
those who stood behind being covered by the bodies and 
armor of those in front. The light troops, forming what 
was called a caterva, stood apart from the phalanx. The 
Accensi stood apart from both ; it was their duty to lake 
the arms and places of the killed or wounded, and as in 
such cases the man immediately behind stepped into the 
gap, and he was succeeded by the man behind hiin, the 
places of the Accensi were always in the rear, where they 
acted merely mechanically in giving weight and consistency 
to the mass. 

In this system, therefore, men had to encounter danger in 
exact proportion to the stake they had In the state, and to the 
political advantages which they . enjoyed ; for the knights 
also purchasecJ their precedence by being exposed to greater 
danger, as they were badly equipped, and riding without 
stirrups were easily unhorsed and disarmed, and were ex- 
posed to the missiles of the enemy's light troops. 



* From lego, to select. We are not to suppose that one legion 
foe-^d the whole army. This was only the rule by which the legiona 
w - '. raised. 



THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION. 55 

Another part of this legislation was the establishment of 
a regular system of taxation by the Census. Every citizen 
was bound to give an honest return of the number of his 
family, and of his taxable property. A registry of births 
was kept in the temple of Lucina, one of deaths in that of 
Libitina ; the country people were registered at the festival 
of thie Pagan&lia. All changes of abode and transfers of 
property werie to be notified to the proper magistrate. The 
tribute was paid by the Plebs ; it was so much a thousand 
on the property given in at the census, varying according 
to the exigencies of the state, but unfair, inasmuch as debts 
were not deducted from the capital, so that a man paid in 
proportion to his nomindl, not his actual property. This 
property consisted of lands, houses, slaves, cattle, money, 
and every other object of what was called duiritary prop- 
erty, or res mancipiii None but Assiduans were thus taxed ; 
the Proletarians were exempt from taxes. Sojourners and 
others, who were not in the Classes or Centuries, paid, under 
the name , of ^rarians, such arbitrary sums as the state 
imposedTor licenses to carry on trades, etc. The patricians 
paid, like the plebeians, for their property of the same kind 
with theirs, and they yielded the state a tithe of the prod- 
uce of the public lands, which they held exclusively as 
tenants. 

Though Servius thus gave form and consistency to the 
revenue, we are not to suppose that most if not all of these 
taxes did not exist before his time ; there were these and 
port-duties and other charges, from which and the manubiee^ 
or spoils of war, the kings derived a large revenue, as is 
proved by the great works which they executed. These 
works were the Capitoline temple, with its huge substruc- 
tions, the sewers and the city wall. Of the first we have 
already spoken : the Cloaca Maxima, or great sewer, which 
still exists, is composed of three vaults within one another, 
all formed of hewn blocks of the stone named peperino, each 
7^ Roman palms long, and 4^ thick, put together without 
cement ; the innermost vault is a semicircle eighteen palms 
in width and as many in height. Other sewers carried the 
waters of other parts of the city into the Cloaca Maxima, 
which opens into the river by a gate-like arch in a quay ; 
which quay, being of the same style of architecture, is evi- 
dently coeval with it. The wall of Servius, from the Col- 
line to the Esquiline gate, a distance of nearly a mile, 
was the third great work of the kings. This consisted of a 



SB^ HISTORY or ROMS. <iir 

mouYwl of clay, (for there is no «tone here,) 50 feet wide atid 
60 high, faced with a skirting of flag-stones, and flanked 
with towers. It \*'as formed of the clay raised from a moat 
or ditch in front of it, 100 f^et wide and 80 deep. A similar 
wall extended from the CoJiine -tatB to ihfe westerA steeps 
of the Q,uirinal hiJl. ■'<.■' < - 

These worlcs plainly prove, that Rome under her later 
kings was the capital of a powerful state. The greatness 
of Rome in her regal period is further shown by a com- 
mercial treaty with Carthage, made in the first year of the 
Rep iblic* In this treaty Rome stipulates for herself and her 
subject towns Ardea, Laurentum, Aricia, Antium, Circeii. 
and Terracina ; and she also extends her protecting power to 
the Latins, who dwelt to the south of this last-named place. 
This dominion, as we shall presently see, she lost in con- 
sequence of her revolution ; and nearly two centuries elapsed 
before she was able to regain it. . > 
i j] ,.M, 1, .■..,;!:.. - ■,.. . i--!,!' ) -.iij II. )i a -ii 1 ./ i)i: .. , > ■< 

* PoItVicw m,2z 96. Tbe coniuu nataied in it m fimtoa uid 

111 , Mill- -nil Id /lTj(|oi<j II III) ml .t-iiii'id-ilcj i)i\l 'i/li! Jiii • 
-in'i<| rirl) 'l<> nriJif B 'ili.JK oill Icthlfuy ^aill hjUi ,<m-h'^ 
\\-)4i'M\->/-t IiImI V nil if.-jiih/ .-hnjil oildiMi fidl T 

.:-.lli( r. 
:.i{\ o} ftii^t-tPAurt \>iu: (UMii ^vrj» Kiiil) f'liivTiH jf>ri I'! 
9»!Mrll 'lo llii Joii li )»^<»in \i.iii 'MiMppM <•» )«Mi yir. ov/ , i. 

Ii .. .• Mil .T.J. .-..;• ; •lidil «id '>io1'>d lhii'» »<»ri l)»!) 

,il W MUn'l ,H9J;1iillo iarll<» i)ll|t fiilllb-JK" 

r h'}vji')li nyniJ sril ,i».w *}•> -'">"-' i 
i) iI'Mil// cJiiii/ )n')i;; 'III; 
' ';.Mii II III)// ,i!*|iiinl r>iiili)ni|ji3 oilj ■' 
II Jriil •lid '\() .llii'w /li') 'jilJ \u\r. M»i»;-i. 
r.jii(*.' ,v>n->^ iirny lo ,uiiii/i;l/. i.-u'w*!') ftil) : Ji-i/l' 
,1'Mllonii '>iii> iitilli// itlliiity 'i'liilt lo li'MOijiiKi') r.i 
il:)i;(i ,tu»rv»»\>^\ !>'Jifii u •jiik)-'. :>ilt lo i>i(->iiid jiwod'lo .■ it- : ii' 
jiimlhM i'idl»«^()t liKj ,>i'iiilt ^t Iiiiii ,vii<i| Hi(ili;(| ntniojr \' 
s-inlnj irrt|(l»;i<j 'jl-ni'iiiii'm ft HI jIiib^ J'^oiiii'iiiiti 'ulJ ; liitm-' 
•♦ilf '"»iTT»-» fViV'tf TxllO .}il})i'iil III viif.m nr. hiu. iIiImv/ h 

ir j:'i«i>r> '(ti:* ■•ill 1u K)lAq T)ilj«i *}<. 

, ni li-iii, fi (il I'tvii ')ill oliii t!irj(]o li 

I ,'Hiii'iMiii|-iiu l«. AiU '•riiiiK 'ifli 'lo jiHi'^d ,^r.it|> . 
-I''> lij iiK.Vl .ftinvtri III llr.v/ ftil'r ti Htt7/ lr/"''-i 
.-jlim jt yhn'Mi lo o.-ninlsfib « .oii 
i: Tv' l"'''i>iu>'j JiilT .f-'jniA 'nl) "1< . 



hui'j bin; diiiiiii a i.-)jlj'.,ti:>A, lo't b-nuooKj yino hjii (■•ili 

('Kpi oi «itiji-j<iii<|. oil) i(ji^„l^iii<(j^ /lliiiij* T'mIi [)ih; ,io]r:r.M 

tH)ihi)iJ?i(i«»"j y<h oJ ')bj;(ii ^)r« mij)ji /. (.AM; II ./,) ,miti 

,!!-!c| *i;!»'f-' ;'-)iii:rii-. ;,;•[?■.•, '.(Ijibiv,- JiT-irm-nv.!' iiI .■r>Mvn->> 

i HISTORY OF ROME/ 

i; -tiij lo bi;;>(i :j(ii m ljru.U[ OTjy/ ,>fiii)|j->iiiil b:J<.iirj 11=! 

I'll-) .Ti-iv/ y >ilj j^riil )); }»;ih yliiiilj »>j no;;i;.-;i ai yT»ili bin 

OJ iiiiili;'jq<{K 10 l il^jii n.l'i' — t.h i ot)io 'j ill ')o lioD'j (iioil yno 

B^UV/liJ .bL'll f;Ml;i-)J 1^.<| 'iiIj li-Jl!!;.' ,' ,>-)illl.O Oil)) ,«1M«1 IIMiit 

,en/!i-jd!>lq oif) oJ .v 1 nriioi,; / ^;(i.■ y.J b)b»ioly» ^/iv/ ,b')7<i.. 
oliT .fc'jdii) iiv.ilP.AlRT I Iv*/o«|fiio 7/011 OTjy/ '!ii >/ 
tiblod'cjii Ijcrii^ I!, 1. i;iii)ii; ,17/ <\)inA ')ii>-.')iii;>b U:(of 

TttE RfiPUBBT^.'^'CONQUESt OF''rDAE.¥;"" 

.Jll!,-, /' ■ .' ' :. I,: .•.■-■•'I l.i.li iIjmIv/ 

)iju b-jii.!iiiii 'i-ni'ii )<) Tt.i.i'.,ii ,:.in;'.i,<i .jil ()) bf)J'>l(|iiio-) Ki;v/ 

eiadiii'iiii y/y«t f)-'n{'V . •(n;)Jii'>> iiiin)«'>ijj)fi niiioil-jbi ;>ii) "io 

111) ijv.iuynii-Ji *>1|^TT A p'pr'T^ fJ*!'"' ■'*'•"" -^ b')aij;ii -fiTJ '/ 

|. ;. ii'iliu} ^^> ,>!'rf)r.*l 'wO nii'''i 

BEGINNING OF THE REPUBLIC. THE DICTATORSHIP. RO 

MAN LAW OF DEBT.- — DISTRESS CAUSED BY THE LAW OP 
DEBT. SECESSION TO THE SACRED MOUNT. THE TRI- 
BUNATE. LATIN CONSTITUTION. — TREATY WITH THE 

LATINS.^ WAR WITH THE VOLSCIANS. —r- TREATY WITH 

Itifi'.'.v ;• r h ''(f.'li-Hjiiii iljiy/ \> •■mn'^ift ^ni'jti ,>!UHiHil'J '•lu)/. 

N the preceding Part we have earned the history down 
beyond the point at which the Regal Period properly speak- 
ing terminates; but we wished to give the poetic narrative 
complete and separate "rom that which may claim to be re- 
garded as an approxniiation to the truth. We'raiist now 
therefore go back to the origin of the Republic. 

Be the acts recorded of the last Roman king true or false, 
there can be little doubt that he was & tyrant in the bad 
sense of the word, and as bad as the worst of those in 
Greece and her colonies at that period. The patricians 
who aided him to usurp the throne, in order, that they 
might deprive the plebeians of the rights and liberties sci- 
cured to them by the constitution of Servius, soon felt that 

• Livy. Dionysms, (to the year 312,) and the epitomators Zonairas, 
Orosias, Eutropius, Florus, and Aurelius Victor, are the consecutive 
authorities for this Part. There are also Plutarch's lives of Poplicola, 
Coriclanus, Cam-llus, and Pyrrhus. 

H 



58 HISTORY OF ROME. 

they had only procured for themselves a harsh and cruel 
master, and they gladly joined with the plebeians to expel 
tiini, (A. IJ. 244.) A return was made to the constitution of 
Servius. In agreement with the commentaries of that prince, 
two annual magistrates, at first named Praetors, afterwards 
Consuls,*. pogpessed of all the, regal authority, saving only the 
Bacerdotal functions, were placed at the head of the state ; 
and there is reason to think that at first they were chosen 
one from each of the orders. t The right of appealing to 
their peers, (the curies,) which the patricians had always 
enjoyed, was extended by the Valerian law to the plebeians, 
who were nov/ empowered -to appeal to their tribes. The 
royal demesne lands were also distributed in small freeholds 
among a portion of the more needy plebeians. The senate^ 
which had been greatly reduced by the cruelty of the tyrant, 
was completed to the original number of three hundred out 
of the plebeian equestrian centuries. These new members 
were named Conscripts, {Con&criyti,) to distinguish them 
from the Patres, or patrician senafors.| 

The loss of the lands beyond the Tiber, in consequence 
of'the Tuscan cohquiest of Rome, greatly crippled the state. 
Advantage was taken of this by the Volscians and Sabines ; 
but if we credit the annals, the arms of Rome met with uni- 
form success against them. On occasion of a war with the 
latter people, (250,) a man of rank among them, named 
Attus Clausus, being menaced with impeachihent for having 
opposed the war, resolved to go over to the Romans. Quit- 
ting Regillus, where he abode, he came with his gentiles 
and clients, to the number of five thousand, to Rome, where 
he took ihe name of Appius Claudius, and was admitted 
into the body of the patricians ; land beyond the Anio was 
assigned to his followers, and they formed a tribe named 

,')^i.'; 1(1 -nni 111. - II. 1.1 ' • . 

^'liiv;ili(. !55. Dion) liii. -13. Zonara*, vii. 19. Pr<rt<w, i. e. Ptyb- 
itor, which the Greeks always rendered oTSjaTtjyof, evidently referred 
j)rimarily to military command. Consul means merely collaigue, for, 
as in exuJ, prttsul, the syllable sid denotes one who is. The derivation 
from consrdo cannot be received. [The anthority of Quintilian must 
certainly be oonsiclered as superior to that of Mr. Keightley on this point. 
He distinctly says, (Inst. Orat. I. 6,) " Sit enim Consul a consu- 
lendo, vel a judicando ; nam et hoc consulert veteres appellaverunt, 
unde adhuc remanet illud, — Rogat, boni consvlas, id est, bonum 
judices." J. T. S.] 

t For, as observed above, Brutus was a plebeian. 

X Patres Conscripti is therefore Patres ei Conscripti. (Li v. ii. 1.) 
See above, p. 4, note. 



BEGINNING OF THE REPUBLIC. SSH 

the Claudian.* The house of the Claudii is eminent ii: 
Roman story ; it produced many an able, hardly a great, 
and not a single noble-minded man. Indomitable pride and 
opposition to the rights of the people were its characteristic 
qualities.! 

In the year 253 a new magistracy, named the Dictator- 
ship, was instituted. The name, and perhaps the office, is 
said to have been borrowed from the Latins.| The dictator 
was invested with the full regal authority for the space of 
six months ; he was nominated by the consul or interrex 
on the direction of the senate, and he received the imperium 
from the curies. He was preceded by twenty-four lictors 
with axes in the/asces, as no appeal lay from his sentence. 
The dictator always nominated an • officer, named the Mas- 
ter of the Horse, (Magister Equitum,) who was to him what 
the tribune of the Celeres had been to the kingsi.*§; :Ti:Lar- 
cius is said to have been the first dictator. > t(i3i> ,•; 'ii : 

The dictatorship was ostensively instituted against the 
public enemy, but the oppression of the plebeians was its 
real object. It was a part of the plan which the patricians 
had now formed for depriving them of all their rights and 
advantages, and reducing them to the condition of the Etrus- 
can serfs, and thus, though its authors thought not so, of 
depriving Rome of all chance of ever becoming great. The 
plebeians had been already justled out of the consulate : it 
was proposed to elude by the dictatorship the right of ap- 
peal given by the Valerian law, and reestablish the un)jr> 
ited authority of the chief magistrate even within the 
city and the mile round it ; and finally, by a rigorous en- 
forcement of the law of debt, to reduce them to actual 
slavery. 

At Rome, as in the ancient world in general, the law of 

* Niebuhr thinks that as by the peace which the consul Sp. Cassius 
concluded (252) with the Sabines, (Dionys. v. 49,) a portion of territory 
was ceded to Rome, it was thus that the Claudian gens and tribe were 
formed in lieu of the Tarquinian, which had been broken up. The 
tribes were but twenty till the year 259, when the Crustunaine was 
formed. 

,t,That is, the patricians ; the plebeian family of the Marcelli were 
of a far better character. 

t That the Latins had dictators is quite certain. It is not equally 
BO that they gave them such power as is here spoken of. The Romans 
probably borrowed only the name to avoid that o^ rex. 

§ " Dictatoribus Magistri Equitum vnjungebantur : «c quomodo Regu 
bus Tnbuni Celerum. — Pomponius Dig. lib. i. tit. ii. 1, quoted by the 
learned translators of Niebuhr's Hist, of Rome i. 515. 



60 HISTORY OF ROMB^/i<U»aa 

debt was extremely severe. It was to this effect ; e( per.^ j 
son wishing to borrow money entered into a nexutn, or be»i 
came nexus, when, in the presence of witnesses, under the 
form of a sale, he pledged himself and all belonging to him 
for payment of a sum of money which he then received. 
If this money was not repaid at the appointed time, the 
debtor was brought before the praetor, who assigned (addicc' 
bat) him as i slave to his creditor, whence he. was termed 
addictus. Such of the debtor's children and grandchildren 
as were still under his authority shared his fate, and were 
led off in bonds with him to the creditor's work-house. 

The rate of interest was unlimited by law ; loans were 
usually made for the year of ten months,* at the end of 
which period if the principal was not repaid, the interest was 
frequently added to it, {versura,) and the principal was often 
thus gradually raised to several times its original amount, 
and a debt accumulated which could never be discharged. 
The creditors were generally the patricians either in their 
own names or as the patrons of their clients, in whose hands 
were all branches of trade, banking included : the debtors 
were the plebeians, who were solely devoted to agriculture. 
For after the abolition of royalty the patricians, having 
gotten the government into their own hands, ceased to pay 
the tithes off the public lands which they held ; and all the 
booty acquired in war was reduced in publicum, that is, 
brought into the chest of the populus ; they had also the 
money paid for protections, licenses, etc., by the client'*, and 
consequently were rich. On the other hand the tribute 
was rigorously exacted from the plebeians, whose little 
farms lying frequently at a distance from Rome, were ex- 
posed to the ravages of the enemy, their houses were burnt, 
their cattle carried off, their farming implements destroyed. 
Add to this that the loss of the lands beyond the Tiber had 
reduced many families to absolute beggary, and further, 
that the patricians actually excluded them from all share 
in. the public pastures. We may thus see how the bulk of 
the plebeitms may have been deeply in debt and driven to 
a state of despair by the rigour of their creditors. 

In such a state of things a spark will kindle a conflagra- 
tion. When (.359) Appiug Claudius and P. Servilius were 
«i>jsuio/i oil'l' .'to o'tJi'iqK 'n'<«i nta Trw<.«i xiiub iii'ir , u 

.T't'to fei'f h-'ir (>} "(I'ffi -H.* v'f 
• Beriiles the ordinary lunar year of twelve months, the Romana 
used, for partic\ilar purposes, the cyclic year of ten months, borrowed 
from the Tuscans. 



KOMAN I.AW OF DEBT. 61 

consuls, an old man, covered with filth And rags, with 
squalid hair and beard, pale and emaciated, rushed one day 
into the Forum and in^plored the aid of the people, showing 
the scars of wounds received in eight-and-twenty battles. 
Several, recognizing in him one who had been a brave cap- 
tain, eagerly inquired the cause of his present wretched 
appearance. He said that while he was serving in the 
Sabine war his house and farm-yard had been plundered 
and burnt by the enemy ; the tributes had nevertheless been 
exacted of him; he had been obliged to borrow money; 
principal and accumulated interest had eaten up all his prop- 
erty; the sentence of the law had given himself and his 
two sons as slaves to his creditor. He then stripped his 
back and showed the marks of recent stripes. A general 
uprpar arose ; all, both in and out of debt, [next and soluti,) 
assembled and clamored for some legal relief. With dif- 
ficulty a sufficient number of senators (such was their ter- 
ror) could be brought together. Appius proposed to employ 
force, Servilius was for milder courses. Just then news 
arrived that the Volscians were in arms; the people exulted^ 
telling the patricians to go fight their own battles, and re- 
fused to give their names for the legions. The senate then 
empowered Servilius to treat with them. He issued an 
edict proclaiming that no one who was in slavery for debt 
should be prevented from serving if he chose, and that as 
long as a man was under arms no one should touch his 
property or keep his children in bondage. All the pledged 
(nexi) who were present then gave their names, the bound 
(addicti) hastened on all sides from their dungeons, and a 
large army took the field under the consul. The Volscians 
were defeated, their town of Suessa Ponietia taken, and the 
plunder given up to the army. An Auruncan army which 
came to the aid of the Volscians was routed a few days 
after near Aricia. Servilius led home his victorious army 
full of hopes ; but these hopes were bitterly deceived, when 
the iron-hearted Appius ordered the debtor-slaves back to 
their prisons and assigned the pledged to the creditors. 
But the people stood on their defence, and repelled the 
officers and those who went to aid them, at the same tinie 
calling on Servilius to perform his promises. The consul, 
by attempting to steer a middle course, lost favor with 
both parties, and the year passed away without any thing 
being done. 

The next year, (260,) when the consuls, A. Virginius and 
6 



62 HISTORY OF ROME. 

T. Vetusius, attempted to levy an arm)', the people refused 
to give their names. They now also held nocturnal meet- 
ings in their own quarters on the Aventine and Esquiiine, 
to concert measures of resistance, and even went so far as 
to demand a total abolition of debts. A portion of the pa- 
tricians were willing to purchase peace even on these terms , 
others thought it might suffice to restore their liberty and 
property to those who had served the year before : Appius 
averred that wantonness, not poverty, was the disease of the 
people, and that a dictator, from whom there was no appeal, 
would soon cure them. It was resolved, therefore, to try 
the effect of the dictatorship, and the more violent party 
would have risked the very existence of the state by placing 
Appius himself in the office ; but the milder and more pru- 
dent succeeded in appointing M. Valerius, in whom they 
knew the people would confide. 

The dictator issued an edict similar to that of Servilius , 
the people, in reliance on his name and power, readily gave 
their names; ten legions* were raised, four for the dicta- 
tor, three for each consul. Valerius marched against the 
Sabines, one consul against the ^(juians, the other againtst 
the Volscians. Victory was every where with the Rotnans. 
Valerius, on his return, lost no time in bringing the affair 
of the pledged before the senate, and finding he could get 
no measure of relief passed, he laid down his office. The 
people, satisfied that hr had kept his faith, received him with 
acclamations, and attended him in token of honor from the 
Forum to his hout^e. 

The dictator's army had been disbanded, but either one 
or both of the consular armies was still under arms. The 
plebeians who formed it, seeing no chance of legal relief, 
made L. Sicinius Bellutus ilieir leader, crossed the Anio, and 
encamped on an adjacent eminence in the Crustumine dis- 
trict ; the con.suIs and the patricians who were among them 
were dismissed without injury. The plebeians of the city 
kueantime occupied the Aventine, and there was every pros- 
pect of affairs coming to civil war and bloodshed. For we 
must bear in mind that the patricians, the original populus of 
Rome, must have been still a numerous body ; they were 
of a martial character, like every body of the kind, and 
their numerous clients stood faithfully by them on all occa- 
sions; they were also the government, and had the means 

* Thk is incredible ; at the Alia the Romans had but four legrions. 



ROMAN LAW OF DEBT. 63 

of negotiating foreign aid. Moreover, the hills of Rome 
were all fortresses, like the Capitol, their sides being made 
steep and abrupt, and any attempt to carry the Palatine or 
the Quirinal, for instance, might have cost much blood. 

Both sides were aware that the issue of the conflict might 
be doubtful, and that the yEquians and Volscians or the 
Etruscans might take advantage of it to ruin Rome. A 
mutual wish for accommodation, therefore, prevailed ; and 
the patricians, having strengthened themselves by an alli- 
ance with the Latiiis, deputed the First Ten of the senate 
to the plebeian camp to treat of peace. One of these, named 
Agrippa Menenius, is said to have addressed on this occa- 
sion the following apologue to the people : — 

" In those times when all was not at unity, as now, in 
man, but every member had its own plans and its own lan- 
guage, the other members became quite indignant that they 
should all toil and labor for the belly, while it remained at 
its ease in the midst of them doing nothing but enjoying 
itself. They therefore agreed among themselves that the 
hands should not convey any food to the mouth, nor the 
mouth receive it, nor the teeth chew it. But while they 
thus thought to starve the belly out, they found themselves 
and the whole body reduced to the most deplorable state of 
feebleness, and they then saw that the belly is by no means 
useless, that it gives as well as receives nourishment, dis- 
tributing to all parts of the body the means of life and 
health." 

Having propounded this fable, the meaning of which was 
obvious,* ^enenius and his colleagues proceeded to treat, 
and a peace was made and sworn to by the two orders. By 
this treaty all outstanding debts were cancelled, and all 
who were in slavery for debt were set at liberty ; but the 
plebs neither regained the consulate nor any other honors ; 
for the senate, with the usual wisdom of an aristocracy, 
contrived to separate the interests of the lower order of 
plebeians from those of their gentry, by making individual 
sacri6ces in the remission of debts, while they retained the 
solid advantages of place and power for their order. They 

* By the belly must be understood the moneyed men, not the 
government; this would have been the head. T. Quinctius Flami- 
ninus seeing Philopoemon, the Achiean general, with plenty of hoplitei 
and horsemen, but without money, said ('alluding to his make.) " Phil- 
opoemon has legs and arms, but no belly. ' (Plut. Apoph. Reg. et hnp. 
Opera, vol. viii. p. 144, cd. Hutten.) 



64 HISTORY OF ROME. 

also managed to have no alteration made in the law of debt 
The plebeians, having offered sacrifice to Jupiter on the 
mount where they, had encamped, which thence was named 
the Sacred Mount, {Mons i^accr,) returned to their former 
dwellings. ij. . 

JJut the real , 'gain of thp plebeians, and a? it proved, qS 
the patricians also, was the making the tribunate an invio^ 
lable magistracy. Hitherto it was with danger to them- 
selves, that the tribunes of the plebs had attempted to give 
the protection secured to the people by the Valerian law ; 
now, in the solemn compact between the orders, it was de^;- 
clared that any one who killed or injured a tribune should 
be accursed, {saccr, i, e. outlawed,.) and any oi)e might slay 
him with iinpunity, and his property was forfeit to the 
temple of,, Ceres. The house of the tribune stood open 
night aaid day, that the injured might repair to it for suc- 
cor. , The number of; tribunes in the new-modelled trib- 
unate^ and who were elected on the Sa9red Mount, was 
two, C, Liciuiue and L. Albinius ; t,9 these, three more, 
among whom was Sicinius, were afterwards added, and 
there thus was one for each of the Classes. It is remark- 
able, as an instance of the efforts made by the patricians to 
keep up their power, that the election of the tribunes re- 
quired the confirmation of the curies. ; 

The tribunes were purely a plebeian magistracy, the, rep- 
resentatives of their order, and rts protectors r^ainst the 
supreme power. They could not act as judges, or impose 
penaltie$ oil offending patriciatis ; they could only bring 
them before the. court of the commonalty. And here it 
must be remarked, as a peculiarity of the national law of 
ancient Italy, that a people who had been injured, either 
collectively or in the person of one of its members, had tl;e 
ight of tryiijg the -offender, whom his countrymen, if there 
.vaa a treaty with theur, were bound to give up for the pur- 
pose. ' ,F or it was expected that sworn judges woul^ be 
more Jikplj)'. to acquit him, if innocent, than his gentilep, 
tribesman, etc. to condemn him if guilty.*, , ,• ' 

Anothejr plebeian office, said to have bqeii instituted 
(more probably modified) at this time, was the ^dileship. 
The .aidiles ,aptQ4 as judges mi^er. .jthje tribmies, apd they 

' ■ ■■ '■ .'. 1 " ■ ■ ■ . /. I' . '. (-1 , • , , . 
*.'How much pore consQiiant to Ju^t^ce oui o^f^ pf,^ctice of trying 

by a mixed jury of natives and foreigners.! .,lfei pernaps it would no! 

have answered in those times. m.,i , 'i 



1 1 



THE trii-.:nate. 65 

kept the archives of the plebs in the temple of Ceres, whicl; 
was under their care. 

The time of the consular election having come on during 
the secession, the populus had appointed Sp. Cassias Viscel 
linus and Postumius Coniinius, who had already been con 
suls, and a treaty was forthwith concluded with the Latins, 
the existence of which enabled the patricians to make such 
advantageous terms with the plebeians. A sketch of the 
Latin constitution may here be useful. 

We have more than once had occasion to notice the pred- 
ilection of the ancients for political numbers. That of the 
Latins, the Albans, and the Romans was thirty, or rather 
three tens ; and therefore, as Rome had her thirty curies 
and tribes, so Latium consisted of a union of thirty towns. 
Each of these towns had its senate of one hundred members, | | 

divided into ten decuries, the decurion or foreman of each i | 

of which was deputed to the general senate of the nation, ) | 

which assembled at the grove and fount of Ferentina, and j j 

thus, like that of Rome, contained three hundred members. 
The union among the Latin towns, though less close than 
that among the Roman tribes, was much more intimate 
than the Greek federations in general, and they always 
acted as one state, with a common interest. Each city had 
its dictator, one of whom always was dictator over the 
whole nation, and its head in war and in the performance 
of the great national religious rites. 

The treaty, now made on terms of perfect equality be- 
tween the two nations, shows how Rome had faHen from 
her power under her kings. It was to this effect : " There 
shall be peace between the Romans and Latins as long as 
heaven and earth shall keep their place; and they sliall 
neither war themselves against each other, nor instigate 
others to do so, nor grant a safe passage to the enemies ; 
and they shall aid one another, when attacked, with all 
their might ; they shall share equally between them the 
spoils and booty gained in common wars ; private suits 
shall be decided within ten days, in the place where the 
engagement was made ; nothing may be added to or taken 
from this treaty without the consent of the Romans and 
all the Latins.* 

Among the spoils of war mentioned in this treaty waa 
the territory won from conquered states, which was usually 

* Dionys. vi. 95. 



66 



HISTORY OF ROME. 



added to the public land, and the Latins had a cfemesne 
of this kind as well as the Romans. The Latins also had 
iheir equal share in the colonies which were planted. Theso 
Roman, or rather Italian, colonies were of a totally different 
nature from those of the Greeks ; * they were garrisons 
placed in a conquered town to keep it in subjection. To 
these colonists, who were usually three hundred in number, 
a third of the lands of the conquered people was assigned, 
and the government was placed in their hands, they be- 
ing to the original inhabitants, who retained the rest of 
their lands, what the populus at Rome was to the com- 
monalty. 

The Volscians, after the defeat they had sustained in the 
year 2G0, remained quiet for some time. Their elective 
king Attus Tullius, however, deeming that advantage might 
be taken of the divisions at Rome, which would prevent 
effectual aid being given to the Latins, resolved, if possible, 
to rekindle the war, and he used the following occasion for 
that purpose. 

In the year 203 the Great Games at Rome were cele- 
brated anew. For, some time before, when they were com- 
mencing, and the procession of the images of the gods was 
about to go round the Circus to hallow it, a slave, whom his 
master had condemned to death, was driven through it and 
scourged. No attention was paid to this circumstance, 
and the games went on; but soon after the city was visited 
by a pestilence, and many monstrous births occurred. The 
.soothsayers could point out no remedy. At length Jupiter 
appeared in a dream to a countryman, named T. Lalinius, 
and directed him to go tell the consuls that the pra^luder 
(prfTsultor) had been displeasing to him. Fearing to be 
laughed at by the magistrates, Latinius did not venture to 
go near them. A few days after his son died suddenly, and 
the vision again appeared, menacing him with a greater evil 
if he did not go to the consuls. The simple man still 
hesitated, and he lost the use of his limbs. lie then revealed 
the matter to his kinsmen and friends, and they all agreed 
that he should be carried as he was, in his bed, to the con- 
suls in the Forum. By their direction he was brought into 
the senate-house, and there he told the wonderful tale ; 
snd scarcely had he completed it, when lo ! another miracle 



• See History of Greece, Part I. chap. iv. 



WAR WITH THE VOLSCIANS. 67 

look place ; vigor returned all at once to his limbs, and he 
left the senate-house on his feet. 

The games were now renewed with greater splendor 
than ever. The neighboring peoples, as usual, resorted to 
them; for in Italy, as in Greece and Asia, all solemn festi- 
vals were seasons of sacred peace.* Among those who came 
were numbers of Volscians. Attus Tullius went secretly to 
the consuls, and, reminding them of the unsteady nature of 
his countrymen, expressed his fears lest, imboldened by 
their numbers, they should disturb the sanctity of the feast 
by some deed of violence. The senate in alarm had proc- 
lamation made for all the Volscians to quit Rome by sun- 
set. They departed in deep indignation: at the spring of 
Ferentina they were met by Tullius, who had gone on be- 
fore ; he exaggerated the insult which had been offered 
them in the face of so many Italian peoples, and they re- j 

tired to their several towns breathing vengeance. 

The Volscians were joined by their kindred nation the 
vEquians, who were at that time more powerful than they. 
The Roman and Latin colonists were driven out of Circeii, 
and their place taken by Volscians. The country thence to 
Antium (of which place the Volscians also made themselves j 

masters) was conquered. The combined armies entered the 
Roman territory, (266 ;) but here a quarrel relative to the 
supreme command broke out between them, and they turned 
their arms against each other. 

In the year 26S the consul Sp. Cassius concluded a 
league with the Hernicans similar to' that with the Latins. 
As the political number of the Sabeilians, to whom the Her- 
nicans belonged, was four, and they were to receive a third 
of conquests and booty, it follows that four f Hernicans could 
only receive as much as three Romans or Latins. This 

* Hence the Israelites are assured (Exodus xx.xiv. 24) that no man 
should '• desire their land " when they went up to their three great fes- 
tivals. 

t The cohorts of the Hernicans contaired 400 men, (Liv. vii. 7,) 
those of the Samnites the same number, (Id. x. 40;) the Samnite 
legion had 4000 men, (Id. viii. 23 ; x. 38; xxii. 24.) The Marsian 
confederacy (see above, p. 5) consisted of four states, so also the 
Samnite ; and that the Hernicans were so divided, may be inferred 
from the 1000 colonists sent to Antium by the three allied nations, 
(Liv. iii. 5,) that is, 400 Hernicans, one hundred for each canton ; 300 
Romans for the three tribes of houses ; 300 Latins for the three 
decuries of their towns. 



68 HISTORY OF ROME. 

close union among the three states was caused by their 
common apprehensions from the Ausonian peoples, who 
were now at the height of their power. 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE PUBLIC LAND. AGRARIAN LAW OF SPURIUS CASSIU3. 

THE CONSULATE. VOLSCIAN WARS. VEIENTINE WAR. 

THE FAHII AT THE CREMERA. SIEGE OF ROME. MURDER 

OF THE TRIBUNE GENUCIU6. ROGATION OF PUBLILIUS 

VOLERO. DEFEAT OF THE ROMAN ARMY. DEATH OF 

APPIUS CLAUDIUS. 

The year 268 is also memorable in the annals of Rome 
as that of the agrarian law of Sp. Cassias Viscellinus, Ihe 
demand for the execution of which proved for so many 
I years a source of bitterness and anger between the two 

{ orders. To understand tliis matter aright, we must view the 

origin and nature of the Roman public land. 

The small territory about the Palatine belonging to the 
I city of Romulus was, as there is reason to suppose, equally 

I divided among the ten curies of the Ramnes. The house- 

I holders, of whom there were one hundred in each cury, had 

'. each a garden of two jugers, (one of arable, one of planta- 

i tion land,) which was termed a hfrrdiiiin, and one hundred 

; of these hrcdict, or two hundred jugers, formed the century 

i or district of the cury. But these ten centuries did not 

compose the whole of the land ; a part was assigned for 
the service of the gods and for the royal demesnes, and an- 
other portion remained as common or public land,* Tiiis 
last was all grass-land, and every citizen had a right to feed 
hi^ cattle on it, paying so much a head grazing-money to 
the state. We may suppose the two communities which 
formed the remaining tribes of regal Rome to have had their 
lands similarly divided, if not originally, at least subsequently, 
for it was the rule in ancient Italy, as all over the East, and 
even among ourselves,! that all landed property proceeded 

* See above, p. 15. < Blackstone, Book iL ch. 7 



THE PUBLIC LAND. 69 

fi om the sovereign ; and therefore whenever any community 
received the Roman franchise, it made a formal surrender 
of its lands to the state, and then received them back from 
it. Hence we hear of assignments of land by the early kings 
to the three tribes and to the plebs ; for the Latin commu 
nities, which in the time of King Ancus began to form this 
last body, of course surrendered and received again their 
lands in the usual manner. 

The original property * of the three patrician tribes there- 
fore consisted of the six thousand jugers which formed their 
hercdia, of their original common land, and of all that had 
been acquired previous to the formation of the plebs ; this was 
their property, and could not be affected by any law. But 
when the plebs was increased, and, as the infantry of the 
legion, was a chief agent in the acquisition of territory, it 
was manifest that they had a right to a share in what was 
won. Servius therefore enacted, that after every conquest 
a portion of the arable land which had been gained should 
be assigned in property to such plebeians as required it, in 
lots or farms of seven jugers apiece, and they were also to 
have the use of the public pastures in common with the 
patricians on the same conditions. The remainder of the 
arable land was the property of the state ; the use or enjoy 
ment of it under the name of possession (subject to resump- 
tion at any time) was given to the patricians exclusively ; 
for this they were bound to pay the state annually a tithe 
or tenth of the produce of the corn-lands and two tenths of 
that of vine-yards and olive-yards.t These possessions 
were transmitted by inheritance, and transferred by sale, as 
it was only in extreme cases that the state exercised its 
power of resumption ; and though the plebeians could not 
originally occupy the public land, they might buy the use of 
portions of it from the patrician occupants. 

To gain the commonalty, at the time of the expulsion of 
Tarquinius, the patricians decreed an assignment of seven 
jugers apiece to the plebeians out of the royal demesnes 
But as soon as the cause of the tyrant had become hope- 
less, and they had monopolized the supreme power, they 
turned out of the public land those of the plebeians who 
had acquired the use of it in the way above described ; and, 



* The property of the patricians all lay within the circait of five 
miles round the city. 
f Appian, B. C. i. 7. 



70 HISTORY OF ROME. 

what was still more iniquitous, they ceased to pay the tithes 
I 1 off the lands which they themselves possessed ; so that the 

j 1 tribute of the plebeians had to defray the expenses of wars, 

j etc., while the booty acquired was usually sold, and the 

produce diverted to tlie public chest of the patricians, {in 
I j publicum.) Hence, as we have seen, came the distress of 

the plebeians and the secession. 

It was to prevent the recurrence of this state of things 

that that excellent citizen and truly great man Sp. Cassius, 

1 who in his first consulship had overcome the Sabines, in 

! his second formed the treaty with the Latins, and in his 

I third that with the Ilernicans, in this third also brouglit 

; forward an agrarian law, directing, that of the land acquired 

• since the time of King Servius, a part should be assigned to 

I the plebeians, the portion of the populus be set out, and 

I tithe paid as formerly off all the occupied land. This law 

I was passed by the senate and the curies, but the execution 

\ of it was committed to the consuls of the following year, 

j and the ten oldest consular^ * of the greater houses, — men 

! ': the most apt to make it a dead letter, as they actually did. 

I ; At the expiration of his office Cassius was accused of 

!l treason before the curies, by the quajstors Ca;so Fabius and 

I L. Valerius, and was condemned to death and executed 

ii more majorum, that is, scourged and beheaded ; his house 

■ was razed, and its site left desolate,+ but his law remained, 

I ; and, as we shall see, avenged him on his murderers. 

I .' It is a remarkable circumstance, (but one which seems 

j ^ to be clearly ascertained,) that the Ran)nes and Titienses 

'j '• among the patricians seem to have aimed at excluding the 

• I Luceres as well as the plebeians from the government ; for 

I ; from the institution of the consulate to the year 253, M. 

Horatius is the only consul of the third tribe. In this year, 
however, they recovered their right, and when we call to 
mind that Sp. Cassius was consul the preceding year, we 
may feel inclined to regard that eminent man as the author 
of the change. The consul of the greater houses was named 
the Consul Major, and he took precedence of his colleague. 
This inferiority of the Luceres was marked on all occasions. 

* That is, tliose who had been consuls. The proper term here 
would be ■pratorians. See above, p. .'>8. 

t The common account of his being condemned by the people ^tlie 
Plebs) is quite erroneous. He had committed no offence against 
them ; the people who tried and condemned him was, as Livy says, the 
Populus. 



THE CONSULATE. 71 

III the senate none of them but tlie consulars were author- 
ized to speak. The consulars of the greater houses were 
called on first to give their opinions, then those of the lesser 
houses, next the senators of the greater houses, and finally 
those of the lesser silently voted.* 

The year 269, that of the execution of Sp. Cassius, was 
also that of an attempt on the part of the major houses again 
to monopolize the consulate. During seven successive years, 
(269 — 275,) we find one of the consuls always a Fabius; 
a thing which can hardly have been the result of chance. 
[t is therefore probable, that in reliance on their allies, the 
Latins and Hernicans, the elder houses thought they might 
venture on extending their power ; and as the house of the 
Fabii was by far the strongest among them, they agreed to 
let them have for their cooperation one seat in the consu- 
late in perpetuity. t As by one of the Valerian laws the cen- 
turies had the right of choice among the patrician candi- 
dates, which choice was then to be confirmed by the senate 
and curies, and as this course would never suit their present 
design, and they moreover feared the election of some one 
who might be disposed to avenge the murder of Sp. Cassius, 
the senate and curies in 269 boldly nominated Cebso Fabius 
and L. ^milius to the consulate, and then convened the 
centuries to confirm the election ; but these refused to con- 
sent to the abolition of tlieir rights, and quitted the field 
without voting. It was fortunate for the commonalty that the 
grasping ambition of the patricians sought to exclude the 
lesser houses, the larger portion of their own body, from the 



* Cicero de Rep. li. 20. Niebuhr (ii. 112—114) has, we think, 
made this quite clear. It is this writer's opinion, that tlie mino- 
res and juniorcs Patrum of Livy are in reahty the lesser houses, 
and not the y-ounger patricians. (See his History of Rome, vol. ii. 
note G68, and the places there referred to.) It is certainly very re- 
markable that the distinction oi' major es and juniorcs " Appears very 
frequently down till about the year 310, and never after; though the 
contest between the patricians and plebeians lasted more than a century 
longer ; the young men were, no doubt, just like those of earlier 
times ; and the chronicles became more and more copious." When 
in future we use the phrase lesser houses, it is the jxniiores Patrum ; 
and those who reject Niebuhr's -theory may substitute young patri- 
cians for it. 

t A similar agreement would seem to have been made with the 
Valerii at the beginning of the republic, as (oniitting, as Livy does,, 
the consuls of 248) there was one of them in the consulate in each of 
the first five years. The Valerii and Fabii were both Titienses. See 
also p. 44. 



72 HISTORY OF ROME. 

coriL jiate, and thus forced them to make common cause 
with ilie plebs, which gave these last time to discover their 
own .(irength, and to put it forth. 

Though the patricians had passed the agrarian law, nothing 
was larther from their tlioughts than to' let it be executed, 
and tuey sought to keep up a continued state of war ; for 
while the legions were in the field the Forum was empty, 
and the tribunes had no auditors. The consul, Q,. Fabius, 
therefoie (269) led an army against the Voiscians and 
iliquians ; but he withheld the plunder from his victorious 
troops, and had it sold, and the produce brought into the 
patrician chest. Next year (270) the consul, L. iEmilius, 
fought With indifferent success against the Voiscians. The 
following year, (271,) when the consul, M. Fabius, went to 
enrol troops for the war, the tribune, C. Majnius, forbade 
the levies unless the agrarian law was executed. But the 
consuls went to the mile from the city, at the temple of 
Mars, where the tribunician power ended, and erected their 
tribunal ; they then summoned all who were bound to serve, 
and they seized the property and burned and plundered the 
farms of such as did not appear. These forced levies were 
led by the consul L. Valerius against the Voiscians ; but the 
soldiers, though they fought with courage, would not gain a 
victory and booty for the consul and the patricians, whom 
they hated, and Valerius returned without fame. 

It would appear that the greater houses had now become 
aware of the danger of division in their order, and that they 
effected a permanent union with the lesser houses ; for we 
find the senate in 271 appointing Appius Claudius,* with 
one of the Fabii, to the consulate. But the tribunes and 
the plebs were to a man against Claudius ; the tribunes 
would noi suffer the curies, the consuls would not allow the 
tribes, to assemble for the elections, and die year expired 
without any consuls being created. In the beginning of the 
next year (272) A. Sempronius Atratinus, the warden oi the 
city, {Ciistos Urbis), as interrex, assembled the centuries, who 
elected C. Julius, a member of the lesser houses, as the 
colleague of Q.. Fabius, who was perhaps also their choice. 
A war with the Veientines commenced this year, but no 
event of importance occurred. 

The year 272 was marked by a formal compromise be- 
tween the patricians and the commonalty, securing to the 

* The Claudii, though of Sabine origin, were among the Locerei. 



VEIENTINE WAR. 73 

centuries the choice of one of tlie consuls, and leaving the 
appointment of the other with the senate and the curies, 
wliose nominee was now the Consul Major* The patri- 
cians made Cebso Fabius consul for the ensuing year, (273,^ 
and the centuries gave him Sp. Furius for his colleague. 
The tribune, Sp. Licinius, attempted to stop the levies on 
account of the agrarian law, but the patricians had adopted 
the prudent expedient of procuring, by means of their cli- 
ents in the classes, and by their own influence, the election 
of tribunes favorable to their order, and Licinius was op- 
posed by his own colleagues. Two armies were levied : one 
was sent under Furius against the ^quians, the other under 
Fabius against the Veientines. The former army, under 
the consul of their choice, fought cheerfully ; and tlieir gen- 
eral, in return, divided the booty among them. The case 
was widely different with the army of Fabius. They engaged 
the Veientines and put them to flight, but they would not 
pursue or attack their camp; and in the middle of the night 
they broke up, and abandoning their own camp to the 
enemy, set out for Rome. 

The consuls of the next year (274) were M. Fabius and 
Cn. Manlius ; the former, of course, the nominee of the 
houses. But the Fabii had now seen the folly of attempting 
to govern the state on oligarchic principles, and they were 
become sincerely anxious to conciliate the commonalty. 
The tribune, Ti. Pontificius, vainly attempted to oppose the 
levies, on account of the agrarian law; his four colleagues 
were unanimous against him; the armies were raised, and 
led by the two consuls into the Veientine territory ; but, 
warned by the example of the preceding year, the consuls, 
fearing to engage the enemy, kept their men close in their 
camp. The Veientines, who had been largely reenforced 
by volunteers from all parts of Etruria, seeing the inactivity 
of the Romans, and aware of the cause, increased in confi- 
dence ; they rode up tc the ramparts of their camp, daring 
them to come forth, and upbraiding them with their cow- 
ardice. The Romans were filled with indignation ; they 
sent their centurions to the consuls, entreating to be led to 
battle: the consuls, secretly well pleased, affected to hesi- 
tate, and declaring that the proper time was not yet arrived, 
forbade any one on pain of death to leave the camp. Thia 

* He was first the consul of the Ramnes.then of the greater houses 
See p. 70. 

7 J 



"14 HISTORV OF ROME. 

served, as tliey liad expected, but to augment the ardor of 
the soldiers; tlie Etruscans grew more and more audacious; 
the patience of the Ron)ans could liold out no longer; they 
pressed to the consjls from all parts of the camp, demand- 
ing the battle. " Swear, then," cried iM. Fabius, " that 
}e will not return but as conquerors." The centurion, 
M. Flavoleius, took the oath first, the rest followed him ; 
they seized their arms, issued from the camp, and soon stood 
displayed in array of battle. The Etruscans had hardly time 
to form when the Romans fell on them sword in hand. The 
Fabii were foremost in the attack. Quintus, the consul of 
the year 272, received a mortal wound ; his brother, the con- 
sul, rushed forward, calling on his men to remember their 
oath ; a third brother, Ca:so, followed ; the soldiers man- 
fully obeyed the call, and drove back the troops opposed to 
them. Manlius was also victorious on the other wing; but 
as he was ])ressing on the yielding foe he received a wound, 
which obliged him to retire. His men, thinking him slain, 
fell back ; but the other consul, coming with some horse, 
and crying out that his colleague was alive, restored the 
battle. Meantime a part of the Tuscan troops had fallen 
on the Roman camp ; those left to guard it, unable to re- 
sist them, fell back to the pratvrium, and made a stand 
there, sending to inform the consuls of their danger. Man- 
lius hastened to the camp, and placing guards at all the 
gates fell on the invaders, who, driven to desperation, formed 
into a close body and rushed on the consul. Manlius re- 
ceived a mortal wound ; those around him were dispersed ; 
a gate was then prudently opened, at which the Tuscans 
gladly hurried out, but they fell in with the troops of the 
victorious consul, and were most of them cut to pieces. The 
victory was complete ; the honor of a triumph was decreed 
to Fabius, but he declined it on account of the death of 
his brother and his colleague ; he distributed the wounded 
soldiers among the patricians, (his own gens taking the 
larger number,) by whom they were tended with the 
greatest care. 

So perfect was the reconciliation now between the Fabii 
and the plebs, that at the next election (275) Caeso, the 
accuser of Sp. Cassius, was the choice of the centuries, the 
patricians nominating T. Virginius. Without waiting for 
it to be urged by the tribunes, Caeso Fabius called on the 
senrte to put the agrarian law into execution ; but he 
and his house were reviled as traitors and apostates from 



THE FABII AT THE CREMERA. 75 

their former principles, and his proposals treated with scorn. 
The plebeians, gratified by his conduct, cheerfully took the 
field under him against the ^quians, and having invaded 
and ravaged their territory, hastened to the relief of the 
other consul, who had been defeated and was surrounded 
by the Veientines. 

The Fabian house, finding that there was no chance of 
inducing their order to act with justice towards the plebs, 
and that they were themselves become objects of aversion 
to their former friends, resolved to abandon Rome, and to 
form a separate settlement, where they might still be of 
service to their country. The place they fixed on was the 
banks of the Cremera, a stream in the Veientine territory. 
Led by the consul CcEso, to the number of three hundred 
and six, accompanied by their wives and children, and fol- 
lowed by a train of clients and friends, said to have amount- 
ed to four thousand, they issued on the ides of February 
through the Carmental gate,* attended by the prayers of 
the people ; and coming to the Cremera raised their fortress, 
whence they scoured without ceasing the whole Veientine 
territory, destroying the lands and carrying off the cattle. 
After some months the Veientines assembled a large army 
to assail the fortress of the Cremera ; but L. ^milius, one 
of the new consuls, (276,) led his troops against them, and 
gave them a defeat which was followed by a truce for a 
cyclic year. On the expiration of the truce the Fabii resumed 
hostilities. The Veientines, unable to cope with them in 
the field, had recourse to stratagem. They laid an ambush 
in the hills round a small plain, toward which they caused 
herds of cattle to be driven in view of the fortress. The 
Fabii instantly sallied forth, and while they were dispersed 
in pursuit of the oxen, the Tuscans came down on them from 
the woody hills, where they lay concealed, and surrounded 
them. The Fabii fought with desperation, and finally, 
breaking through the enemies, retired to the summit of a 
hill : but here they were again environed, and every one of 
them slain. Their fortress, deprived of its defenders, was 
taken and dismantled. 

Another account said that the Fabii had set out unarmed 
for Rome to perform the annual sacrifices of their gens on 
the Quirinal. The Veientines collected a large army, and 
lay in ambush on the way ; the Fabii, who were proceeding 

* In after times it was considered unlucky to go out at this gate. 



<b HISTORY OF ROME. 

carelessly as in time of peace, were assailed on all sides by 
showers of missiles from their cowardly foes, and all fell 
with many wounds.* 

The 18th Q,uinctilis (July) of the year 277 was the day 
of the fall of the Fabii, about two years and seven months 
from the time of their leaving Rome. That they were sac- 
rificed by the oligarchy at home is highly probable, for the 
consul T. Menenius was encamped but four miles off, and 
he made no effort whatever to aid them. His treachery or 
inaction, however, did not avail him ; the Tuscan army came 
and attacked and defeated him, and if they had not delayed 
to plunder the camp, they miglit have destroyed the whole 
Roman army. The fugitives filled the city with conster- 
nation, the fort on the Janiculan was abandoned, the Sub- 
lician bridge broken down, and word sent to the consul 
C. Horatius, who was out against the Volscians, to hasten 
to the defence of the city. 

The Etruscans, meantime, had encamped on the Janicu- 
lan, whence they frequently passed over the river and rav- 
aged the country. The peasantry fled with their cattle 
into the city for safety, and famine now began to be felt. 
As was the usual practice in such cases, the cattle were 
driven, out under a guard, into the fields on the side of the 
city away from the river ; erelong the Etruscans crossed 
the Tiber, in the hope of being able to carry them off; 
but they fell into an ambush near the temple of Hope 
about a mile from the city, and received a severe check. 
Soon after their whole army crossed over in the night on 
rafts, and attacked the camp of the consul Servilius before 
the Collinc gate, but they met with another repulse. The 
famine, however, was so urgent (for no supplies could be 
brought in) that it was of absolute necessity that something 
decisive should be done. Accordingly the two consular 
armies passed the river at different j)oints; that of Ser- 
vilius assailed the Janiculan, but was repulsed, and would 
have been driven into the river, but that Virginius came up 
and fell on the flank and rear of the Tuscans ; the other 
army then turned, and the enemy was finally defeated, and 
forced to abandon the Janiculan. A truce for ten nionths 

* The whole gens it is said perished, except a child that was loft at 
Rome. But as this Fabius was consul ten years after, he must have 
been a man at the time. From his subsequent history it would appeal 
that he had adhered to the old politics of the family, and on that ao 
nount did not share in the migration. 



MURDER OF THE TRIBUNE GENUCIUS. 77 

was then concluded. At its expiration (279) tlie consul 
P. Valerius defeated the Veientines and a Sabine army un- 
der the walls of Veii. The following year (2S0) a truce 
for forty years v/as concluded ; and it was probably at this 
time that the lands beyond the Tiber were restored to the 
Romans, and not by the romantic generosity of Porsenna. 

We must now take a view of the internal state of Rome 
during this time. 

As soon as the Veientines had retired in 278, the tribunes 
impeached T. Menenius for sutFering the Fabii to be de- 
stroyed. As they merely wanted to have him declared 
guilty, they laid the penalty at only 2000 asses ; the curies 
condemned him, and grief and indignation at this desertion of 
him by his own order broke his heart, and he died. Servilius 
was next impeached for having caused the loss of so many 
lives by his attack on the Janiculan ; he defended himself 
with spint, and, as was just, was acquitted. In the year 
after the peace (281)- the tribune Cn. Genucius summoned 
the consuls of the preceding year, L. Furius and C. Manlius, 
to answer before the plebs for not having carried the agrarian 
law into effect. The tribune offered sacrifice before the 
people in the Forum, calling ilown curses on his head if he 
did not proceed ; the accused saw that the danger of their 
being outlawed, at the least, was imminent ; they had recourse 
to the lesser houses, now the most violent against the com- 
monalty, and it was decided at a secret meeting to do a 
deed which should strike terror into the hearts of the ple- 
beians. 

Early in the morning of the day fixed for the trial, the 
people were all assembled m the Forum, waiting for the 
appearance of Genucius. As he delayed, they began to 
suspect that he had been terrified into an abandonment of 
the prosecution ; but presently his friends, who had gone 
according to custom to attend him to the Forum, arrived 
and told that he had been found dead in his bed, though 
without any marks of violence. His body was brought 
forth ; the tribunes and the people were filled with terror, 
and fled from the spot ; the patricians, exulting in their suc- 
cess, boasted openly of their deed ; and with the hope of 
being able to carry their plans into effect, the consuls or- 
dered a levy, that they might get the most offensive of their 
adversaries into their hands and put them to death. The 
tribunes feared to interfere, and had the consuls refrained 
from insult they might have succeeded. 
7* 



78 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Volero Publilits Philo, who had served as a first centurion, 
was called out as a couiinon soldier. As no charge could be 
made against him, he refused to serve in an inferior station. 
The lictors were sent to seize him ; he appealed to the trib- 
unes ; the consuls ordered the lictors to strip and scourge 
him. Volero, a powerful man, flung them irom him, and 
rushed among the people, calling on them to aid him. 
The lictors were beaten, their fasces broken, the consuls 
fled into the senate-house ; the people, however, used their 
victory with moderation, and quiet was restored in part 
through the prudence of the senators of the greater houses. 

The next year (2?^2) Volero was chosen one of the trib- 
imes ; and instead of avenging his private quarrel by im- 
peaching the consuls, he devoted his energies to the pro- 
curing of permanent advantages for his order. He brought 
in a bill to give the appointment of the tribunes to the tribes 
instead of the centuries, where the patricians exercised so 
much influence by means of their clients. As two of his 
colleagues supported him, and a majority was decisive at 
this time in the college of the tribunes, the patricians foutid 
themselves obliged to have recourse to other means of stop- 
ping the measure. 

A tribunician rogotion resembled a bill in the British par- 
liament in this, that if not carried through all its stages in 
ths limited period, (in the latter case the session, in the 
former a single day,) it had to be commenced anew. The 
magistrates and senators had moreover the power of oppo- 
sing any motion of the tribunes which concerned the whole 
republic; and thus, without any factious design, a debate 
might be prolonged to sunset. But the patricians had an- 
other mode of impeding the proceedings of the tribunes. 
They and their clients used to spread themselves over the 
Forum ; and when it was necessary that the ground should 
be cleared, and the plebeians left alone to vote in their tribes, 
and they were therefore requested to withdraw, (that is, to 
walk over to their Coniitium, on the other side of the Rostra,) 
they would refuse ; this would cause a tumult, and so all 
proceedings would be stopped for the day. The military 
expeditions formed another impediment; for the cli.ents, who 
were not required to serve, outnumbered the plebeians who 
remained at home. 

By means of this kind the bill of Publilius was defeated 
time after time till the end of his yea.'. But the people re* 



ROGATION OF PUBLILIUS VOLJCRO. 79 

elected him, (283,) and gave him for a colleague C. Lnetorius, 
a man of great energy and intrepidity. The patricians on 
their side raised the ferocious Ap. Claudius to the consulate; 
the choice of the centuries was T. Q,uinctius, a member of 
ihe greater houses, and a man of just and moderate senti- 
ments. 

The tribunes required that both the tribunes and the 
rcdiles should be chosen by the tribes ; they further proposed 
a resolution declaring that the plebs, in their tribes, were 
entitled to deliberate on matters affecting the whole state. 
This the patricians resolved to oppose to the utmost; the trib- 
unes on their side were as determined ; and on the eve of the 
important day Lsetorius thus concluded his address to the 
people. " Since I am not so ready at speaking as at acting, 
be here to-morrow, Romans, and I will either die in your 
sight or carry the law.' In the morning the tribunes entered 
the Forum ; the consuls were also present ; the patricians 
mingled with the plebeians, to prevent the passing of the law. 
Laitorius directed all to withdraw but those who were to 
vote: the patricians took no notice ; he ordered the' officers 
{vi(itorcf) to seize some of them ; Appius, in an insulting 
manner, denied his right to do so ; the intrepid tribune 
in a rage sent his officer to arrest the consul ; Appius ordered 
a lictor to seize Lsetorius : the plebs hastened to the de- 
fence of the tribune, the patricians to that of the consul. 
Blood would have been shed but for the effiDrts of the con- 
sulars, who forced Appius away to the senate-house, and of 
Q.uinctius, who appeased the people ; they however went up 
and occupied the Capitol in arms. 

There can be no doubt that the plebs passed the resolu- 
tion before sunset. The senate, despite of the fury of Appius 
and his party, yielded to the suggestions of the more mod- 
erate and prudent, and silently adopted it as a law ; though the 
more far-sighted saw that more was yielded by it than had 
been done at the Sacred Mount. Measures might now ori- 
ginate in the assembly of the tribes, where (not as in that of 
the centuries) there was freedom of debate ; these were to be 
followed by a decree of the senate, and then ratified by the 
curies. 

It may appear strange that the patricians (a part of whom 
had so lately been able to lord it over the rest of their own 
body, as well as the plebs) should be now so feeble. But 
thuir allies, the Latins and Hernicans, were at this time too 
hard pressed themselves o be able to give them any aid; and 



80 IIISTOKY OF ROME. 

the preponderance which the lesser houses had acquired, h.id 
naturally excited jealousy in the older ones, and thus inclined 
them to the plebs. And doubtless there must have been 
among the patricians many men oi liberal and elevated minds, 
who wished to see justice done ; there were others also con- 
nected by marriage with plebeian families. 

It being necessary to send armies against the Volscians 
and yEquians in delence oi' their allies, the tribunes did not 
oppose the levies, though an opportunity would be thereby 
artbrded to Appius of exercising his fury and revenge. He 
led therefore an army against the Volscians, while Q,uinc- 
tins advanced against the yEquians. It was a contest between 
Appius and his troops ; he sought to drive them to despair 
by invectives and by intolerable commands ; they resolved to 
show him that he could not bend them to his will. His 
orders were neglected, curses awaited him every time he 
appeared ; and when at length he led his troops out to battle, 
they made no resistance to the foe, but turned and fled. 
The Volscians pursued them, slaughtering the rearmost, to 
their camp, which however they did not venture to attack. 
The consul called his troops to an assembly ; the soldiers 
fearing to go unarmed, as was the custom, refused to attend. 
His officers besought Appius, and he gave way, and issued 
orders for a retreat next day. At dawn the trumpet sounded ; 
the Volscians, aroused by the sound, came forth and fell on 
the retiring army; a general panic seized the Romans, they 
flung away their arms and standards, and fled in confusion. 
On the Roman territory the consul held his court ; want of 
arms, and the consciousness of having acted wrong, en- 
feebled the soldiers, and the patricians and the allies were 
at hand to assail them if they mutinied. At the command 
of Appius, every centurion who had left his place, and 
every tenth common soldier, was seized, scourged, and be- 
headed. 

The following year (Q84) the tribunes impeached Appwis 
Claudius for his opposition to the interests of the people, his 
having laid violent hands on a tribune, and having caused 
loss and disgrace to his army. Appius disdained to use any 
of the usual modes of obtaining favor; he would not put on 
a mean dress, or personally supplicate those who were to try 
him; his lanEfuage breathed, as ever, haughlinesfe and de- 
fiance ; the pf;ople quailed before him ; the trii)unps put off 
the day of trial. But ere the day arrived, the haughty Ap- 
pius was no more ; his own hand had terminated his exist- 



ij 



VOLSCIAN WAR. 81 

eiice. The deed, which the Roman religion condemned, 
was concealed ; his body was, according to custom, brought 
forth for interment : his son claimed to have the usual 
funeral oration pronounced over it ; the tribunes attempted 
opposition, but the people would not carry their enmity be 
yond the tomb, and li;3tened calmly to his praises, now that 
he had ceased from troubling. 



CHAPTER III. 

VOLSCIAN WAR. LEGEND OF CORIOLANUS. THE TERENTIL- 

lAN LAW. SEIZURE OF THE CAPITOL BY THE EXILES. 

DICTATORSHIP OF CINCINNATUS. THE FIRST DECEMVI- 

RATE. THE SECOND DECEMVIRATE. SICINIUS DENTATUS. 

FATE OF VIRGINIA. ABOLITION OF THE DECEMVIRATE. 

The Volscians, the vEquians, and the Sabines were now 
the constant opponents of the Romans, the Latins, and the 
Hernicans. In 284 nothing of importance occurred ; but 
the next year, while the disputes were warm at Rome on 
account of the agrarian laws, the flight of the peasantry 
and the smoke of the burning farm-houses announced the 
approach of a Volscian army. Troops were hastily levied, 
the enemy retired, but was overtaken and routed near An- 
tium, and the neighboring seaport of Ceno came over to 
the Romans. The Sabines, who had meantime entered the 
Roman territory, were attacked and driven off with loss by 
the consular armies on tlieir return. 

The next year (^SG) the Sabines extended their ravages 
over the Anio, and to the very Colline gate; but the consul 
Q,. Servilius obliged them to retire, and wasted their terri- 
tory in return. The other consul, T. Q,uinctius, had march- 
ed against the Volscians of Antium. After an indecisive 
battle, the Volscians, being joined by an ^quian army, sur- 
rounded the Roman camp in the night to prevent a retreat. 
The consul, having calmed the apprehensions of his men, 
set the trumpeters and horn-blowers on horseback out before 
the rampart, ordering them to sound all through the night. 
The enemy, expecting a sally, rerhained under arms while 
the Romans took tlieir rest. At dawn the consul led out hia 

K 



62 HISTORY OF ROME. 

army ; the Volscians, exhausted with watching, retired aftei 
a feel/le resistance to the summit of a ruirged hill; the 
Romans, heedless of the missiles which were showered down 
on them, won their way up to the top, and the Volscians tied 
down the other side. The Volscian colonists at Antium then 
agreed to evacuate the town, and their place was taken by one 
thousand colonists from the three allied peoples.* 

For some years (280 — 290) there was a cessation of hos- 
tilities between the Romans and the Volscians ; but th»^ 
iEquians were still in arms, the expelled colonists of An- 
tium and their exiled partisans fighting with the utmost zeal 
under their banners. In 289 the .^Equians advanced as far 
as Mount Algidus,t where they pitched their camp. The 
consul Quinctius came and encam|)ed opposite them; but 
they made a sudden irruption into the Roman territory ; the 
country folk, who expected no such event, had not time to 
convey their property to the city, or to the strong |)flt^/,| and 
the invaders carried off a large booty. 

The next year (290) the Volscians of Eretrae joined ihe 
yEquians. At the urgent desire of the Hernicans, the con- 
sul Sp. Furius was sent Avith an army to their defence; but 
he was unable to oppose the superior forces of the enemy, 
and was even so closely cooped up by them in his camp, 
that it was only through the Hernicans that his situation 
could be made known at Rome. T. Quinctius was sent 
with an army to his relief; but Furius had meantime been 
himself wounded, and liis brother with one thousand of the 
best men slain in a sally. Quinctius relieved the army of 
Furius, but the other consul Postumius had been unable to 
prevent the enemy from ravaging the lands of Rome; the 
peasantry fled with their cattle into the city ; the heat of the 
summer, joined with the want of pasture, cau.<;ed a murrain 
among the cattle, which was followed by a dreadful pestilence 
among the people. The Volscians and ^^^quians came and 
encamped within three miles of Rome on the road to Gabii; 
the country round, filled with ruins and the nnburied dead, 
offered nothing to plunder ; fear of the pestilence, or of the 
resistance the people might still make, withheld them from 

* See above, p. G7. note. 

t A thickly wooded range of liills lyin^ between Tusculuin and Ve 
Iitr<e. 

t A pagus was a place on an eniinence surrounded by a wnll or 
ditch and rampart for the p?Dple to retreat to on such occasions as the 
preaent. 



LEGEND OF CORIOLANUS. 83 

attacking the city. They broke up at length, and procee led 
to ravage all parts of Latium. The spreading of the pestilence 
probably caused a cessation of hostilities after tliis, which 
was followed by a truce; and in 295 the Romans, to dissolve 
the league which they found too strong for them, concluded 
a separate peace with the Volscians, giving up Antium and 
other towns, and entering into a municipal relation * with 
them. An advantage derived by Rome from this war, dis- 
astrous as it was, was the utter ruin and breaking-up of the 
Latin union, several of whose towns were obliged to place 
themselves in a state of dependence under her. 

It is in this war that the celebrated legend of Coriolanus, 
which has been thrown back to the year 263, probably finds 
its true place. 

Cn. Marcius, a gallant patrician youth, said the legend, 
was serving in the army which P. Cominius led in 261 
against the Volscians of Antium. The Volscians were de- 
feated, the towns of Longuia and Polnsca taken, and siege 
laid to Corioli. During a vigorous assault of the town, the 
Volscian army came from Antium, and fell on the Romans ; 
the besieged at the same time made a sally, but they were 
driven back by a party headed by Marcius, who, entering 
the town pellmell with them, set fire to the buildings next 
the wall; the Volscians, seeing the smoke and flames, 
thought that the town was taken, and retired. Corioli was 
thus taken, and Marcius derived from it the name of Corio- | | 

lanus. This and other exploits made him the darling of 
his order ; but the piebs dreaded him, and refused him the 
consulate. 

The next year Rome was visited by a grievous famine. 
Corn was sought in all quarters, even as far as Sicily, whence 
(263) there came a large supply, part purchased, part the 
gift of a Greek prince of the island. It was proposed in 
the senate to distribute the gift-corn gratis among the peo- 
ple, and to sell the remainder at a low price ; but Marcius 
said that now was the time to make them abolish the odious 
tribunate, and advised not to give them the corn on any 
other terms. When the people heard what he had proposed, 
they became furious, and would have torn him to pieces, 
but that the tribunes summoned him to appear before the 
assembly of the tribes. He treated their menaces with 

* The municipi.um answered to the isopolttij of the Greeks ; it con- 
ferred all civic rights bat those of voting in the assemblies or holding 
office. 



i 



i I 



64 HISTORY OF ROME. 

contempt, and abated nought of his haughtiness ; but the 
other patricians supplicated for hini. His condemnation 
however was certain ; so lie quitted Rome, and went into 
exile* to Antiura, wliere he .became the guest of Attius 
TuUius. He offered the Volscians his services against his 
country ; they in return gave him the highest civil rights ; 
and when Tullius had rekindled the war as above related, t 
Marcius was appointed to be his colleague. 

Success every where attended the arms of the exile. He 
took the colony of Circeii; Satricum, Longula, Polusca, and 
Corioli submitted ; Lavinium, Corbio, Vitellia, Trebia, La- 
vici and Pedum opened their gates ; he pitched his camp at 
the Cluilian Ditch, "five miles from llome,| vvhence he 
ravaged the lands of the plebeians, sparing those of his own 
order. 

Fear and consternation reigned in the city, and resistance 
was not thought of; the senate, the curies, and the plebs 
united in a decree restoring Marcius to his civic rights. 
Five consulars bore it to him; but he insisted that all the 
territory taken from the Volscians should be restored, the 
i \ colonies recalled, and the Volscian j>eople received into a 

' municipal relation. He gave then> thirty days to consider, 

and led off his troops for that time. When they were ended, 
the Ten First of the senate waited on him; he gave them 
three days more, driving them from his camp with threats. 
Next day the flamcns, the aug\irs, and the other ministers 
of religion came in their sacred robes to try to move him, 
but they too sued in vain. And now the third day was 
come, and were its sun to go down on his wrath, he was 
to lead his troops against the defenceless city. But again 
Rome owed her safety to her women. A procession of her 
noblest matrons, headed by the exile's venerable mother 
Veturia and his wife Volunmia leading her two young chil- 
dren, was seen to approach the Volscian camp. They en- 
tered and came to his tent ; the tears of his wife and the 
other matrons, the threatened curse of hia aged parent, bent 

" Banishmont wfts unknown to the Roman law during the Republic. 
An eziil, ihiit is, one who is out, (see above, p. .58.) a fuonis-.lln, wa? 
a person who lefl his native city to reside in one with which it had n 
municipal relation. The j»/.s exiihtndi might be used by any accused 
person up to the moment of the very last tribe voting his condenina 
tion. He wastlien no longer a Roman citizen, and the interdiction of 
fire and water prevented his return. 

t See p. 07. , 

t The patrician lands lay vithin side of it. See above, p. C9, liot* 



LEGEND OF CORIOLANUS. 85 

his haughty soul. He burst into tears : " Mother, " cried he, 
" thou hast chosen between Rome and thy son ; me thou 
wilt never see more : may they requite thee ! " He embraced 
his wife and children, and dismissed them, and next morn- 
ing he led off his army. He lived among the Volscians to a 
great age, and oftpn was heard to say that exile was most 
grievous to an old man ; * when he died, the Roman matrons 
inourned a year as they had done lor Brutus and Poplicola ; 
and his praises, as those of a pious and upright man, were 
handed down to posterity. 

We have called this tale a legend, and said that it is in 
its wrong place. The following are a few of the reasons 
for our so doing. There was no famine at Rome in 262 ; 
there was no prince, that is, tyrant, in Sicily at that time; 
the tribunes had not the power here ascribed to them till 
after the year 2S0 ; the practice of naming persons from 
conquests they had made began with Scipio Africanus, t 
On the other hand, there was a famine in 278, at which time 
Hiero was reigning at Syracuse ; and soon after there was 
a violent dissension between the orders, when the proposal 
ascribed to Cn. JVfarcius may have been made, and the plebs 
were then strong enough to punish any one who attempted 
to do away with any of the fundamental laws of the state 
Finally, the conquests ascribed to Coriolaniis are mostly the 
cessions made to the Volscians at the peace of 295. 

Yet the story of Coriolanus is no mere fable. It is probable 
that he was at the head of a body of Roman exiles, | serving 
in the Volscian army in hopes of reentering Rome as victors, 
and that he demanded their recall as well as his own. But as 
these would have reclaimed their property and have sought 
vengeance of their enemies, nothing could have been more 
dreaded l^y all parties than their return. If then Coriolanus, 
to save his country from this affliction, consented never to see 
it more, and return to exile when he might have entered 
Rome as a conqueror, he was every way vyorthy of the fame 
he acquired, and his name should ever be held in honorable 
remembrance as that of a true patriot. 

* Fabius in Liv. ii. 40. Some said he was assassinated by the 
Volscians; otliers, (Cjcero, Brutus 10,) that he put an end to himself 
like Themistocles. 

t Liv. XXX,. 45. 

X The tfvyuSf<; of the Greeks (see History of Greece, Part \\. passim) 
the funrusciti of the republics of middle age Italy. The above is only 
Niebuhr's hypothesis, but it is so extremely probable that it is diiBcult 
not to embrace it. 

8 



36 HISTORY OF ROME. 

We now return to the internal history. The pestilence 
of 291 had committed dreadful ravages ; it had carried off 
the two consuls, three of the tribunes and a fourth of the 
senate, and, as is always the case, had produced great dis- 
soluteness of manners. The patricians, as being a close 
j body, suffered more loss of political strength than the ple- 

I beians ; many of their houses seem to have died off, whose 

clientry mostly joined the plebs. Internal and external calam- 
ities combined to make men aware of the defects of the exist- 
; iug institutions, and to induce them to favor a constitutional 

\ reform. 

j In the year 292 the tribune C. Terentilius Arsa took the 

I opportunity of the absence of the consuls and the letriotis 

I to propose a bill of reform, of which the object was three- 

\ fold; to unite the two orders, and place them on a footing 

! of equality; to substitute a limited magistracy for the con- 

I sulate ; to frame a code of laws for all classes of Romans 

': without distinction. This bill was passed by the plebs on 

\ the return of the consul Lucretius, but it was r(!Jected by 

; the senate and the curies. 

The next year (298) the Terentilian Ihw was brought 
j forward by the whole college of the tribunes. The consuls 

to impede them commenced a levy ; the tribunes resisted 
it; the patricians and their clients on their side prevented 
by their usual manosuvres* the voting of the tribes. They 
were headed in these attempts by Cajso Quinctius, a young 
man of great bodily size and strength, equally distinguished 
by valor and eloquence, and they frequently beat the ple- 
beians and drove them off the Forum. At length A. Vir- 
ginius, one of the tribunes, impeached Caeso under the 
Icilian law. The patricians now awoke from their dream 
and saw their danger, the leading men among them de- 
scended to the humblest entreaties to sate their champion, 
but all was in vain. To augment the odium against him, 
M. Volscius Fictor, a forn>er tribune, came forward and de- 
clared that in the time of the plague as he and his brother, 
a man in years, and but just recovering from it, were pass- 
ing through the Subura they met a party of riotous youths 
headed by Cseso, who picked a quarrel with them ; his broth- 
er was knocked down by Ca?so, and he died shortly after of 
the blow; he had himself applied to no purpose for justice to 
the consuls of the year. This tale roused the people to 
fury, and it was with difficulty that the tribunes could save 
the accused from them. Caeso, who had given ten sureties 

* See above, p. 78. 



SEIZURE OF THE CAPITOL Bl THE EXILES. 87 

^each bound in 31)00 asses,) seeing his condemnation certain, 
retired secretly that very jiight into Etruria, and his sureties 
had to pay the money to the temple of Ceres.* 

The elder houses began now to think that resistance was 
useless, and they were anxious for an accommodation : not 
so the juniors ; they were more imbittered than ever, but 
they adopted a new system of tactics. On court days they 
and their clients occupied the Forum and impeded the meas- [ 

ures of the tribunes in the usual way, taking care that no I 

one should make himself conspicuous ; on other days they i 

vied with each other in kindness and courtesy toward thq j 

individual plebeians. The tribunes, however, saw or affected | 

to see a conspiracy against themselves and their order, .and I 

in the next year (294) a report was spread that Caeso had { 

been in the city, and that a plan was laid for murdering | 

them and the leading plebeians, and bringing back the re- ? 

public to what it had been before the secession. While the 
minds of the people were thus kept in a state of uncertainty, i 

cries of To Arms ! and The enemies are in the city ! were heard ) 

one night, raised by persons who were flying for their lives | 

down from the Capitol to the Forum, and averring that the | 

citadel was seized by a body of men who were putting to ! 

death all who would not join them. Terror prevailed all | 

through the night, and guards were placed on the Aventine | 

and Esquiline, and the streets leading to them. \ 

The morning revealed the truth. A body of exiles and | 

runaway slaves with the clients of Appius Herdonius, a 
powerful Sabine who had placed himself at their head, had 
come down the river by night in boats, and entering the city j 

by the Carmental gate, (which, from a religious motive, was | 

never closed,) had mounted to the Capitol, that was at hand, \ 

and made themselves masters of it. At dawn Herdonius ; 

called aloud on the slaves, but in vain, to rise for their \ 

liberty ; the consuls, on their side, having secured the gates 
jmd walls against an attack from without, which they ap- 
prehended, wished to assail the Capitol at once, and began 
to administer the military oath. But the tribunes, who 
maintained that the whole was only a device of the patri- 
cians, and that those on the Capitol were nothing but their 
friends and clients, opposed the levy, saying that now was 

* " The money," says Livy, " was cruelly exacted from liis father." 
If 80. it must have been by the sureties ; but this is a mere fiction to 
.iccount for the narrow circumslr.ices in which we shall find Cincin- 
n/ituB. 



88 HISTORY OF ROME. 

the time to pass the bill, while the plebs were under arms 
and that then those above would go off as quietly as they 
came. In this confusion the consul P. Valerius saved his 
country; he implored the people to consider the danger if 
their enemies were to learn that the Capitol was occupied, 
and he pledged himself that when the danger was over no 
hinderance should be given to the voting of the assembly, 
and that if the bill was passed it should be made law. 

The word of a Valerius sufficed ; the plebeians took the 
oath, but the day was far spent, and the assault had to be 
deferred to the morrow. In the morning, being joined by 
the Tusculans, whom their dictator L. Mamilius had brought 
to their aid, they began to ascend. The outlaws fought 
with desperation, but they were driven back; a part of them 
defended the temple, and the consul Valerius, who led the 
attack, was slain in forcing the vestibule. At length all 
were killed or taken. Ilerdonius, and most probably Cteso 
Quinctius,* was among the slain ; all the prisoners were 
executed. The plebs assessed themselves to defray the ex- 
penses of a solemn funeral for the patriotic consul. 

The tribunes now called on C. Claudius, the remaining 
consul, to perform the promise of his deceased colleague; 
but he refused to act by himself, and the senate and curies 
made L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, the father of Ca?so, consul, 
who breathing vengeance against the plebeians, resolved to 
take advantage of the military oath they had taken to Va- 
lerius, and leading them away from Rome force them to 
pass what laws the senate pleased. He ordered them to re- 
pair in arms to the lake Regillus, whither the augurs were 
sent to consecrate a field for the comitia.. But the courage 
of the patricians again failed them; the measure was aban- 
doned, on condition of the law not being agitated that year ; 
they tried also, but to no purpose, to prevent the reelection 
of the tribunes, and they were obliged to give up an attempt 
at making Cincinnatus consul for the ensuing year. 

The following year (29.')) was that of the peace with the 
Volscians. The J^quians were still in arms, and in 296 
the consul Minucius was defeated h\ them and besieged in 
his camp on Mount Algidus. An army sent from Rome 
relieved him ; but as he had lost the battle through hia owr 
fault, he was obliged to resign the command to Q. Fabius. 
This event was transmitted in the poetic legendary form, 

-n 

* Two years after (I/ivy iii. 25) he is spoken of in a manner whica 
^ows that he was not living. 



DICTATORSHIP OF CINCINNATUS. 89 

and being associated with a celebrated name, it has come 
down to us in the following manner. 

The ^quians, who had been parties to the peace of the 
preceding year, now broke out, and led by Gracchus Cloelius 
ravaged the lands of Latium. They encamped with their 
booty on Mount Algidus, whither Roman ambassadors came 
to complain of this. breach of faith. The /Equian general 
insolently desired them to make their complaint to the oak 
beneath whose capacious shade he was seated. Tlie Ro- 
mans took the oak and the gods to witness of the justice of 
their cause, and departed. The consul Minucius led his 
army to the Algidus; but fortime favored the misdoers, and 
he was shut up by them, with a rampart raised round his 
camp. Five horsemen who escaped ere the enemy's lines 
were completed, brought the tidings to Rome; it was resolved 
to create a dictator ; the choice fell on L. Quinctius Cincin- 
natus, who was living on a small farm of four jugers in the 
Vatican land beyond the Tiber. The officer {viator) sent to 
inform him of his appointment * found him guiding his plough 
with nothing on but an apron, t it being summer time; he 
bade him clothe himself to hear the message of the senate 
and the Fathers. Cincinatus called to his wife Racilia to 
letch him his toga out of the cottage. When he was dressed, 
the officer saluted him as dictator ; a boat lay ready to convey 
him across the river; at the other side he was received by 
his three sons and several of his friends and kinsmen and a 
number of the patricians, and was conducted by them to his 
house. 

Before dawn next morning he entered the Forum, and 
having appointed L. Tarquitius, a man brave but poor, to be 
master of the horse, he ordered all the shops to be closed, all 
business to be suspended,| and every one able to serve to 
appear by sunset without the city, with food dressed for five 
days, and with twelve palisades. While those who were to 
march were cutting their pales and preparing their arms, 
those who were to remain dressed the victuals for them. At 
night-fall; all being ready, the dictator set forth at their head, 
and at midnight they had reached the Algidus, where they 
halted near the camp of the enemy. The dictator, havmg 
ridden forward to take a view of it, directed his officers to 
make the men lay down their baggage, and with their arms 

* Pliny, H. N. xviii. 4. 

f A'lidus ara, sere nudiis, Virg. Geor. i. 1^99. 

X This was called a Justitium. 

8» L 



90 HISTORY OF ROMK. 

and palisades alone to resume their order of march, and 
having surrounded the enemy to raise a loud shout and begin 
to cast up 1 ditch and rampart. His orders were obeyed 
the shout psaled over the camp of the .-Equians to that of the 
Romans, filling those with terror, these with joy and hope 
The besieged burst fortli from their camp, and fought with 
the iEquians till the dawn. Meantime tjie dictator's army 
had completed their works, and the ^Equians, thus shut in 
and nuw assailed from within and without, sued for mercy. 
The terms granted were tlte surrender of Cloilius and the 
principal officers, and of their town of Corbio with all 
the property in it; the rest, having passed under the yoke 
might then depart unarmed. Cloilius and his officers were 
then laid in chains; an opening was made in the Roman 
line; two spears upright and one across (thejM^4'"«/M, or yoke) 
were set up in it, under which the ^Equian soldiers, with 
nothing on but their tunics, marched out, their camp and all 
in it remaining in the hands of the victors. The spoil was 
divided among the liberating army; the liberated called the 
dictator their patron, and gave him a golden crown of a pound 
in weight. He entered the city in triumph ; tables were 
spread with provisions before all the doors as the soldiers 
passed, and joy and f(;stivity every where prevailed. The 
dictator at tli£ end of sixteen days laid down his office, and 
declining all the gifts that were offiired him returned to his 
farm. 

Pity that so pleasing a legend will not pass the ordeal of 
criticism ! Five palisades being counted a heavy load for a 
soldier used to duty, how could men called out on a sudden 
levy carry twelve ? and how could they march thus laden 
twenty miles from sunset to midnight ? Each soldier, to use 
so many, must have had a fathom of ground to intrench, and 
would the ^quians make no effort to break through so thin 
a line 1 The manner in which Cinciuatus learned his ele- 
vation to the dictatorship is also told of his consulate, and 
twenty ye.irs after Cla?lius is taken just in the same way near 
Ardea ; the giving up of Corbia is a pure invention of the 
annalists; and finally, the /Equians were not included in the 
peace of 21)5, and so could not have been guilty of perjury. 
But the dictatorship of Cincinatus appears in reality to have 
had a much less noble origin. In 29.> the quaestors, A. 
Cornelius and Q.. Servilius, accused M. Volscius before the 
curies,* for having by perjury caused the ruin of one of their 

* Soe above, p. 62. 



DICTATORSHIP OF CINCINNATUS. 91 

order; the tribunes, however, prevented the patricians from 
going on with the trial, and nothing could be done in that 
year. Next year the tribunician power had to give way 
before that of the dictator, and Cincinnatus had the satisfac- 
tion of seeing the accuser of his son driven into exile. He 
then laid down his office, and retired to his farin. 

Under the mild and equitable form of government which we 
enjoy, it is difficult for us to conceive the bitter, ruthless spirit 
which animated the oligarchies and democracies of antiquity. 
On the present occasion^ the patricians scrupled at no means 
of offence ; they not only impeded the assemblies of the 
plebeians, but they caused the most active and daring of them 
to be assassinated.* But all would not avail ; the same trib- 
unes were reelected every year, and in 297 their number 
was increased to ten, two from each of the classes; and the 
lext year the senate and curies were obliged to confirm a law, 
proposed by the tribune Icilius, for assigning the whole of the 
Aventine to the plebeians. At length, (300,) the patricians 
gave way on the subject of the Terentilian law, and agreed 
to a revision of the laws ; and three senators were sent to 
Athens, then flourishing under Pericles, to gain a knowledge 
of its la'fvs and constitntion. 

In the year 301 Rome was again visited by the pestilence, 
and one of the consuls, his successor, four tribunes, an au- 
gur, one of the three great flamens, many senators, half the 
freemen, and all the slaves are said to have died of it. It 
fell with equal fury on the Volscians, iEquians, Sabines, and 
other peoples of Italy, t 

At length (392) the plague ceased, afld the envoys having 
returned from Greece, a board of ten patricians, one half to 
be elected by the centuries, (the plebeians having given up 
their original demand of a share in it,^) was appointed to 
draw up and enact a general code of laws. As in cases of 
this kind in antiquity the lawgivers were intrusted with all 
the powers of the state, '^s the consulate and the other magis- 
tracies were all merged in the decemv irate, and the decem- 
virs were thus invested with nearly absolute power. Being 

* Dion Exc. de sent. 22., and Zonoras, vii. 17. 

t It was probably connected with the plague at Athens, which broke 
out some years after, and with the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions 
which prevailed at this time. 

+ Terentilius had required that of the ten commissioners to be ap- 
pointed, five should be plebeians. 

§ As in the case of Solon and the Thirty at Athens. See History 
«f Greece. 



92 HISTORY OF HOME. 

in effect a decury of interrexes, they exercised the uprx.ue 
power by turns: he who held it was named CusUs Urbis ; 
he was attended by the twelve lictors, and presided over the 
senate and the whole republic ; his colleagues acted as judges, 
each being attended by a beadle, {Acccjisus.) 

It was not the desire of the Romans to have an entirely 
new constitution ; a selection was to be madp out of their 
existing laws and usages with such improvements as might 
be derived from those oi other nations. The decemvirs ap- 
plied themselves sedulously to their task, and having drawn 
up a code in ten laws or tables, they made them public, in 
order to receive such suggestions as might be offered for their 
improvement. After some time they laid the amended code 
before the senate, and, on their approval, before the centuries, 
whose assent was solemnly ratified by the curies. The laws 
were then cut on tables of brass, and hung up in the Comi- 
tiura. 

By this celebrated code the two orders were placed on an 
equality, as far as was possible at the time. The patricians, 
with their clients and the agrarians, were admitted into the 
plebeifin tribes, and all thus united in one civic body, in 
which the patricians were to form a numerous nobility. 
The supreme power was to be annually confided, not to con- 
suls, but to a board of ten civil and military officers, one 
half of whom were to be plebeians. Among the patricians 
the old distinction of greater and lesser houses .«eems to 
have been done away with, for we find soon after the votes 
taken in the senate without any certain order. * 

The law of debt enacted or retained was rigorous in the 
extreme. In case of a nrxum, the creditor could arrest his 
debtor after thirty days, and if he did not dischnrge his debt 
or t^ive security, he might take him home and put him in 
irons, which at the most were to weigh fifteen pounds ; if 
he could not supply himself with food, his creditor was to 
allow him a pound of corn a day. If after sixty days no 
arrangement had been made, the debtor was brougiit before 
the prrtor on three successive market-days, and the amount 
of his debt proclaimed, and if no one came forward to pay 
or secure it, the creditor was authorized to kill him or sell 
him beyond the Tiber. If there were several creditors, they 
might divide his body among them, and no one could be 
punished for cutting off more or less than his exact share, t 

* Dionys. xi. 16. See above, p. 70. 

t Gellius XX. 1. Si plus minusve secuerunt se frawde csto. Thw 



THE FIRST DECEMVIRATE. 93 

When the time for creating the new magistrates came, 
ihe patricians, doubtless with a design of enfeebling, if not 
overthrowing, the new constitution, sought to have L. Cin- 
cinnatus, T. Quinctius, and C. Claudius elected. But Ap- 
piu3 Claudius the decemvir, who, from the moment the re- 
form was resolved on, had courted the people, and had now 
completely won their confidence, was determined to retain 
the power he had acquired. His colleagues, to impede him, 
chose him to preside at the election, thinking he would 
not have the hardihood to put himself in nomination. But 
they were deceived; he did so, and was elected with four 
patrician and five plebeian colleagues. 

On the ides of May, (304,) the day they were to enter on 
their office, the decemvirs, to the amazement of the people, 
came forth, each preceded by twelve lictors with the axes 
in their fasces. Appius, by his force of character, gained 
a commanding influence in the college : the government was 
despotic, but during this year not unjust; no assemblies 
were held ; the senate had little or nothing to do, and most 
of the senators retired to their farms ; externally, there was 
peace. Toward the end of the year the decemvirs pro- 
mulgated two new tables of laws, making the whole num- 
ber twelve, and these, under the name of the Twelve Tables, 
became the source and foundation of the future Roman 
law. The decemvirs, like most men when possessed of 
uncontrolled power, soon began to abuse it. They at first 
oppressed both orders alike, but they speedily tyrannized 
almost exclusively over the plebs, now divested of the pro- 
tection of the tribunate. In this they were supported by 
the patrician youth, who were eager to gratify their feelings 
of hatred against the people. 

In the second year of the decemvirate (305) the ^Equians 
and Sabines renewed hostilities ; the former encamped as 
usual on the Algidus, the latter at Eretura. The decemvirs 
convened the senate to give orders for the levies ; when it 
met, L Valerius and M. Horatius, the grandsons of the 
liberators, boldly but to no purpose inveighed against their 
tyranny. The senate did as they required ; the plebeians 
having nowhere to appeal to, gave their names though 
«ith reluctance, and two armies were formed and led by 

proves that it could not have been a sectio bonorutn, as some humane 
critics suppose. Shylock would have found no diffi;ulty here. The 
r?al object of the law was to conquer the avarice and the stubbori^ 
fl hslinacy of the Roman character. 



54 HISTORY OF ROME. 

the military decemvirs against the enemies. But each army 
'et itself be beaten ; the one on Algidus even abandoned its 
camp and sought refuge at Tusculum, the other fled by 
night from near Ert-tum and encamped on an eminence be- 
tween Fidenae and Crustumeria. 

In this army there was a distinguished veteran named 
L. Siciiiius Dentatus, formerly a tribune of the people. It is 
said * that he had fought in one hundred and twenty battles, 
had forty-five scars in front, had gained spears, liorse-trap- 
pings, and other rewards of valor without number, and had 
attended the triumphs of nine generals under whom he had 
served. This man awaked itj the army the remembrance 
of the adjacent Sacred Mount, where, forty-five years before 
the people had gained their charter, and chid them for not 
imitating their gallant fathers. The generals, being resolved 
to put him out of Uie way, sent him with a party to choose 
a spot for encampment, giving orders to those under him, 
who were their own creatures, to fall on and slay him. These 
executed their mandate ; in a lonely spot they assailed the 
veteran hero, who, placing his back against a rock, perished 
not unavenged, for fifteen were slain and double the num- 
ber wounded by his hand. The rest fled back to the camp, 
crying out how they had fallen into an ambush of the enemy, 
who had slain their leader and several of their comrades. 
A party was sent to burv the slain ; but they could perceive 
no traces of an enemy ; the body of Sicinius lay unspoiled 
in his armor ; all the slain were Romans, and were turned 
toward him, and consequently nuist have fallen by his 
hand ; that he perished by the treachery of the decemvirs 
therefore was evident. The soldiers were incensed, but a 
splendid military funeral given to Sicinius by the generals 
pacified them in some measure. 

But a more atrocious deed was done in the city. Appius 
Claudius, as he sat in the Forum to administer justice, was 
in the habit of seeing a lovely and modest plebeian maiden 
go daily, attended by her nurse, to one of the schools which 
were held about it, to learn the art of writing. She was 
named Virginia, and was the daughter of L. Virginius, one 
of the noblest plebeians, and betrothed to L. Icilius, who 
had been tribune. The decemvir cast an eye of lust on 
the innocent maiden ; he vainlv tried the effect of promises 
and bribes : difficulty only augmented his passion, and he 
scrupled at no means to gratify it. He therefore directed 

• Pliny, H. N. vii. 28. 



FATE OF VIRGINIA. 93 

M. Claudius, one of his clients, to claim her as iiis slave : his 
orders were obeyed ; and as Virginia was crossing the Forum 
on her way to the school. Claudius laid hold on her as his 
property. At the loud cries of her nurse a crowd collected 
to oppose him ; Claudius coolly said he needed not force, as 
his claim was a legal one. All went before the tribunal of 
Appius, who was sitting in the Comitium. The plaintiff, as 
had been agreed on, averred that she was the offspring of 
one of his female slaves, who had given her to the childless 
wife of Virginius, and he now claimed her as his slave. The 
friends of Virginia prayed that as her father was absent on 
the affairs of the state, being a centurion in the army on 
the Algidus, a delay of two days might be given, and that 
meantime, by the decemvir's own law, security should be 
taken for her appearance. Appius, pretending that his law 
did not apply to the present case, decided that she should 
be delivered up to the claimant, on his giving security to 
produce her when required. A cry of horror was raised at 
this iniquitous sentence, and P. Numitorius and L. Icilius, 
the uncle and the lover of the maiden, came forward and 
spoke with such firmness, and the people seemed so deter- 
mined, that Appius gave way and deferred the decision of 
the matter till the following day, leaving Virginia meantime 
in the hands of her friends. 

It was the design of the tyrant to send off to his colleagues 
in the camp, directing them to confine Virginius, and to 
surround himself next day with a strong body of his parti- 
sans and their clients, and carry his point by violence if 
needful. To conceal his share in the present transaction, 
he sat some time longer in court ; and Icilius, and his 
friends, who having seen through his design had secretly 
directed two active young men to mount and ride off with 
all speed to the camp, purposely wore away the time in 
arranging the securities. Their messengers therefore ar- 
rived long before the one sent by Appius ; and Virginius, 
pretending the death of a relative, obtained leave of absence 
and came to Rome. 

At daybreak the Forum was full of people ; Virginius and 
his daughter in the garb of woe came among them imploring 
their aid : Icilius also addressed them : the women who were 
with them wept in silence. Appius came forth attended by 
an armed train and took his seat : the plaintiff, as instruct- 
ed, gently reproached him with not having done him justice 
the day before. Appius, without listening to him or Vir- 



96 HISTORY OF ROME. 

ginius, ga\e sentence that Virginia should be consigned to 
the claimant till a judge should decide the matter. This 
horrible decree filled all with silent amazement. M. Clau- 
dius advanced to lay hold on the maiden; the women 
and their friends repelled him. Virginius menaced the de- 
cemvir : Appiu-s declared that he knew there was a con- 
spiracy to resist the government, but that he would put it 
down by force ; then, " Go, lictor ! " he thundered forth, " dis- 
perse the crowd, and make way for the master to take his 
slave." The people fell back ; Virginius, seeing no hope, 
apologized for his vehemence, and craved permission to 
take his daughter and her nurse aside and examine them 
about the matter. Leave was granted ; he drew them near 
a butcher's stall, and snatching up a knife plunged it into 
his daughter's bosom. Then waving the reeking blade 
" With this blood," he cried, " Appius, I devote thee and 
thy head." The tyrant called out to seiae him : but, bran- 
dishing the knife, he reached the gate, no one daring to stop 
him, and proceeded to the camp, followed by a number of 
the people. 

Icilius and Numitorius harangued the people over the 
corpse of tiie hapless maiden ; Valerius and lloratins joined 
in the call to freedom ; the liciors were repelled, and their 
fasces broken. Ajjpius vainly called on the patricians to 
stand by him ; then in terror for his life he covered his head, 
and fled into an adjacent house. His obsequious colleague 
Sp. Oppius, seeing that force would not avail, convened the 
senate, but it came to no decision. Some zealous patricians 
were however sent to the camp to try and keep the army 
in its duty. 

But vain were the hopes of the oligarchs; the soldiers, at 
the call of Virginius, plucked up their standards, marched 
for Rome, and posted themselves on the Aventine. The 
senate sent three deputies, charging them with rebellion, 
and offering pardon to all but the ringleaders on their return 
to their duty. They were told to send Valerius and Horatius 
if they desired an answer. These, on being required to go^ 
uisisted that the decemvirs should previously abdicate ; this 
the patricians, still relying on tlieir strength, refused to .il- 
low. Meantime M. Duilius, a former tribune, convinced the 
•)eople that as long as they staid in Rome the patriciaus 
would never believe they were in earnest ; but that if, like 
their fathers, they retired to the Sacred Mount, they would 
soon bring them to reason. Instantly the army was in mo- 



ABOLITION* OF THE DECEMVIUATE. 97 

lion ; leaving a sufficient number to guard the Aventine, they 
marched unmolested across the city, out by the CoUine gate, 
and, foilowe 1 by numbers of men, women, and children from 
the Esquiline and other parts, they encamped on the Sacred 
Mount. Here they were joined by the other army, who 
had revolted at the call of Icilius and Numitorius. They 
acknowledged twenty tribunes, one for each tribe, as their 
tiagistrates, at the head of whom were M. Oppius and Sex- 
tus Manlius. 

The patricians seeing themselves left nearly alone in the 
city, found that they must yield. Valerius and Horatius 
came from them to the camp, to learn the demands of the 
plebeians. Icilius as spokesman required that the tribunate 
and the right of appeal should be restored ; that no one should 
be accounted criminal for having urged the people to the se- 
cession ; that the decemvirs shovdd be given up to be burnt 
alive. The deputies replied, that the two first conditions were 
so reasonable that they should have proposed them them- 
selves: they prayed them to recede from the last demand. 
All was then left to their own discretion ; and on their re- 
turn, the senate passed a decree, that the decemvirs should 
abdicate and consuls be chosen, the chief pontiff preside at 
the election of the tribunes, and none be molested for their 
share in the secession. The plebs then returned, ascended 
the Capitol in arms,* and thence proceeded to the Aventine. 

The Pontiff presiding, the people chose their tribunes, 
among whom were, as they well merited, Virginius, Icilius, 
Numitorius, and Duilius. On the motion of Duilius, the 
plebs then ordered that the interrex should hold the elec- 
tion of patrician consuls,! with the right of appeal ; and 
the centuries when assembled bestowed the consulate on 
L. Valerius and M. Horatius. These popular consuls forth- 
with passed laws for the security of the plebs, the senate 
and curies giving a reluctant consent. The first was that 
a meisure pass'ed by the tribes should be of equal force with 
one pissed by the centuries, and if confirmed by the patri- 
cians, should be the law of the land; the second menaced 
with outlawry whoever procured the election of a magis- 
strate without appeal; the third enacted the penalty of out- 
lawry and confiscation of property against any one who 

* Cicero for Cornel. 1. 24 ; probably to worship the gods. For a 
somewhat similar act at Athens, see History of Greece, p. 303, 2d edit. 

t It was on this occasion the word consul was first employed. (Zona 
ra;. vii. 19.) The office now was only provisional. 

9 M 



98 HISTORY OF ROME. 

injured the tributes, the sediles, the judges, or the plebeian 
decemvirs. The legislation was terminated by a bill of the 
tribune Duilius denouncing death by fire against any one 
who should leave the people without tribunes, or create a 
magistrate without appeal 

Vengeance for Virginia was now to be exacted. Virginius 
summoned Appius and his client Claudius before the tri- 
bunal of the tribes. Instead of seeking safety in exile, the 
haughty decemvir appeared in the Forum surrounded by a 
band of patrician youths. Virginius ordered him to be 
seized and laid in chains ; the officer approached ; Appius 
claimed the protection of the tribunes ; no one stirred ; he 
appealed to the people : the officer dragged him away to 
prison. His uncle, C. Claudius, who having vainly sought 
to induce him and his colleagues to lay down their office 
in the hands of the senate,* had retired to his paternal abode 
atRegillus, came to Rome, and with his gentiles and clients 
all in mourning went about the Forum supplicating for his 
release. Virginius, on the other hand, called on the people 
to remember his and their wrongs. The prayers of the 
Clandii were of no avail. Appius died in prison, probably 
by his own hand, before the day of trial came. 

Numitorius then impeached the plebeian decemvir Sp. Op- 
pius for not having given protection to Virginia. A veteran 
who had served in seven-and-twenty campaigns came for 
ward and exhibited the marks of a scourging inflicted on 
him by Oppius without a cause. He too was sent to prison 
where he died also by his own hand. The other decemvir;- 
were suffered to go into exile, but their property was confis 
cated. iM. Claudius was tried and found guilty; but Vir- 
ginius remitting the capital punishment, he was allowed logo 
into exile to Tibur. " The manes of Virginia, more happy 
in her death than in her life, having roamed through so 
many houses exacting vengeance, rested at length when no 
guilty person remained." 

To calm the alarms of the patricians, Duilius now declared 
prosecution to be at an end, and that no one should be 
molested for his acts -during the decemvirate. 



VICTORIES OF VALEltlUS AND HORATIUS- 99 



CHAPTER IV. 



VICTORIES OF VALERIUS AND HORATIUS. CANULEIAN LAW. 

CENSORSHIP AND MILITARY TRIBUNATE.^ FEUD AT AR- ! f" 

DEA. SP. MtELIUS. iEQUIAN AND VOLSCIAN WAR. CAP- 
TURE OF FIDEN^, VOLSCIAN WAR, MURDER OF POSTUMI- 

US BV HIS OWN SOLDIERS. VEIENTINE WAR. CAPTURE 

OF VEIL SIEGE OF FALERH. EXILE OF CAMILLUS. 

When all was settled in the city (305) the consuls raised 
their levies for the ^quian and Sabine campaigns. The 
young men gave their names readily, the veterans came for- { \ 

ward as volunteers. Valerius marched to Mount Algidus; j \ 

and after a series of manoeuvres to raise the confidence of j i 

his men, he fell on and defeated the ^.quians, and took | 

their camp. Similar good fortune attended Horatius, who ! ] 

had gone against the Sabines : and the two armies returned \ 

to Rome at the same time. The consuls, as was the usage, : ; 

sumn.oned the senate to the temple of Mars without the • | 

Capene gate, to give an account of their campaign and de- j | 

mand a triumph. The senate, alleging that they were there 
under the control of the soldiery, adjourned to the temple of | 

Apollo, where they refused them the honor, as being trai- j 

tors to their order. The plebs hearing of this indignity, on | I 

the motion of Icilius overstepped their legal powers, and i 

voted them a triumph; and thus the patricians by their ma- \ | 

lignant folly lost one of their privileges. 

The victory of Horatius over the Sabines is memorable for 
having put an end to the wars of this people with Rome. | 

For a century and a half amity prevailed between the two | r 

states, grounded probably on treaties, of which no memorial i 

remains. The cause which inclined the Sabines to peace 
appears to have been the emigration of their warlike youth, 
who went to join their kindred tribes of Samnium, who were | | 

now beginning to appear as conquerors in Campania. 

Four years now passed away without any event of much 
importance. In 310, nine of the tribunes concurred in 
bringing in a bill for electing one of the consuls from each 
order; and C. Catiuleius, the other tribune, one for granting 
the connubium., that is, legalizing marriage between the two 
orders. Both these propositions gave great offence to the 
patricians ; the usual expedient of foreign war and levies 
was recurred to, but in vain ; the tribunes were resolute 



100 HIS" ORY OF ROME. 

At length the patr'cians agreed to pass the Canuleian law 
For their good sense must have shown the n)ore prudent, 
that the patricians as the smaller body were the real suf- 
ferers by the prc'iibition ; and in fact these mixed marriages 
had all along prevailed,* and the families arising from them, 
and therefore belonging to the plebeians, were the most 
violent enemies of the })atricians. From the debate on this 

I subject we learn that the tribunes were now admitted into 

' the senate-house, but without the right of voting. Their 

seat was on benches before the open door.t 

I The other bill was altered, so as to allow of tlie consuls 

being taken from the two orders without distinction. 
Though this was a concession to the patricians, it did not 
content them. Scenes of violent altercation took place : 

) the heads of the senate held secret deliberations, in which 

\ C. Claudius is said to have actually proposed the murder 

of the tribunes; but even to the two Quinctii this seemed 
too violent a course, and it was resolved to come to an ac- 
commodation with them. 

By this compact the constitution assumed a new form ; 

I the decemvirate was resolved into its three component parts, 

which were separated from each other — the censorship, the 
quncstorship, and the military tribunate with consular author- 
ity, — of which the former two were reserved for the patri- 
cians, the one to be conferred by the curies, the other by the 
centuries ; the tribunate was open to both orders, and came 
in place of the considate. Tiie business of the censors, who 
were two in nundjer and were elected every five years, was 

I I to manage the revenues of the state, and to keep a registry 

of the citizens according to tiieir ranks and orders. They let 
the tolls and customs and other taxes, and they enrolled 
members in the senate, the equestrian order, and the tribes, 
or excluded such as were unworthy. The power of the 
censors was therefore very considerable. 

By the power which the censorship gave them of packing, 
as we may term it, the cent iries, the patricians were in gen- 
eral able to keep the militaiV tribunate in their own order ; 
nevertheless at the fir.st election, L. Atilius Longus, one of 
three chosen, was a plebeian. On account of this it was pre- 
tended that the election had been irregular, and they were 
obliged to resign before the end of three months It is not 



i \ 



* Heirp so many patrician and plebeian families of the same mine. 

♦ Valerius Maxinius, ii. 2, 7. 



FEUD AT ARDEa. 101 

unlikely that they may have refused to resign, for T. Quinc- 
tius was created dictator, who, having held a consular elec- 
tion, laid down his office on the thirteenth day. 

In the year 3SJ9, the people of Ardea and Aricia, who had 
been long disputing about the lands of Corioli, which had 
been lying waste since the time of its ruin by the Volscians, 
agreed to submit their differences to the decision of the 
Romans. The curies [concilium populi *) adjudged that the 
disputed lands belonged to neither of them, but had devolved ; j 

to the Roman people. We know not how this decision was \ 1 

received, but in 311 an alliance was made between the Ro- ■ 

man patricians and the corresponding party, or the old Rulu- j 

lian houses, at Ardea, who were on ill terms with their plebs, i i 

with whom they came to open war the following year. The ', i 

occasion was this : a beautiful plebeian maiden was wooed by ; 

one of her own order, and also by a member of the houses ; j 

her guardians, for she had ho father, were in favor of the i j 

former; her mother, urged by female vanity, of the latter. \ I 

The aflfair at length came before the magistrates, who, though i 

the right to dispose of their ward plainly lay with the guard- | i 

jans, decided in favor of tl>e patrician. The guardians car- | 

ried the maiden by force from her mother's ; the patricians I ! 

took up arms ; a violent fray arose, and the plebs was driven | 

out of the town : they encamped on an adjoining hill, whence \ 

they ravaged the lands of their enemies : the artisans came 1 

out of the town and joined them, and Cloelius,- an yEquian \ \ 

general, led a body of troops to their aid. The houses called • | 

on their Roman allies, and the consul, M. Geganius, came \ |« 

and circumvallated the yEquian army that was investing the > 

town. The yEquians had to surrender their general, and to 1 ' 

pass under the yoke.t To strengthen the Rutulian houses, 1 | 

colonists were sent thither from Rome. ( I 

All was now quiet at Rome, till in 315 a dreadful famine, 1 l 

in consequence of the failure of the crops, came on. L. I 

Minucius, who was created prefect of the corn market, made 1 

every exertion to purchase corn, but could only obtain some ,( [ 

small supplies from Etruria : all persons were obliged to j ' 

deliver up what corn they had beyond a month's consump- ' \ 

tion ; the allowance of the slaves was diminished ; the corn 
dealers were prosecuted as regraters and engrossers. Still 



* So it is expressly called by Livy, ii. 71. It could not have been the 
plebs, who had nothing to do with the public land, 
1 See above, p. 90. 

9* 






102 HISTORY OF KOME. 

the famine was so sore that numbers of the plebeians .hiew 
themselves into the Tiber. 

In this universal distress, Sp. Msehus, a wealth} plebeian 
knight, made extensive purchases of corn in Etruria, which 
he sold at low prices, or distributed gratis to the poor of his 
order. This gained him great favor ; the patricians became 
suspicious of him; and Minucius, it is said, accused him to 
the consuls of the next year (316) of designs against the 
government: the senate sat a whole day in secret delibera- 
tion; the Capitol and other strong posts were garrisoned; 
and L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, now eighty years of age, was 
created dictator. 

Next morning the dictator entered the Forum with an 
armed train, and set up his tribunal. At his command, 
C. Servilius Ahala, the master of the horse, went to summon 
before him Majlius, who was present. Ma'lius hesitated : the 
officers advanced to seize him ; he snatched up a butcher's 
knife to defend himself, and ran back into the crowd. 
Ahala, sword in hand, and followed by a band of armed 
patrician youths, rushed after him ; the people gave way, and 
he ran Ma-lius through the body. The murder, for such it 
undoubtedly was, was applauded by the venerable dictator.* 
The house of Maelius was pulled down, and its site left 
desolate, (the ^quimelium :) and posterity, following the 
traditions of the Quinclian and Servilian houses, had no 
doubt of his guilt, or of the public virtue of Ahilla. Their 
contemporaries, however, thought differently. When the 
terror of the dictatorship was removed, three tribunes de- 
manded vengeance for the death of JMailius; an insurrection 
broke out, Ahala had to go into exile, and the patricians 
were obliged to allow the election of military tribunes, to 
appease the people. 

The year 317 was distinguished by the revolt of FidensB. 
This town, which lay five miles up the Tiber, beyond the 
Anio, had received a colony about sixty years before ; a part 
of the colonists were now expelled, a part probably shared 
in the revolt. An alliance \yas formed with the Veientinea 
and Faliscans, and their united forces appeared more than 
once before the CoUine gate. Dictators were appointed 
against them, and in 320 the dictator A. Servilius Priscus 



* Plutarch (Brutus, 1) gives a novel view, of ihe a,ct of Ahdla. Ho 
W with l»i n another Brutus. " ' '''; 



VOLSCIAN WAR. 103 

conquered the town. The ringleaders were beheaded, but 
no further penalty was inflicted on the people. 

In 322 the pestilence again spread its ravages at Rome : and 
in 324 the truce with the ^Equians being expired, they and 
a part of the Volscians raised two armies of select troops, 
bound by oath to conquer or die, and encamped on the Algi- 
dus. In this emergency the senate resolved to create a dicta- 
tor ; the consuls, however, refused to proclaim him, and the 
senate having appealed to the tribunes, they forced the con- 
suls by a menace of imprisonment to submit. The person 
appointed was A. Postumius Tubertus. 

The dictator, aware of the magnitude of the danger, called 
out all the forces of the state. Four armies were formed ; 
one, the city legions, was left at Rome under the consul C. 
Julius ; the reserve, under the master of the horse, L. Julius, 
lay without Uie walls. The dictator and the consul T. Q,uinc- 
tius marched with the remainder to the Algidus, where they 
were joined by the Latins and Hernicans. They encamped 
within a mile of the enemy, the consul on the road to Lanu- 
vium, the dictator on that to Tusculum. Skirmishes took 
place daily, in one of which the dictator's son having left the 
post assigned him to engage the enemy, was on his return 
victorious, put to death by his inexorable sire for his breach 
of orders. At length the enemy made a combined attack by 
night on the consul's camp ; but meantime that of the 
^quians was stormed by some cohorts sent against it by the 
dictator, who himself came by a circuitous route into the 
rear of those who were assailing the consul's camp. The 
troops of the dictator and the consul attacked them simul- 
taneously ; at break of day the exhausted foe gave way ; 
a brave man named Vettius Messius placing himself at their 
head, they broke through and made their way to the Volscian 
camp, which still was safe ; but they were soon followed and 
surrounded there also : the camp was stormed, quarter wr»3 
given to those who threw down their arms, but all were sold 
except the senators. The dictator having triumphed.laid down 
his office. The following year a truce for eight years was 
made with the ^Equians. Among the Volscians there was a 
peace and a war party, and the former seems to have boen the 
stronger, as during these eight years all was quiet on this side. 

In 327, a conspiracy being discovered at Fidense, the 
heads of it were relegated toOstia; more colonists were sent 
to Fidense, and the lands of those who had been executed or 
had fallen in war were given to them. This year also was 



104 HISTORY OF ROME. 

one of pestilence The next year (328) war was formally 
declared against Veii, on which occasion a furtlier progress 
was made in the constitution, as the tribunes succeeded in 
having the question brought before the centuries, instead of 
being decided by tiie senate alone. One good result of this 
was tjiat the levies were never again obstructed. 

Consular tribunes being elected for 329, they led their 
forces against Veii, but from their want of concord they gave 
the enemy an opportunity of falling on and routing them. 
Mamercus ^milius was immediately made dictator, and he 
named A. Cornelius Cossus, one of the tribunes, his master 
of the horse. The Veientines, elate with their success, sent 
to invite volunteers from all parts of Etrurii' and they tried 
to induce the Fidenates to revolt once more. Envoys were 
despatched from Rome to warn them of their duty ; but the 
envoys were detained in custody, and the revolt resolved on. 
Lars Tolumnius, the Veientine king, led his army over the 
Tiber, and encamped before Fidens. He was playing at dice 
when the Fidenates sent to inquire what should be done with 
the Roman envoys. Without interrupting his game, he cried, 
" Put them to death ! " His mandate was e.xecuted ; the col- 
onists were butchered at the same time, and all hopes of pardon 
thus cut off. The Roman army soon appeared to exact ven- 
geance ; the skilful dispositions of the dictator and the valor 
of his troops gained a complete victory. Lars Tolumnius 
fell by the hand of the master of the horse, who dedicated 
his spolia opiiiia, the first since the days of Romulus, in the 
temple of Jupiter Ferctrius. Fidenae was taken, its inhabit- 
ants massacred or sold for slaves, and it dwindled into utter 
insignificance. 

A truce with Veii for twenty, and with the ^quians for 
three (cyclic) years was the only event of the year 330. In 
331, as territory had been gained in the late wars, the trib- 
unes demanded that assignments out of it should be made tc 
the plebeians, and the tithe be levied off what was possessed 
by the patricians for the payment of the troops. 

In 332 the Volscians took up arms, being convinced from 
i},s growing power of Rome that they must either make a 
bold and decisive effort, or part with their independence. 
Their troops were numerous and well disciplined. The con- 
sul, C. Sempronius Atratinus, who commanded the Roman 
army, evinced neither skill nor energy : the soldiers had no 
confidence either in him or th-»mselves. In the battle they 
were giving way, when Sex. 1 Bmpanius, a plebeian knight 



VOLSCIAN WAR. 105 

sailing on the horsemen to dismount and follow him, and 
raising his spear as a standard, advanced against the foe, who, 
at the command of their leader, gave way and let them 
through, and then closed to cut them off from the Roman 
army. The consul seeing his cavalry thus isolated redoubled 
his efforts. Tempanius, having vainly essayed to break 
through again, retired to an eminence, where a part of the Voi- 
scians surrounded him. Night ended the conflict : each army, 
thinking itself conquered, abandoned its camp and wounded, 
and retired to the mountains. In the morning Tempanius 
and his comrades, finding the two camps deserted, returned to 
Rome, where their appearance caused great joy, as the whole 
army was supposed to be lost. The tribunes were loud in 
their accusation of the consul, but Tempanius spok£ in his 
favor ; and when next year (333) he and three of his brother 
officers were elected tribunes, and one of their colleagues 
impeached Sempronius before the people, they protected him, 
and induced the prosecutor to forego the charge. 

During the next seventeen years (334 — 351) the internal 
disputes respecting the public land continued, and the pa- 
tricians, by their old tactics of gaining a majority of the trib- 
unes to their side, prevented any thing being done. But the 
plebeians were slowly and surely gaining strength. In 334 
the consuls proposed that the number of the qu.-estors of the 
treasury, which had been two, should be doubled ; the trib- 
unes insisted that the new places should belong to the ple- 
beians, and it was agreed that they should be chosen promis- 
cuously out of both orders. This, as in the case of the con- 
sular tribunate, was no immediate gain to the plebeians, but 
they trusted to the sure operation of time. Henceforth a 
quiEstor attended every army to superintend the sale of the 
booty, the produce of which was either divided among the 
soldiers or brought into the JElrarium, the common treasury 
of the state, not, as heretofore, into the Publicum of the pa- 
tricians. 

The wars with the ^quians and Volscians were con- 
tinued also throughout this period ; but the power of these 
peoples was greatly crippled by the conquests which the 
Samnites were now making on their southern frontier. In 
337 the .-Equians and the Lavicans entered and ravaged the 
lands of Tusculum, and then encamped on the Algidus. An 
army was sent against them, which sustained a defeat. Q,, 
Servilius Priscus was then created dictator : he routed the 
enemies, took their camp, stormed the town of Lavici, and 

N 



106 HISTORY OF ROME. 

then laid down his office on the eighth day. In 340 tlie for- 
merly Latin, now ^quian, town of Bolae wat taken, on which 
occasion the Roman soldiers connnitted a crime unknown to 
their history for centuries after. 

The consular tribune M. Postumius, who commanded, had 
promised them the plunder of the town, but when it was 
taken he broke his word. He had also been summoned by 
liis colleagues to Rome, where the tribunes were clamoring 
for a division of the conquered land; and when the tribune 
Sextius spoke of the rights of the soldiers, "Woe to mine," 
said he, "if they do not keep quiet!" These words soon 
made their way to the camp, and still further exasperated the 
men. A tumult broke out when the quaestor was selling the 
booty, in which he was struck by a stone. Postumius sat in 
judgment on this offence, and ordered the most severe pun- 
ishments. The men became enraged, and losing all respect 
stoned their general to death. This event was advantageous 
to the oligarchs, as the plebeians had to allow of the election 
of consuls for the next year, (342,) and to permit them to 
institute an inquiry into the death of Postumius. It was con- 
ducted with great moderation : the condemned terminated 
their lives by their own hands. 

In 347 the Antiates, seeing the danger which menaced 
their kindred, engaged in the war. A combined army en- 
camped before the walls of Antium, where it was attacked 
and totally defeated by a Roman army, led by the dictator 
P. Corneliiis. The campaign of 349 was more important ; 
three Roman armies took the field : one, led by the consu- 
lar tribune L. Valerius, approached Antium ; his colleague 
P. Cornelius advanced with another against Ecetra ; while 
N. Fabius with the third laid siege to Tarracina, which 
lay on the side of a steep hill over the Pomptinc marshes. 
A part of the army having gotten to the summit of the hill 
over the town, it was forced to surrender : the pmnder was 
divided among the three armies, and a colony sent to the 
town. 

A war, the last, with Veii succeeded At the expiration 
of the truce the Romans demanded satisfaction for the crime 
ofTolumnius; the Veientines, who feared war, applied for 
aid to the other peoples of Etruria, and various congresses 
>l'ere held at the temple of Voltumna to consider the matter. 
Aid, however, was refused, perhaps through jealousy, more 
probably in consecjuence of the pressure of a foe soon to 
appear on the north of the Apennines; it may also have bee» 



VEIENTINE WAR. 



107 



thought that tha strength of its walls would enahle Veil to 
resist any attack made on it by the Romans. 

The city of Veii, which lay twelve miles from Rome, was 
encompassed by strong walls four miles in circuit. The 
Tuscans, who possessed it, ruled over a population of sub- 
jects and serfs much like the Spartans in Gweece ; their own 
numbers were small, they could not rely on their subjects, 
and it was only the aid of volunteers from other parts of 
Etruria that enabled them at any tirne to wage war with 
advantage against the Romans. 

The Romans, on their side, saw that though they might 
ravage the lands of Veii, yet so long as the town remained 
unconquered, retaliation would be easy ; whereas could it be 
conquered, the advance of the power of Rome might be 
rapid and permanent. This, however, could only be effected 
by keeping a force constantly in the field ; but to do this it 
would be necessary to recur to the old practice of giving the 
troops pay, for which purpose the tithe must be paid honestly 
off the domain-land. This the senate, rising above the paltry, 
narrow considerations which used to influence it, resolved 
should be done, and pay be given to the infantry as well as 
the cavalry ; and as mutual concessions were usually made 
between the orders, the people seem to have agreed that the 
veto of one tribune — not that of the majority, as heretofore, 
in the college — should suffice to stop the proceedings of the 
tribunes, the patricians reckoning that they would be able, 
in most cases, to gain over one of them. War, therefore, 
against Veii was declared in the year 349. 

The campaigns of the years 350 and 351 seem to have 
been little more than plundering excursions into the Vei- 
entine territory ; forts (castella) like that on the Cremera 
were raised and garrisoned to prevent the cultivation of 
the lands and the passage of supplies to Veii. In the third 
year (352) siege was laid to the town, a mound advanced 
against its walls, and the gallery under which the battering 
rams were to play had nearly reached the wall, when the 
besieged made a sally, drove off the besiegers, burned the 
gallery and the sides of the mound, which they then levelled. 
The news of this reverse only stimulated the Romans to 
greater exertions : the knights to whom no horses could oe 
assigned offered to serve with their own ; a like zeal was 
manifested by the classes, and the campaign of 353 was 
opened by the appearance of a gallant army under the 
consular tribunes L. Virginius and M'. Sergius before Veii. 



108 HISTORY OF RCWE. 

The Veientines on their side were aided bj their nei^hborg 
the Capenates and Faliscans, who now saw that the danger 
was a common one. 

Tlie Roman generals, who were at enmity with each other, 
had separate camps ; that of Sergius, which was the smaller, 
was suddenly attacked by the allies, while the Veientines 
made a sally from the town ; the pride of Sergius would not 
let him send for assistance to tlie other camp ; while Vir- 
ginias, pretending to believe that if his colleague wanted aid 
he would apply fur it, kept his troops under arms, but would 
not stir. At length the camp of Sergius was forced : a few 
fled to the other camp, himself and the greater number to 
Rome. The other camp had then to be abandoned ; and the 
whole of the tribunes were obliged to lay down their office 
on account of the misconduct of Virginius and Sergius. 
Among those chosen to succeed them was M. Furius Ca- 
m ill us, afterwards so famous, whose name now appears for 
the first time. A large force was brought into the field, with 
which Camillus and one of his colleagues ravaged the lands 
of the Capenates and Faliscans up to the walls of their cities 

The internal history of this year (354) was remarkable 
for a hold attempt of the oligarchs to get two of themselves 
chosen into the college of the tribunes of the people.* They 
were, however, utterly foiled; the college was firm and unan- 
imous: a heavy fine was imposed on Sergius and Virginius 
for their ill conduct, and an agrarian law was passed, which 
put an end to the frauds by which the payment of the tithe 
had been eluded. The next year (3;55) the patricians were 
forced to allow one plebeian among the military tribunes 
and the following year (356) all but the prefect of the cit) 
were plebeians. 

A severe winter was succeeded by i pestilential summer 
still the armies took the field, and formed, as in 354, a double 
camp before Veii. The Faliscans and Capenates repeated 
the manoeuvre which had succeeded in that year; but the 
Roman generals were at perfect amity, and they met with a 
complete defeat. The territories of Capena and Falerii were 
ravaged again the next year, and in 358 the Tarquinians, 
who had taken arms and made an incursion' into the Roman 
territory, were waylaid on their return and routed with great 
oss. In 359, the last year of the war, the tribunes being 

* For the patricians were now in tlie tribes. It, however, continued 
to be the rule that none but a plebeian could be a tribune. 



CAPTURE OF VEIL 



109 



all plebeians, two of them, L. Titinius and Cn. Geniicius, in- 
vaded the lands of Capena and Falerii ; but conducting them- 
selves incautiously, they met with a defeat. Genucius fell 
in the action, Titinius broke through the enemy and got off, 
the troops before Veii were hardly restrained from flight, 
and Rome was filled with alarm. Camillus was now raised 
to the dictatorship; he exerted himself to restore confidence 
and discipline to the troops : the contingents of the Latins 
and Hernicans arrived, the dictator took the field, and hav- 
ing given the Faliscans and Capenates a complete defeat at 
Nepete, he sat down before Veii with a numerous army. 

So far the narrative of the Veientine war is historical ; in 
what is to come a poetic tale, of the same kind with those 
we have already noticed, has usurped the place of the sim- 
ple narrative of the annals. 

Various portents announced the fall of Veii. Among 
others the waters of the Alban lake rose in the midst of the 
dog-days, without a fall of rain or any other natural cause, 
to such a height as to overflow and deluge the surrounding 
country. Fearing deceit from the Etruscan augurs, the 
senate sent a solemn embassy to consult the Pythian oracle. 
The news reached the camp before Veii, and as there was 
then a truce, and those on both sides who were previously 
acquainted were in the habit of conversing together, it also 
came to the knowledge of the Veientines. Impelled by des- 
tiny a soothsayer mocked the efforts of the Romans, telling 
them that the sacred books declared they should never take 
Veii. A Roman centurion some days after, pretending that 
a prodigy had fallen out in his house which he was anxious 
to expiate, invited the aruspex to meet him in the plain 
between the town and the Roman camp. Seduced by the 
prospect of the proffered reward he came out; the centurion 
drew him near the Roman lines, and then suddenly; being 
young and vigorous, dragged the feeble old man into the 
camp. He was instantly transferred to Rome ; by menaces 
the senate forced him to tell the truth, and he declared that 
the books of fate announced that, so long as the lake kept 
overflowing, Veii could not be taken, and that, if its waters 
reached the sea, Rome would perish. The envoys arrived 
soon after from Delphi with a similar reply, the god prom- 
ising the conquest of Veii if they spread the waters over 
the fields, and demanding a tithe of the spoil. Forthwith 
a tunnel was commenced in the side of the mountain to 
draw off* tlie water of the lake and distribute it over the ad- 
10 



110 HISTORY OF ROME. 

jacent fields.* It advanced rapidly : the Veientines, seeing 
tlieir impending fate, sent an embassy to sue for favor; 
mercy was unrelentingly refused : the chief of the embassy 
then warned the Romans to beware, for tiie same oracles 
foretold that the fall of Veii would be followed by the cap- 
ture of Rome by the Gauls. He warned in vain, no mercy 
was to be obtained. 

Meantime the work by which Veii was to be taken went 
on : the Romans appeared to be waiting the slow effects of 
a blockade ; but their army was divided into six bands, each 
of which wrought for six hour.'^, by turns, at a mine, which 
was to lead into the temple of Juno on the citadel. When 
it was completed, Camillus sent to inquire of the senate 
what should be done with the spoil. Ap. Claudius advised 
to sell it, and reserve the proceeds for the pay of the army 
on future occasions; P. Licinius, a plebeian military trib- 
une, insisted that it should be divided not merely among 
the troops before Veii, but among all. the citizens, as all had 
made sacrifices. It was so decreed; and on proclamation 
being made, old and young flocked to the camp. 

When the waters of the A I ban lake were dispersed over the 
fields and the mine completed, Camillus, having made a vow 
to celebrate great games to the gods, and dedicate a temple 
to Mother IMatiita, and also ])romised high honors to Queen 
Juno, the patron goddess of Veii, and a tenth of the spoil to 
the Pythian Apollo, entered the mine at the head of his co- 
horts. At the same moment the horns sounded for the as- 
sault ; scaling-ladders were advanced. The citizens hastened 
to man their walls; their king was sacrificing in the temple 
of Juno; the aruspex, when he saw the victim, cried out 
that those who offered it to the goddess would be the vic- 
tors. The Romans, who were beneath, hearing this, burst 
forth; Camillus seized and offered the flesh ; his men rushed 
down from the citadel and opened the gates to those with- 
out; and thus Veii, like Troy, was taken by stratagem, after 
a ten years' siege. t 

The spoil was immense, and no part of it, except the 
price of those who had been made prisoners before orders 

* The tunnel was actually made at this time, though we are not to 
■uppose it had any thing to do with the fate of Veii. It is 6000 feet 
long, '.Vi wide, and highenough for a man to walk in it, wrought through 
the lava, wliich is as liard as iron. 

■( Tlie mine is as evident a fiction as the Trojan horse. In all ancien) 
history there is no authentic account of a town taken in this way. 



CAPTUKE OF VEIL 111 

were given to spare the unarmed, and who therefore were 
Bold, was brought into the treasury. It is related that as 
Camillus looked from the citadel down on the magnificent 
city he had won, he called to mind the envy with which 
the gods were believed to regard human prosperity, and 
prayed that it might fall as lightly as possible on himself 
and the Roman people; as he turned round to worship, he 
stumbled and fell, and he fondly deemed this to have ap- 
peased the envy of the Immortals. He dared then to enter 
Rome in triumph, in a car drawn by white horses, like that 
of Jupiter and Sol, (Sun,) a thing never witnessed before or 
after ; and the wrath of Heaven fell erelong on himself and 
the city. 

The statue of Q,ueen Juno was now to be' removed to 
Rome, according to the dictator's vow ; but as only a priest 
of a certain house could touch it, the Romans were filled 
with awe. At length a body of chosen knights, having pu- 
rified themselves and put on white robes, entered the tem- 
ple. The goddess being asked if she was willing to go to 
Rome, her assenting voice was distinctly heard, and the 
statue of its own accord moved with those who conveyed 
it out. 

The tithe was to be sent to the god at Delphi ; but 
the spoil was mostly consumed and spent ; the pontiffs de- 
clared that the state was only accountable for what had been 
received by the qusestors, and for the land and buildings at 
Veii, and that therefore the sin of those who kept back 
their share of it would lie at their own door. Conscience 
made all refund; but much ill will accrued to Camillus for 
his not having reminded them in time pf his vow. It was 
resolved to make a golden bowl (crater) to the value of the 
tenth, but there was not sufficient gold in the treasury; 
the matrons then came forward, and proffered to lend the 
state their ornaments and jewels of gold : their offer was 
graciously accepted, and in return the privilege of going 
through the city in chariots was granted them, — an honor 
hitherto confined to the principal magistrates. The bowl 
was made, and a trireme and three envoys despatched with 
it to Delphi. But the ship was captured and carried into 
Lipara by some cruisers, who took it for a pirate. Timo- 
sitheijs however, the chief magistrate of the place, released 
it, and sent it with a convoy to Greece, for which the Ro- 
man* granted him the right of proxeny to the state. The 
bowl was deposited in the treasury of the Massalians 



J 12 HISTORY OF ROME. 

whence, not many years after, it was taken and melted 
down by Oiioinarchus the Phocian.* 

The year after the capture of Veil, (360.) the Capenatca 
were compelled to sue for peace; and a colony of three 
thousand plebeian veterans were sent to the yEquian 
country, the patricians hoping to be able to keep the rich 
Veientine lauds to themselves. But the tribunes insisted 
that the lands and houses there should be assigned to the 
two orders alike. As this, by dividing the Roman people 
into two parts, would be the destruction of the unity of the 
state, the patricians opposed it most warmly : by gaining 
over two of the tribunes they .staved it off for two years ; 
and in IJ()2, when the tril)unes were unanimous, and the two 
who had opp6sed before had been heavily fined, the senators, 
by addressing themselves to their plebeian tribesmen, and 
showing the evil of the measure, got it rejected by a ma- 
jority of eleven out of the twenty-one tribes. Next day a 
vote of the senate assigned a lot of seven jugers of Veientine 
land to every free person who needed it. 

In 301, Camillus, being one of the military tribunes, en- 
tered the Faliscan territory. The Faliscans had encamped 
in a strong position about a mile from the town ; hut he 
drove them from it, and then advancing, sat down before 
Falerij. While he was beleageuring this town, the following 
event is said to have occurred. 

It was the custom at Falerii, as in Greece, to place the 
hoys of different families under one master, (.-tkcVkjo/; o,-,) 
who always accompanied them at their .sports and exercises. 
The master of the boys of several of the noblest families, 
continuing to take them outside of the town to exercise as 
before the siege, led them one day into the Roman camp, 
and taking them to Camillus declared that he thereby put 
Falerii into his hands. The generous Roman, disgusted 
with such treachery, ordered his hands to be tied behind his 
I)ack, and giving rods to the boys, made them whip him 
into the town. Overcome by stich macrnanimity, the Falis- 
cans surrendered, and the Roman senate was satisfied with 
their giving a year's pay to the soldiers. 

The year 304 saw Rome at war with two more states of 
Etruria, Vulsinii, and Salpinum; but tlieir resistance wa? 
brief, eight thousand Vulsinians laying down their arms al- 

* Diodor. xiv. 93. Appian, Ital. Fragm. 8. See History of Greece 
Part HI. chap. i. For pr ox eny, see same, p. 48, note, 2d edit. 



THE GAULS. 113 

most without fighting, and the Salpinates not daring to leave 
their walls to defend their lands. A truce for twenty years 
was made with the Vulsinians, on their giving a year's pay for 
the Roman troops. But this year was rendered still more 
notable by the impeachment of Camillus by the tribune L. 
Apuleius, for having secreted a part of the plunoer of Veii. 
The evidence appears to have been clear against him, (two 
brazen doors from Veii, it is said, were found in his house,) 
and the people were exasperated. When he applied to his 
clients in the tribes to get him off, they replied that they 
could not acquit him, but that, as in duty bound, they would 
contribute to pay whatever fine might be imposed on him. 
Finding his case hopeless, he resolved to go into exile. 
When outside of the gate of the city, he turned round, and 
regarding the Capitol, lifted up his hands, and prayed to the 
gods that Rome might soon have cause to regret him. A 
fine of 15,000 asses was laid on him by the people. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE GAULS. THEIR INVASION OF ITALY. SIEGE OF CLU- 

SIUM. BATTLE OF THE ALIA. TAKING OP ROME. 

REBUILDING OF THE CITY. DISTRESS OF THE PEOPLE. 

M. MANLTUS. THE LICINIAN ROGATIONS. PESTILENCE 

AT ROME. M. CURTIUS. HERNICAN WAR. COMBAT OF 

MANLIUS AND A GAUL. GALLIC AND TUSCAN WARS. 

COMBAT OF VALERIUS AND A GAUL. REDUCTION OF THE 

RATE OF INTEREST. 

The ruthless prayer of Camillus was accomplished ; am- 
bassadors arrived soon after from Clusium in Etruria, pray- 
ing for aid against a savage people come from the confines 
of the earth, and named the Gauls. 

The people named Celts or Gauls were the original in- 
habitants of Europe west of the Rhine, where they were 
spread over France, the British Isles, and a great part, if 
not all, of Spain. They were in a state of barbarism, far 
exceeding any that could ever have prevailed in Greece or 
Italy, having hardly any tillage or trade, and living on the 
milk and flesh of their cattle. In manners they were tur- 
10* o 



114 HISTORY OF ROME. 

bulent and brutaf. easily excited, but deficient in energy ana 
perseverance. Toward the time of tbe last Veientine war, 
want, or tlie pressure of a superior power, (perhaps that of 
the Iberians in the south,) seems to have obliged several of 
their tribes to migrate. One portion pushed along the val- 
ley of the Danube; another crossed the Alps, and came down 
on northern Etruria, whose chief town, Melpum, they are 
said to have taken .on the same day that Veil fell, and they 
rapidly made themselves ma.sters of the whole plain of (he 
Po. They then crossed the Apennines, and laid siege to 
the city of Clusium in Etruria, (364.) 

We are told that it was a Clusine who had invited tbem 
into Italy. A citizen of Clusium, named Aruns, had been 
the guardian of a Lucumo, who, when he grew u|>, seduced, 
or was seduced by, his guardian's wife. Aruns, having 
vainly sought justice from the magistrates, resolved to be 
revenged on then) as well as on his injurer. He loaded 
mules with skins of wine and oil, and wiili rush-mats fUled 
with dried figs, and crossing the Alps came to the Gauls, 
to whom such delicacies were luiknown. He told them that 
they might easily win the land that produced them ; and 
forthwith the whole people arose, with wives and children, 
and marched for Clusium.* 

When the Clusines called on the Romans for aid, the 
senate sent three of the Fabii, sons of AI. Ambustus, the 
chief pontiff, to desire the Gauls not to molest the alliefs of 
Ilonic. The reply was, that they wanted land, and the 
Clusines must divide theirs with them. The Fabii enraged 
went into the town, and then forgetting their character of 
envoys, and that no Roman could bear arnis against any 
people till war had been declared and he had taken the 
military oath,t they joined the Clusines in a sally ; and 
Q,. Fabius, having slain a Gallic chief, was recognized as he 
was stripping him. Forthwith Brennus, the Gallic king, 
ordered a retreat to be sounded ; and selecting the hugest 
of . his warriors, sent them to Rome, to demand tbe sur- 
render of the Fabii. The fetials urged the senate to free 
the republic from guilt: most of the senators acknowledged 
their duty, but they could not endure the idea of giving 
up men of such noble birth to the vengeance of a savage foe. 
They referred the matter to the people, who instantly ere 

• It is scarcely necessary to mention tliat tiiis is a mere legend 
t Cicero, Offic. i. 11. 



BATTLE OF THE ALIA. 115 

flted the offenders consular tribunes, and then told the en- 
voys that nothing could be done to them till the expiration 
of their office, at which time, if their anger continued, they 
might come and seek justice. Brennus, when he received 
this reply, gave the word " For Rome! " The Gallic horse 
and foot overspread the plains ; they touched not the prop- 
erty of the husbandman ; they passed by the towns and vil- 
lages as if they were friends; they crossed the Tiber, and 
reached the Alia,* a little stream that enters it about eleven 
miles from Rotrie, 

They would have found Rome unprepared, says the le- 
gend, f but that one night a plebeian named M. Caedicius, as 
he was going down the Via Nova at the foot of the Pala- 
tine, heard a voice more than human calling him by name; 
he turned, but could see no one; he was then desired- by 
the voice to go in the morning to the magistrates, and tell 
them that the Gauls were coming. On these tidings, the 
men of military age were called out and led against the j : 

foes, whom they met at the Alia. r [ 

According to the real narrative, J when the Romans heard 
of the march of the Gauls, they summoned the troops of 
their allies, and arming all that could carry arms, took | 

a position near Veii ; but on learning that the enemy were ,' 

making for the city by forced marches, they repassed the I 

river, and advancing, met them at the Alia, (July 16.) The t 

Gauls were 70,000 men strong ; the Roman army of 40,000 \ 

was divided into two wings or horns, (corntta,) the left of | 

24,000 men rested on the Tiber, the right of 15,000 occu- [ 

pied some broken ground; the Alia was between them and j 

the enemy. Brennus fell on the right wing, which was j 

chiefly formed of proletarians and aerarians, and speedily | 

routed it; the left then, seeing itself greatly outflanked, I 

was seized with a panic, broke, and made for the river : the i 

Gauls assailed them on every side ; many were slain, many < 

drowned; the survivors, mostly without arms, fled to Veii. \ 

The right wing, when broken, had fled through the hills to | 

* Virgil, for the sake of his verse, spelled it A Hia ; the true word la 
Alia. Servius on ^n. vii. 717. 

t Zonaras, vii. 23, from Dion Cassius. Livy and the other writers 
place this legend niiich earlier. 

+ The true account of the battle and the taking of Rome is given by 
Diodorus (xiv. 113 — 117) from Fabius. Livy and Plutarch follow the 
legend. of 'Camillus. 



116 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Rome, carrying the news of the defeat ; ere nightfall the 
Gallic horse appeared on the Field of Mars, and before the 
Colline gate; but no attempt was made on the city; and 
that night and the succeeding day and night were devoted 
to pkindering, rioting, drunkenness, and sleep. 

Meantime the Romans, aware of the impossibility of de- 
fending the city, resolved lo collect all the provisions in it 
on the Capitol and citadel, which would contain about one 
thousand men, and there to make a stand. The rest of the 
people (juittcd Rome as best they could, to seek shelter in 
the neighboring towns, taking with them such articles as 
they could carry. A part of the sacred things was buried ; 
the Flamen Cluirinalis, and the Vestal Virgins crossed the 
Sublician bridge on foot, with the remainder, on their way 
to Caere. As they ascended the Janiculan, they were ob- 
served by L. Albinius, a plebeian, who was driving his wife 
and children in a cart ; and he made them instantly get 
down, and give way to the holy virgins, whom he conveyed 
in safety to Ca^re. About eighty aged patricians, who 
were priests, or had borne curule offices, would not survive 
that Rome which had been tb.e scene of all their glory : 
having solemnly devoted themselves, under the chief pontiflT, 
for the republic and the destruction of her foes, they sat 
calmly awaiting death in their robes of state, on their ivory 
seats in the Forum. 

On the second day the Gauls burst open the Colline gate, 
and entered the city. A death-like stillness prevailed^ they 
reached the Forum ; on the Capitol above they beheld armed 
men ; beneath in the Comitium the aged senators, like 
beings of another world : they were awe-struck, and paused. 
At length one put forth his hand, and stroked the venera- 
ble beard of M. Papirius ; the indignant old man raised his 
ivorv sceptre, and smote him on the head ; the barbarian 
drew his sword, and slew him, and all the others shared 
his fate. The Gauls spread over the city in quest of plun- 
der, fires broke out in various quarters, and erelong the 
city was a heap of ashes, no houses remaining but a few on 
the P.ilatine reserved for the chiefs. 

The Gauls, having made divers fruitless attempts to force 
their way up the cfims of the Capitol, re.^olved to trust to 
famine for its reduction. But provisions soon began to run 
short ; the dog-days and the sickly month of September 
came on, and they died in heaps. A part of them had 



TAKING OF ROiME. Ill 

marched away for Apulia ; the rest ravaged Latium far and 
wide.* 

Meantime some people of Etruria (probably the Tarquin- 
iaris) ungenerously took advantage of the distress of the 
Romans to ravage the Veientine territory, where the Roman 
husbandmen had taken refuge with what property they had 
been able to save. But the Romans at Veii, putting M. Caa- 
dicius at their head, fell on them in the night, and routed 
thein ; and having thus gotten a good deal of arms, of wliich 
tliey were so much in want, they began to prepare to act 
against the Gauls. A daring youth named Pontius Comin- 
ius swam one night oa corks down the river, and eluding 
the Gauls clambered up the side of the Capitol,t and having 
given the requisite information to the garrison, returned by 
the way he came. 

But the Gauls soon took notice of a bush which had given 
way as Cominius grasped it; they also observed that the 
grass was trodden down in various places ; | the rock was 
therefore not inaccessible, and it was resolved to scale it. 
At midnight, a party came in dead silence to the spot, and 
began to ascend. Slowly and cautiously they clomb up ; no 
noise was made, the Romans were buried in sleep, their jj ', 

sentinels were negligent, even the dogs were not aroused. ji i 

The foremost Gaul had reached the summit, when some i 

geese, which as sacred to Juno had been spared in the i| 

famine, being startled, began to flutter and scream. The Ij 

noise awoke M. Manlius, a consular, whose house stood on \ 

the hill ; he ran out, pushed down the Gaul, whose fall ] 

caused that of those behind, and the whole project was baf- \ 

fled. The negligent captain of the guard was flung down j 

the rock with his hands tied behind his back ; and every 
man on the citadel gave Manlius half a pound of corn, and ', 

a quarter of a flask of wine as a reward. ! 

Still famine pressed ; the blockade had now lasted six | 

months, and the garrison had begun to eat even the soles I 

* Among the wonders of this period is the following. While the j 

Gauls surrounded the Capitol, the time of the annual sacrifice of the j 

Fabian ^eres on the Quirinal arrived. C. Fabius Dorso, who was on i 

the Capitol, then girded himself with the Gabine cincture, took the ] 

requisite things in his hands, went down the clivus, ascended the \ 

Quirinal, performed the sacred rites, and returned, the Gauls, mover ' 

either by awe or by religion, offering him no opposition. [ 

t Under the modern Ara Celi, (Nieb. ii. 544,) that is, at the part of the ( 

liill farthest from the river, and by the Carmental Gate, (Plut. Camill. 25 ) ,< 

} Plutarch, tU supra, 26. 



^. 



J 18 HISTORY OF ROME. 

of their shoes and the leatlier of their shields : the (rauiS, 
on their side, found their army melting away, and tidings 
came that the Venetians had invaded their territory ; tliey 
therefore agreed to receive one thousand pounds of gold, 
and depart. At the weighinif of the gold Brennus had falee 
weights brought ; and when Q,. Sulpicius complained of the 
injustice, he Hung his sword into the scale, crying, " Woe 
to ilic vanquished ! " ( Vce victis!) The Gauls then departed 
and recrossed the Apennines with their wealth.* (3Co.) 

It is thus that history relates the transaction; the legend 
of Caniillus tells a different tale. Camdlus, an exile at 
Ardea, had, it says, at the head of the Ardeates, given the 
(iauls a check ; the llonians at Veii passed an ordinance of 
the plebs, restoring him to his civil rights, and making hitn 
dictator ; to obtain the confirmation of the senate and cu- 
ries, Cominius ascended the Capitol. Camillus, at the head 
of his legions, entered the Forum just as the gold was being 
weighed ; he ordered it to be taken away : the Gaals pleaded 
the treaty ; he replied that it was not valid, being made 
without the knowledge of the dictator. Each side grasped 
their arms ; a battle was fought on the ruins of Rome : the 
Gauls were defeated, and a second victory on the Gabine 
road annihilated their army. Camillus entered Rome in 
I '{ trium|)h, leadmg Brennus captive, whom he ordered to be 

j put to death, replying Vcd victis ! to his remonstrances. 

>. But to return to history. 

•J Nothing could exceed the miserable condition of the Ro- 

5 mans after the departure of the Gauls ; their city was one 

] heap of ruins, their property was nearly all lost or destroyed, 

. their former allies and subjects were ill disposed toward 

i them.t We are told in a legend, that the people of Ficu- 

\ lea, Fidena;, and some ol the adjacent towns, came in arms 

\ against Rome; and so great was the panic they caused, 

I that a popular solemnity | kept up the memory of it to a 

j late age. 'i'hey demanded a number of matrons and maidens 

\ of good families as the price of peace. The Romans were 

5 in the utmost perplexity, when a female slave, named Phi- 

I lotis or Tutula, proposed a plan to avert disgrace from the 

, ladies of Rome. She and several of her companions were 

> 

* Polybius, ii. 22. Suetonius, Tiberiu3, 3. 

t Compare the account of the return of the Jews to their city, given 
in the Book of Ezra. 

i Populifugia, or Kance Caprolinoc. Fhit. Rom. 29. Camill 33 
Macrok iSat. i. 11. 



H 



DISTKES3 OF THE PFOPLE. 119 

dad ill he jjrcetrxta, ixnd aimid the tears of their pretended 
relatives delivered to the Latins. The slaves encouraged 
their new lords to drink copiously ; they fell into a deep 
sleep, and Tutula, mounting a tree, raised a lighted torch 
toward Rome. The Romans fell on and massacred their 
slumbering foes, and Tutula and her companions were re- 
warded with their freedom. Another tradition* told, that !, 
at this period the scarcity of food was such that the men 
past sixty were thrown into the river as being useless. One 
old man was concealed by his son, through whom he gave 
such useful counsel to the state that the practice was ended. 

The people shrank fronn the prospect of rebuilding their 
ruined city, and it was ehemently urged that they should 
remove to Veii. Against this project, which would have 
probably quenched the glory of Rome forever, the patri- 
cians exerted themselves to the utmost, appealing to every 
feeling of patriotism and religion. A word of omen, casual 
or designed, was decisive. While the senate was debating, 
a centurion was heard to cry in the Comitium as he was 
leading his men over it, "Halt ! we had best stop here." 
The senate allowed every one to take bricks wherever he 
found them, and to hew stone and wood where he liked. 
Veii was demolished for building materials ; and within the 
year Rome rose in an unsightly irregular form from her 
ruins. 

As a means of increasing the population, the civic fran- 
chise was given (366) to the people of such Veientine, 
Faliscan, and Capenate towns as had come over to the Ro 
mans during the Veientine war ; and two years after (368) 
four new tribes (which raised the whole nuniber to twenty- 
tive) were formed out of them. 

The wars for some years offer little to interest. The 
Etruscans are said to have failed in attempts to take Sutrium 
and Nepcte ; the Volscians of Antium and Ecetrae went 
once more to war with Rome, now enfeebled; Hernican 
and Latin mercenaries fought on their side, but the valor of 
the Roman legions was still triumphant. The Pnenestines 
also measured their strength with Rome, but the banks of 
the Alia witnessed their defeat. (375.) 

The internal history of this period is of far more im- 
portance. It was indeed a time of distress, augmented 
by the cruelty and harshness of the ruling order. In order 

• Festus, 5. V. Sexagenarios. 



120 HI?rORV OF ROME. 

to build tlieir houses, procure farming implements!, and 
other necessary things, the plebeians had to borrow money 
to a considerable extent. The rate of interest being now 
raised at Rome, the money lenders {argentarii) flocked 
thither, and under the patronage of the patricians, for which 
they had to pay high, they lent to the people at a most usuriofs 
rate; interest speedily multiplied the principal; there were 
also outstanding debts to the patricians themselves ; the 
severe law of debt, which tbe Twelve Tables had left in 
force, but which, owing to the prosperity of the following 
years, had rarely been acted on, was again in operation, 
and freebori; Romans were reduced to bondage at home, or 
sold out of their country. To augment the distress of the 
people, the government (urged most probably by superstition) 
laid on a tribute to raise double the amount of the thousand 
pounds of gold c'ven to the Gauls, to replace it in the tem- 
ples whence it had been taken. 

In this state of things M. Manlius, the savior of the 
Capitol, came forward as the patron of the distressed. In 
birth and in valor, and every other ennobling quality, he 
yielded to no man of his time, and he ill brooked to see 
liimself kept in the background, while his rival Camillus 
was year after year invested with the highest ofiices in the 
state. This feeling of jealousy may liave influenced his 
subsequent conduct; but Manlius was a man of generous 
mind, and when one day (370) he saw a brave centurion, 
his fellow-soldier, led over the Forum in chains by the 
usurer to whom he had been adjudged, {addictus,) his pity 
was excited, and he paid his debt on the spot. Once in 
the career of generosity, Manlius could not stop; he sold 
an estate beyond the Tiber, the most valuable part of his 
property, and saved nearly four hundred citizens from bond- 
age by lending them money without interest. 

His house on the citadel now became the resort of all 
Classes of plebeians ; and he is said to have hinted in his 
discourses with them, that the patricians had embezzled the 
money raised to replace the votive offerings, and that they 
should be made to refund and li(|uidate with it the debts of 
the poor. The proceedings of Manlius seemed so danger- 
ous to the .senate, that, by their direction, the dictator A. 
Cornelius Cossus had him arrested and thrown into prison. 
Numbers of the plebeians now changed their raiment, and 
let their hair and beard srow neglected, as mourners; day 
and night they lingered abou'. the prison-door; and the 



M. MANLIUS. 121 

Bcnate, either alarmed or having no real charge against him, 
set him at liberty. 

It is likely that the injustice of the senate may have ex- 
"cerbated Manlius ; at all events he was now become a 
dangerous citizen, and two of the tribunes impeached him 
oefore the centuries for aiming at the kingdom. His own 
order, his friends and kinsmen, and even his two brothers, 
deserted him in his need ; a thing unheard of, for even for 
the decemvir all the Claudian house had changed their rai- 
ment. On the Field of Mars he produced all whom he had 
preserved from bondage for debt, and those whose lives he 
had saved in battle ; he displayed the arms of thirty foes 
whom he had slain, and forty rewards of valor conferred 
on him by different generals ; he bared his breast, covered 
with scars, and looking up to the Capitol implored the gods, 
whose fanes he had saved, to stand by him in his need. This 
appeal to gods and men was irresistible, and he was ac- 
quitted by the centuries. But his enemy Camillus was dic- 
tator, and he was arraigned before the curies, {concilium po- 
puli,) assembled in the Poitilian grove, before the Nomentan 
gate, who readily condemned him to death. 

Manlius was either already in insurrection, or he resolved not 
to fall a passive victim. He and his partisans occupied the 
Capitol ; treachery was then employed against him ; a slave 
came, feigning to be a deputy from his brethren ; and as 
Manlius was walking on the edge of the precipice in confer- 
ence with him, he gave him a sudden push, and tumbled him 
down the rock.* 

The house of Manlius was razed; a decree was passed 
that no patrician should ever dwell on the Capitol ; and the 
Manlian gens made a by-law that none of them should ever 
bear the name of Marcus. The people mourned him ; and 
the pestilence with which Rome was shortly afterwards 
afflicted was regarded as a punishment sent by the gods to 
avenge the death of the preserver of their temples. 

Meantime the misery of the plebeians went on increasing; 
day after day debtors were dragged away from the pra;tor's 
tribunal to the private dungeons of the patricians ; the whole 
plebeian order lost spirit; and the greedy, short-sighted patri- 
cians were on the point of reducing Rome to a feeble, con- 
temptible oligarchy, when two men appeared, who by their 

* Di')n. frafrni. xxxi. Zonaras, vii. 24. In this manner Odyaseua, 
one of the Greek chiefs in the late war, wsis killed at Athens. , , t t 
11 P 



i22 HISTORY OF ROME. 

wisdom end firmness, changed the fate of Rome, and with it 
that of tlie world. These were the tribunes C Liciniiia 
Stolo and L. Sextius Lateraniis. 

In the year 378 they proposed the tliree following roga- 
tions. 

1. Instead of consular tribunes, there shall in future be 
consuls, one of whom shall of necessity be a plebeian. 

2. No one shall possess more than five hundred jugers 
of arable or plantation land in the do\t\,\m, {ngrr publims,) 
nor feed more than one hundred head of large and five hun- 
dred of small cattle on the public pasture. Every possessor 
must pay the state annually the tentli bushel off his corn- 
land, the fifth of tlie produce of his plantation-land, and so 
much a head grazing-money for his cattle. He shall also 
employ freemen as laborers in proportion to his land. 

5). The interest already paid on debts shall be deducted 
from the principal, and the residue be paid in three equal 
annual instalments. 

There is no reason to suppose that the authors of these 
measures, whi-h were to infuse new life and energy into 
the state, were influenced by any but the best motives ; but 
patrician malignity, and that ignoble spirit which loves to as- 
sign a paltry motive for even the most glorious actions, in- 
vented the following tale. 

M. Fabius Ambustus had two daughters, one of whom was 
married to Ser. Sulpicius, a patrician and consular tribune 
for the year 378; the other to C. Licinius Stolo, a wealthy 
plebeian. One day, while the younger Fabia was visiting 
her sister, Sulpici is returned from the Forum, and the lictor, 
as was usual, smoie the door with his rod that it might be 
opened. The visitor, unused to such ceremony in her 
modest plebeian abode, started, and her sister smiled in pity 
of her ignorance. She said nothing, but th(; matter sank 
deep in her mind ; her father, observing her dejected, in- 
quired the cause ; and having drawn it from her, assured 
her that she should be on an equality with her sister; and he, 
Licinius, and Sextius forthwith began to concert measures 
for effecting what he proposed.* 

The struggle lasted five years.t The patricians had not 

* Fabius had been a consular tribune within tiie last four years. 
How then could his dauirhter be ignorant of the pomp of the office.' 
Moreover, there was nothing to j)revent Licinius from being one him- 
self, as the ofHce was open to plebeians. 

t Livy makes it last ten years, and the city in consequence be in « 



THE LICINIAN ROGATIONS. 123 

now as heretofore, the Latins, Hernicans, and Volscians to 
call to their aid ; neither had they large bodies of clients at 
their devotion. They therefore sought to gain the other tr?b 
unes, by representing the mischievous nature of the bills ; 
and they succeeded so well, that eight of the college forbade 
them to be read. Licinius and Sextius retaliated by impeding 
the election of consular tribunes. They were themselves re- 
elected year after year, and they never permitted the election 
of consular tribunes, unless when the state was in danger 
from its foreign enemies. In 381, the opposition in the col- 
lege was reduced to five, and these wavering: the next year 
(382) the tribunes were unanimous, and the only resource of 
the oligarchs lay in the dictatorship. Camillus was appoint- 
ed : and when the tribes were beginning to vote, he entered 
the Forum, and commanded them to disperse. The tribunes 
calmly proposed a fine of 500,000 asses on him if he should 
act as dictator. Camillus saw that the magic power of the 
dictatorial name was gone, and he laid down his office. 
The senate appointed P. Manlius to succeed ; and he named 
C. Licinius, a plebeian, master of the horse. It was agreed 
to augment the number of the keepers of the Sibylline books 
to ten, one half to be plebeians ; and, the dictator not impeding 
the people, with their wonted short-sightedness and ingrati- 
tude were beginning to vote the two last rogations, which con- 
cerned themselves most nearly ; but Licinius, telling them they 
must eat if they would drink,* incorporated the three bills in 
one, and would have all or none. In 383 (388) the bills passed 
the tribes ; but Camillus was again made dictator against 
the people. The tribunes sent their officers to arrest him ; 
he saw the inutility of further resistance, and the senate and 
curies gave their assent to the law. L. Sextius, being ap- 
pointed plebeian consul, a last effort was made by the curies, 
who refused to confirm him. The people lost all patience, 

state of complete anarchy, without any supreme magistrates, for five 
years, — a condition of thincrs which is utterly impossible. The cause 
of this is, that the capture of Rome by the Gauls, which really occur- 
red in Ol. 1)9, 3, was supposed to have happened in Ol. H8, 1, the date 
which the Greek clironologers gave for the descent of the Gauls into 
Italy ; and to reconcile the Roman Fasti witl this, it was necessary to 
suppose that five years had passed without magistrates ; and it was 
assumed that this must have been during the dir,putes on the Licinian 
rogations. Another year was put m on another occasion, so that the 
dates henceforth are five, from 439, six years in advance , the death 
of Caesar, therefore, was in 702, not 708 ; the b'rth of Christ in 740 
not 752. See Niebuhr, ii. 553—567. 
Dion, fragm. xxxiii. 



124 HISTORY OF ROME. 

seized the-r arms, and retired to the Aventiiie.* The ven- 
erable Cainillus, weary of civil discord, became the mediator 
Df peace, and vowed a temple to Concord. The people 
consented that the city^^rtetorship should be confined to the 
houses, as a curulc dignity coordinate with the consulate.t 
The office of curule aediles, to be filled in alternate years 
by two patricians and two plebeians, was instituted; and 
one day for the plebeians, as being now an integrant part of 
the nation, was added to the three of the Great Games. The 
centuries, to reward tiie illustrious Camillus, elected his son 
M. Furius the first city-priEtor. 

The passing of the Licinian laws may be regarded as the 
termination of the struggle which had been going on foi 
nearly a century and a half between the orders. In the 
whole course of history there is perhaps nothing to be found 
more deserving of admiration than the conduct of the ple- 
beians throughout the entire contest ; no violence, no nnir- 
ders, no illegal acts on their part are to be discerned, though 
the annals whence we derive our knowledge of it were drawn 
up and kept bv the op[)osite party. One is naturally led to 
inquire into the causes of this moderation; and they will 
perhaps be found to be as follows. In the first place, that 
steadiness and spirit of obedience to law and authority, which 
seems to have belonged to the Roman character while the 
nation continued pure and unmixed ; next, the fact that the 
plebeians were, at this time, composed of small landed pro- 
prietors, living frugally and industriously on their little farms, 
and visiting the city only on market-days. But the chief 
cause was, that they acted under the guidance of their nat- 
ural leaders, their nobility and gentry, and not of brawling 
demagogues; for the Licinii, the Icilii, the Junii, and others 
were, in birth and wealth, the fellows of theQ-uinctii and the 
Manlii, who excluded them from the hi^h offices in the state. 
It was, in fact, a part of the fortune of Rome, that she never 
was afflicted with the scourge of the selfish, low-born, lying, 
arrogant demagogues, the curse of the Grecian republics. 
When she was dootned to have her demagogue? dso, they 
were beasts of prey of a higher order, of her noblesi and most 
ancient patrician houses, the Cotnelii, the Julii, the Claiidii, 
who, disdaining to fawn on and flatter the electors whom 

• Ovid, Pasti, i. 643. 

t The cutiile magistrates were so named as'being allowed to go tc 
the senate-house in a chariot, (currus ;) their movable seat (sella eu- 
rulis) was taken out, and carried in after them. Gelliiis, iii. 18 



THE LICINIAN ROGATIONS. 



1-2 



ihey despised, purchased their venal votes, or terrific * tliem 
and carried their measures by the swords of armed bandits 
But these unhappy times are yet far off; two centuries of 
glory are to come before we arrive at them. To return to 
our narrative. 

In the two foUowinor years, (309, 391,) Rome was severely 
afflicted by a pestilence, which carried off numbers of ail 
orders : among them was the venerable M. Furius Canullus, 
the second founder, as he was styled, of the city, a man who 
though his deeds have been magnified by fiction, must have 
been really one of the greatest that even Rome ever saw. 
As a means of appeasing the divine wrath, a Ircthtfrniuin* 
was made for the third time, and stage-plays were celebrated, 
the actors being fetched from Etruria. The Tiber also rose 
at this time and inundated the city. 

It had been an old custom at Rome, that, on the Ides of 
September, the chief magistrate should drive a nail into the 
right side of the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol. The rea- 
son of this practice was, that a regular account might be kept 
of the years. It had, however, been for some time intermit- 
ted ; but it being given out (392) that a plague had o;ice 
ceased when a dictator drove the nail, the senate seized the 
opportunity of making an attempt to get rid of the late laws, 
and L. Manlius Imperiosus was named dictator. Having 
driven the nail, he commenced a levy against the Herni- 
cans ; but the tribunes forced him to desist and abdicate ; 
and the next year (393) the tribune, M. Pomponius, im- 
peached him for his harshness and cruelty in the levy. One 
charge on which the tribune dwelt was his keeping his son, 
merely for a defect in his speech, at work in the country, 
among his slaves. The young man, when he heard of this 
charge against his parent, armed himself with a knife, and 
coming early one morning into the city, went straight to 
the tribune's house. On telling his name he was admitted ; 
at his desire all were ordered to withdraw, the tribune nat- 
urally thinking he was come to give him son.-", important 
information. Manlius then drawing his knife, menaced him 
with instant death if he did not swear to drop the prosecution. 
The terrified tribune swore ; the charge against Manlius was 
not proceeded in ; and the people, to show their admiration 
of his filial piety, elected the young man one of the legion- 
ary tribunes for the year. 

* That is. p.xposing the imaores of the gods in public. 
11* 



126 HISTORY OF ROME. 

The following romantic act is also placed in this year. 
A great chasm opened in the middle of the Forum ; to hll it 
up was found to be impossible ; the soothsayers announced 
that it would only close when it contained what Rome pos- 
sessed of most value, and that then the duration of the state 
would be perpetual. While all were in doubt and perplexity, 
a gallant youth, named M. Curtius, demanded if Rome had 
any thing more precious than arms and valor. He then 
mounted his horse, fully caparisoned, and while all gazed 
in silence, regarding now the Capitol and the temples of 
the gods, now the chasm, he solemidy devoted himself for 
the weal of Rome; then giving his horse the spurs, he 
pliniged into the gulf and disappeared; the ]>eople poured in 
fruits and other otFerings, and the yawning chasm at length 
chjsed.* 

A war, the cause of which is not assigned, being now de- 
clared against the Hertiicans, the plebeian consul L. Genucius 
invaded their territory. But he let himself be surprised, his 
soldiers fled, and he himself was slain. The victorious Her- 
nicans advanced to assail the camp : but the soldiers, en- 
couraged and headed l)y the legate C. Sulpicius, made a sal- 
ly and drove them off. At Rome the news of the defeat 
and death of the consul gave the utmost joy to the patricians. 
" This comes," they cried, "of polluting the auspices: men 
might be insulted and trifled with, not so the immortal 
gods." Ap. Claudius was forthwith created dictator, and 
having levied an army he went and joined that under Sul- 
picius. The Ilernicans on their side strained every nerve ; 
all of the military age were sumnioned to the field; eight co- 
horts, of four hundred men each, of chosen youths, with 
double pay and a promise of future in)munity from service if 
victorious, stood in the front of their line. The courage, 
skill, and discipline of the two now adverse peoples were 
ecjual. The battle was long and obstinate: the Roman knights 
had to dismount and fight in the front. The conflict end- 
ed oidy with the night; a dubious victory remained with the 
Romans, who had lost one fourth of their men and several 
of their knights. Next day the Hernicans abandoned their 

* Tlie legend was evidently invented to give an orijjin to the Laeus 
Curtius. as .1 part of the Forum was named. The historian Piso, wlio 
soiiirht to rationalize all the legends of the old history, said that it was 
so named from Mettus Curtius, a Sabine, who in the war between 
Roinulijs and Tatiuj, plunged with his liorse into the lake ^vhich then 
occupied that place 



GALl IC AND TUSCAN WARS. 127 

caiiijj ; the liomans were too much exhausted to pursue, but 
line colouists of Signia i'ell on and routed tlieui. 'i'he follow- 
ing year (394) tlie Romans ravaged their lands with impuni- 
ty, and took their town of Ferentinum. As the legions were 
returning, the Tiburtines closed their gates against them, 
whicli gave occasion to a war with this people. 

The Ciaufs, owing most probably to the in'flux of new 
hordes from home, had for many years spread their ravages 
to the very utmost point of Italy. Lutiuni sulTered with the 
rest ; and a Gallic army is said to have appeared at this time 
on the Anio. T. QuinctiusPennus, the dictator, led an army 
against them. While they stood opposite each other, a Gaul 
of srinranlic stature advanced on the bridge, and challencred 
any Roman to engage him. T. Manlius (he who had saved 
his father) then went to the dictator and craved permission to 
meet the boastful Coe. Leave was freely granted ; his com- 
rades armed him and led him against the huge Gaul, who put 
out his tongue in derision of the pigmy champion. In the 
combat the Gaul made huge cuts with his heavy broadsword ; 
the Roman, running in, threw up the bottom of the foeman' 
great shield with his own, and, gettingvinside of it, stabbed 
him again and again in the belly, till he fell like a mountain. 
He took nothing from him save his golden collar, [torquis,) 
whence he derived the nameof Torquatus.* The Gauls, dis- 
Hiayed at the foil of their champion, broke up in the night 
and retired to Tiber. 

The following year (395) the Gauls again appeared, and, 
united with the Tiburtines, committed great ravages in La- 
tium ; they even advanced to the walls of Rome, where Q,. 
Servilius Ahala was made dictator, and a battle was fought 
before the Colline gate. The loss on both sides was consid- 
erable, but the Gauls were driven off, and as they approached 
Tibur they were attacked by the consul C. Poetelius and the 
victory completed. 

Two years after (397) the Gauls came again into Latium 
and encamped at Pedum. The common danger caused a re- 
newal of the ancient alliance between Rome and Latium, and 
a combined army, under the dictator C. Sulpicius, took the 
field. The dictator, loth to* risk a battle when the enemy 
might be overcome more surely by delay, encamped in a 
strong position, which the Gauls did not venture to attack ; 

* The legend, wliicli reminds one of David and Goliath, was ap 
patently invented to acconnt for the name. The tale how our own 
Cwiir de Lion '• robbed the lion of his heart," is a iv.sre modern instanco 
c-l'this nractici!. 



128 HISTORY OF ROME. 

hut his own soldiors grew impatient, and demanded to !ic Jed 
to battle. Sulpicius, fearing he might not be able to ree^train 
them, complied ; but the event justified his caution; the le- 
gions were driven back, and but for the eflTorts of despair 
.vhich they made at the call of the dictator, and a stratagem 
which he had devised, they would have sustained a delbat. 
He had the night before sent off all the horse-boys, armed 
and mounted on mules, into the woods on the hills over his 
cainp, and directed them when he made a signal to show 
themselves and advance toward that of the enemy. He now 
made the signal ; the Gauls, fearing to be cut off from their 
camp, fell back ; the Romans pressed on them, and they 
broke and made for the woods, where great numbers of 
them were slain. The gold found in their camp was walled 
up in the Capitol, and the dictator triumphed as he deserved. 

But while the arms of Rome were thus fortunate undet 
the dictator, they sustained a disgrace under the consul C. 
Fabius in Etruria ; for the Tarquinians, with whom there now 
was war, gave him a defeat; and, having taken three hun- 
dred and seven Roman soldiers, they offered theni as victims 
to their gods. The Roman territory to the south was also 
ravaged by the Volscians of Velitraj and Privernum ; but the 
next year (393) the Privernates were defeated under their 
own walls by the consul C. Marcius. 

This year was rendered memorable by the condemnation 
of C. Licinius for the transgression of his own law. H(; wa.s 
fined 10,000 asses for having one thousand jugers of the pub- 
lic land, one half being held in the name of his son whom he 
had emancipated for the purpose of eluding the law. By a 
rogation of the tribunes 1\I. Duilius and L. Majnius, the rate 
of interest was reduced to ten per cent., (fcenus vnciarlum ;) 
an attempt was made also by the patricians to have laws 
passed away from the city, by the soldiers when under the 
military oath. The consul Cn. IManlius held in the camp at 
Sutrium an assembly of the tribes, and passed a law, impo- 
sing an rid valorem duty of five per cent, on the emancipation 
of slaves. The law was a good one; the senate readily 
gave it their sanction ; but the tribunes saw their ulterior ob- 
ject, and made it capital to hold s'uch assemblies in future. 

In 000 the consul M. Fabins engaged a combined army 
of the T;irq;iinians and Faliscans. The Tuscan Lucumones, 
we Kre told, ruslicd out in front of their Hue, shaking serpents 
;md waving iirrjited torches. This novel apparition at fir<t 
uauntcd the Romans; but they soon shook off the terrors of 
•uperstition, routed their foe?, and took their camp. L 



GALLIC AND TUSCAN WARS. li^9 

would /lowever appear that the victory was in reality on the 
side of the Tuscans, for they soon after entered, tlie Sah'nae, 
and it was found necessary to appoint a dictator. The ple- 
beian consul M. Popillius Laenas named the plebeian C. Mar- 
cius Rutilus, who made another plebeian, C. Plautius, master 
of the horse. The patricians refused the dictator all the 
means of forming an army, but the people gave him every 
thing he required ; he defeated the enemy, took eight thou- 
sand prisoners, and triumphed without the consent of the 
patricians. 

As the alliance had been renewed with the Latins and 
Hernicans, the oligarchs resolved to make a bold effort to 
get rid of the Licinian law ; and for five successive years, by 
means of interrexes and dictators, the consuls were, in spite 
of the tribunes, both patricians. During this period nothing 
of note occurred except a defeat of the Tarquinians in 401 ; 
on which occasion three hundred and fifty-eight of the prin- 
cipal men among the captives were brought to Rome and 
put to death in the Forum, in retaliation of their barbarity 
in the year 397. The Caerites also, being accused of shar- 
ing in the war, only escaped the vengeance of Rome by the 
surrender of one half of their domain. They were then 
granted a truce for one hundred years. 

At length the patricians were obliged to give way, and 
(403) C. Marcius Rutilus, the plebeian, became the colleague 
of a Valerius in the consulate. 

It might be expected from the names of the consuls that 
something would be done to relieve the distress of the peo- 
ple. Accordingly, five commissioners, [quinqueviri mcnsarii,) 
two patricians and three plebeians, were appointed for the 
liquidation of debts. Money was advanced out of the treasu- 
ry to those who could give good security ; if any one preferred 
making his property over to his creditors, ii was valued and 
transferred to them. As many objects thus changed hands, a 
new census was required, and in spite of all the efforts of the 
patricians, who had recovered the whole consulate this year, 
(404,) C. Marcius Rutilus was chosen the first plebeian censor. 

In the year 405 the Gauls poured once more into Latiuni. 
The consul M. Popillius La;nas, a plebeian, marched against 
them, and took a position on a strong eminence. The Tri- 
arians commenced fortifying a camp; the rest of the cohorts 
were drawn out ; the Gauls charged up-hill ; the consul re- 
ceived a slight wound and had to retire ; this damped the 
spirit of his men, but he soon returned and restored the battle , 

a 



130 HISTORY OF ROME. 

tlie Gauls were driven down into the plain, and they aban- 
doned their camp and fled to the Alban mountains, whence 
they spread their ravages over the country during the follow- 
ing winter. 

The plebeian consul triumphed ; but L. Furius Camillas, 
being made dictator for the elections, had the audacity to 
nominate himself and another patrician for the ensuing year, 
(406,) arid the people were obliged to acquiesce. A large 
army, composed of Latins and Romans, was formed, which 
the consul Camillus led into the Pomptinc district, where 
the Gauls now were. While tlie two armies lay opposite 
each other, a huue Gallic chief advanced and challenged any 
Roman to engage him in single combat. M. Valerius, a mil- 
itary tribune, a young man of thrcc-and-twenty years, accept- 
ed the challenge. Just as the combat began, a raven (rorvus) 
came and perched on the Roman's head, and during the fight 
he continually assailed with his beak and claws the face and 
eyes \)f the foeman, whom therefore Valerius easily slew, 
the raven then rose, and flying to the east was soon out of 
sight, \yhen the victor went to strip the slain, the nearest 
Gauls advanced to prevent him ; this brought on a general 
action ; the Gauls were worsted and retired, and they never 
again appeared in Lntium. Valerius, who was henceforth 
named Corvus,* was rewarded by the consul with ten oxen 
and a golden crown, and when T. Manlius Torquatus was 
made dictator for the elections, he named him consul with 
the plebeian M. Popillius Lrenas. 

In the consulate of T. Manlius Torquatus and C. Plautius, 
(408,) a further effort was made to relieve the debtors. In- 
terest was reduced to five per cent., {frenits srrniunciarinin,) 
and debts were to be paid in four ei\ua\ instalments, one 
down, and the remainder in one, two, and three years. It 
is not unlikely that one of the various reductions of the 
weight of the a-< took place at this time. 

In the year 404 a truce for forty years had been made 
with the Faliscans and the Tarquinians ; the ancient lengue, 
as we have seen, had been renewed with the Latins and Iler- 
nicans ; all was quiet on the side of the Volscians, when 
Rome had to enter the lists with a foe more formidable than 
any she had yet encountered. 

* The leg'end, like that of Torqu'itus, was invented to account for the 
name. The aiirnomen was not new ; we find in the Fasti for 363 an 
Aquiliiis and a Fulvius Corvus. 



FIRST SAMNITE WAR. L31 



CHAPTER VI. 

yiRST SAMNITE WAR. MUTINY IN THE ROMAN ARMY. 

PEi» E WITH THE SAMNITES. LATIN WAR. MANLIUS PUT 

TO DEATH BY HIS FATHER. BATTLE OF VESUVIUS, AND 

SELF-DEVOTIOxV OF DECIUS. REDUCTION OF LATIUM. 

PUBLILIAN LAWS. SECOND SAMNITE WAR. SEVERITY OF 

THE DICTATOR PAPIRIUS. SURRENDER AT THE CAUDINE 

FORKS. CAPTURE OF SORA. TUSCAN WAR. PASSAGE OF 

THE CIMINIAN WOOD. SAMNITE AND TUSCAN WARS. 

PE.\CE WITHTHE SAMNITES. 

In the year 332 a body of the Samnites had descended from 
their mountain^ into the rich plains of Campania. By i 
composition they became the populus or ruling order in the 
city of Vulturnutn, (henceforth named Capua,) a city equal in 
size to Rome or Veii, and at all times noted for its luxury and 
its relaxing effects on the minds of those who abode in it. The 
Samnites of the city and plain gradually changed their man- 
ners, and became estranged from their rugged mountain 
brethren. In 412 these last, urged by their adventurous spirit 
or the pressure of population, came down on the country be- 
tween the Vulturnus and the Liris, inhabited by the Sidi- 
cinians and other Ausonian peoples. The Sidicinians applied 
to the Campanians for aid, and the militia of Capua took 
the field against the Samnites; but the hardy mountaineers 
easily routed them before the walls of Teanum, and 
then transferring the war to Campania, came and encamped 
on Mount Tifata, which overhangs Capua. The plundering 
of their lands, the burning of their houses and homesteads, 
drew the Campanians again to the field; but again they were 
defeated, and were now shut up in their town. Finding 
their own strength insufficient they looked abroad for aid, 
and none appearing so well able to afford it as the triple fed- 
eration south of the Tiber, their envoys appeared at Rome. 
A treaty of alliance was readily formed with them ; and as 
there had been since 401 an alliance between the Romans 
and Samnites, envoys weres ent to inform them of this new 
treaty, and to require them to abstain from hostilities against 
the allies of the federation. The Samnites looked on this 
as a breach of treaty, and in the presence of the Roman en- 
voys orders were given to lead the troops into Campania. 



132 HISTORY OF ROME. 

War against the Samnites was therefore declared at Rome, 
and the consuls ordered to take the field. 

The consul M. Valerius Corvos led his legions into Gam- 
pania, where, probahly in consequence of some reverses of 
which we are not informed, he encamped on the side of 
Mount Qaurus over CumjB. The Samnite army came ful. 
of confidence ; the consul led out his troops, and a battle 
commenced, highly important in the history of the world, as 
the prelude of those which were to decide whether the em 
pire of Italy and of the world was reserved for Rome or for 
Samnium. 

The two armies were equal in courage, and similarly armed 
and arrayed ; that of the Samnites consisted entirelyof in- 
fantry, and the horse, which the consul sent first into action, 
could make no impression on its firm ranks. He then or- 
dered the horse to fall aside to the wings, and led on the le- 
gions in person. The fight was most obstinate : each seemed 
resolved to die rather than yield : at length a desperate 
effort of despair on the part of the Romans drove the Sam- 
nites back; thev wavered, broke, and fled to their intrenched 
camp, which they abandoned in the night and fell back 
to Suessula. They declared to those who asked why they 
had fled, that the eyes of the Romans seemed to be on fire, 
and their gestures those of madmen, so that they could not 
stand before ihem. 

The other consul, A. Cornelius Cossus, having been direct- 
ed to invade Samnium, led his army to Saticula, the nearest 
Samnite town to Capua. The Apennines in this part run 
in parallel ranges, enclosing fertile valleys, from north to 
south, and tiie road to Beneventum passes over then). The 
consul, advancing carelessly, had crossed the first range, and 
his line of march had reached the valley, when on looking 
back they saw the wooded heights behind them occupied by 
a Samnite army : to advance was dangerous, retreat seemed 
impossible. In this perplexity a tribune named V. Decius 
proposed to occupv with the Principes and Hastates of one 
legion (that is, 1()00 men) a height over the way along 
which the Samnites were coming. The consul gave permis- 
sion ; Deciu'S seized the height, which he maintained against 
all the efforts of the enemy till the favorable moment was lost, 
and the consul had led back his army^ and gained the ridge. 
When night came, the Samnites encamped about the hill 
and went to sleep ; in the second watch Decius led down his 
men in silence, and they took their way through the midst of 



FIRST SAMNITE WAR. 



133 



.he slumbering foes. They had gotten half through, when 
one of the Romans in stepping over the Samnites struck 
against a shield ; the noise awoke those at hand ; the alarm 
spread ; the Romans then raised a shout, fell on all they met, 
and got off without loss. They reached their own camp 
while it was yet night, but they halted outside of it till the day 
was come. At dawn, when their presence was announced, 
all poured forth to greet them, and Decius was led in tri- 
umph through the camp to the consul, who began to extol 
his deeds ; but Decius interrupted him, saying that now was 
the time to take the enemy by surprise. The army was led 
out, and the scattered Samnites were fallen on and routed 
with great slaughter. After the victory the consul gave De- 
cius a golden crown and a hundred oxen, one of which was 
white with gilded horns ; this Decius offered in sacrifice to 
Father Mars, the rest he gave to his comrades in peril, and 
each soldier presented them with a pound of corn and a pint 
(sextarius) of wine, while the consul, giving them each an 
ox and two garments, assured them of a double allowance of 
corn in future. The army further wove the obsidional crown 
of grass and placed it on the brows of Decius, and a similar 
crown was bestowed on him by his own men. Such were 
the generous aits by which Rome fostered the heroic- spirit 
in her sons ! 

Meantime the Samnites at Suessula had been largely rein- 
forced, and they spread their ravages over Campania. The 
two consular armies being united under Valerius, came and 
encamped hard by them, and as Valerius had left all the bag- 
gage and camp-followers behind, the Roman army occupied 
a much smaller camp than was usual to their numbers. De- 
ceived by the size of their camp the Samnites clamored to 
storm it, but the caution of their leaders withheld them. 
Necessity soon compelled them to scour th6 country in quest 
of provisions, and emboldened by the consul's inactivity they 
went to greater and greater distances. This was what Vale- 
rius waited for ; he suddenly assailed and took their camp, 
which was but slightly guarded ; then leaving two legions to 
keep k, he divided the rest of the army, and falling on the scat- 
tered Samnites, cut them every where to pieces. The shields 
of the slain and fugitives amounted, we are told, to 40,000, 
the captured standards to 170. Both consuls triumphed. 

While the Roman arms were thus engaged in Campania, 
the Latins invaded the territory of the Pelignians, the kins- 
men and allies of the Samnites. 
12 



134 HISTORY OF ROMS 

No military events are recorded of the year 13. o ' ». 
strange tale of an insurrection of the Roma i army i.as b , "i 
handed down. The tale runs thus ; The Roman soldiers 
who in 412 had been left to winter in Capua, corrupted by 
the luxury wJiich they there witnessed and enjoyed, formed 
the nefarious plan of massacring the inhabitants, and seizing 
the town. Their projects had not ripened when C. Marcius 
Rutilus, the consul for 413, came to take the command. He 
first, to keep them quiet, gave out that the troops were to be 
quartered in Capua the following winter also; then noting 
the ringleaders, he sent them home under various prele.vts, 
and gave furloughs to any that asked for them : his colleague, 
Q. Servilius Ahala, took care to detain all who came to Rome. 
The stratagem succeeded for some time; at length the 
soldiers perceived that none of their comrades came back ; 
a cohort that was going home on furlough halted at Lautulae,* 
a narrow pa.ss between the sea and the mountains ea.st of 
Tarracina; here it was joined by all who were going home 
singly on leave, and the whole number soon equalled that of 
an army. They broke up, and marching for Rome encamped 
under Alba Longa. Feeling their want of a leader, and 
learning that T. Q,uinctius, a distinguished patrician, who 
being lame of one leg from a wound had retired from the city, 
was living on his farm in the Tusculan, they sent a party by 
night, wiio seized him in his bed, and gave him the option 
of his death or becoming tlieir commander ; he came to the 
camp, was saluted as general, and desired to lead them to 
Rome, Eight miles from the city they were met by an army 
led by the dictator M. Valerius Corvus. Each side shud- 
dered at the thought of civil war, and readily agreed to a 
conference. The mutineers consented to intrust their cause 
to the dictator, whose name was a sufficient security. lie 
rode back to the city, and at his desire tiie senate and curies 
decreed that none should be punished for, or even reproached 
with, their share in the mutiny, that no soldier's name should 
be struck out of the roll without his own consent, that no 
ooe who had been a tribune should be made a centurion, 
and that the pay of the knights (as they had refused to join 
in the mutiny) should be reduced. And thus this formidable 
mutiny commenced in crime, snd ended in — nothing! 
Another and a far more probable account says that the 

* Tliere were probably warm aprings here ; whence the name, like 
Thermopylae, wliich it resembles in sUuftipn. .(Uiat. of Greece, p. IIO.V-. 



LATIN WAR. 135 

insurrection broke out in the city, where the plebeians took 
arms, and having seized C. Manlius in tlie night, and forced 
him to be their leader, went out and encamped four miles 
from the city, where, as it would seem, they were joined by 
the army from Campania. The consuls raised an army and 
advanced against them; but when the two armies met, that 
of the consuls saluted the insurgents, and the soldiers em- 
braced one another. The consuls then advised the senate 
;o comply with the desires of the people, and peace was ef- 
fected. 

The still existing weight of debt seems to have been the 
cause of this secession also, and a cancel of debts to have 
been a condition of the peace. Lending on interest at all is | 

said to have been prohibited at this time by a. plebiscitum, or 
decree of the tribes ; and others were passed forbidding any 
one to hold the same office till after an interval of ten years, 
or to hold two offices at the same time. It was also decreed 
that both the consuls might be plebeians. The name of the 
tribune L. Genucius being mentioned, it is probable that he 
was the author of the new laws. 

The following year (414) peace was made with the 
Samnites, on the light condition of their giving a year's pay, 
and three months' provisions to the Roman army ; and they 
were allowed to make war on the Sidicinians. This moder- 
ation on the side of the Romans might cause surprise, were 
it not that we know they now apprehended a conflict with a 
powerful people. 

The Sidicinians and Campanians, on being thus aban- 
doned, put themselves under the protection of the^ Latins, 
with whom the Volscians also formed an alliance. The 
Hernicans adhered to the Romans, and the Samnites also 
became their allies. War between Rome and Latium now 
seemed inevitable, and T. Manlius Torquatus, and P. Decius 
Mus * were made consuls for 415 with a view to it. But the 
Latins would first try the path of peace and accommodation ; 
and at the call, it is said, of the Roman senate, their two 
praetors, and ten principal senators, repaired to Rome. Au- 
dience was given them on the Capitol, and nothing could be 
more reasonable than their demands. Though the Latins 
were now the more numerous people of the two, they only 
required a union of perfect equality, — one of the consuls 
and one half the senate to be Latins, while Rome should be 

* This was the Decius who had saved the army in the campaign of 412L 






s 



136 HIbTORi' OK ROME. 

the seat of government, and Romans the name of the united 
nation. But the senate exclaimed against the unheard-of 
extravagance of these demands, the gods were invoked as 
witnesses of this scandalous breach of faith, and the consul 
Manlius vowed that if they consented to be thus dictated to, 
he would come girt with his sword into the senate-house, and 
slay tlie first Latin he saw there. Tradition said that when 
the gods were appealed to, and the Latin praetor Annius 
spoke with contempt of the Roman Jupiter, loud claps of 
thunder and a sudden storm of wind and rain told the angei 
of the deity, and as Annius went off full of rage, he tumbled 
down the flight of steps and lay lifeless at the bottom. It 
was with difficulty that the magistrates saved the other envoys 
from the fury of the people. War was forthwith declared, 
and the consular armies were levied. 

As the Latin legions were now in Campania, the Romans 
instead of entering Latium took a circuit through the coun- 
try of the Sabines, Marsians, and Pelignians, and being 
joined by the Samnites, and probably the Hernicans, came 
and encamped before the Latins near Capua. Here a dream 
presented itself to the consuls: the form of a man, of size 
more than human, appeared to each, and announced that the 
general on one side, the army on the other, was due to the 
Manes and Mother Earth ; of whichever people the general 
should devote himself and the adverse legions, theirs would 
be the victory. The victims when slain portending the same, 
the consuls announced, in presence of their officers, that he 
of them whose forces first began to yield would devote him- 
self for Rome. 

To restore strict discipline and to prevent any treachery, 
the consul forbade, under pain of death, any single combats 
with the enemy. One day the son of the consul Manlius 
chanced with his troop of horse to come near to where the 
Tusculan horse was stationed, whose commander, Geminus 
Metius, knowing young Manlius, challenged him to a single 
combat. Shame and indignation overpowered the sense of 
duty in the mind of the Roman; they ran against each 
other, and the Tuscufan fell ; the victor, bearing the bloody 
spoils, returned to the camp and came with them to his father. 
The consul said nothing, but forthwith called an assembly 
of the army; then, reproaching his son with his breach of 
discipline, he ordered the lictor to lay hold of him and bind 
him to the stake. The assembly stood mute with horror; 
but, when the a.xe fell, anc the blocd of the gallant youth 



SELF-DEVOTION OF DECIUS. 



137 



gushed forth, bitter lamentation, mingled with curses on the 
ruthless sire, arose. They took up the body of the slain, and 
buried it, without the camp, covered with the spoils he had 
won ; and when, after the war, Manlius entered Rome in 
triumph, the young men would not go forth to receive him, 
and throughout life he was to them an object of hatred and 
aversion. 

The war between Rome and Latium was little less than 
civil ; the soldiers and officers had for years served together 
in the same companies, and they were all acquainted. They 
now stood in battle array, opposite each other, at the foot of 
Mount Vesuvius, the Samnites and Hernicans being opposed 
to the Oscan allies of the Latins. Both the consuls sacrificed 
before the battle ; the entrails of the victim offered by Decius 
portended misfortune, but hearing that the signs boded well 
to Manlius, " 'Tis well," said he, " if my colleague has good 
signs." In the battle, the left wing, led by Decius, was giving 
way ; the consul saw that his hour was come ; he called 
aloud for M. Valerius, the Pontifex Maximus, and standing 
on a naked weapon, clad in his consular robe, his head veiled, 
and his hand on his chin, he repeated after the pontiff the 
form of devotion.* He then sent the lictors to announce to 
Manlius what he had done, and girding his gown tightly 
round him,t and mounting his horse, he rushed into the 
midst of the enemies. He seemed a destructive spirit sent 
from heaven ; wherever he came he carried dismay and death ; 
at length he fell, covered with wounds. The ardor of the 
Roman soldiers revived, and the skill of Manlius secured the 
victory. When the front r?Lnks (Antesignani) of both armies 
were wearied, he ordered the Accensi to advance ; the Latins 
then sent forward their Triarians ; and when these were 
wearied, the consul ordered the Roman Triarians to rise and 
advance. The Latins having no fresh troops to oppose to them 
were speedily defeated, and so great was the slaughter that 

* The form of devotion was as follows : " Janus, Jupiter, Father 
Mars, Quirinus,BelIona, Lares, ye nine gods, (J^ovensi.les,)ye Indi^ites, 
ye gods who ^ave power over us and our enemies, ye gods of the dead, 
you I pray, worship, implore that ye will give strength and victory to 
the Roman people and the Quirites, and tiiat ye will send terror, fear, 
and death to the enemies of the Roman people and the Quirites. As 1 
have spoken so dol devote myself for the republic, the army, legiona 
and auxiliaries of the Roman people and Quirites, and with me tJie 
legions and auxiliaries of the enemy to the gods of the dead and to 
Mother Earth." 

t The Gabine cincture 

12* R 



133 HISTORY OF ROME. 

but one fourth of their army escaped. Next day the body 
of the consul Decius was found amidst heaps of slain, and 
inai^nificeutly interred. 

The Latins fled to the town of Vescia, and, by the advice 
of their praitor Numisius, a general levy was made in Latium, 
with whicli, in reliance on the reduced state of the Roman 
army, he ventured to give the consul battle at Trifanum, 
between Sinuessa and Minturna^, on the other side of the 
Liris. The rout of the Latins was so complete, that few of 
the towns thought of resistance when the consul entered 
Latium. The Latin public land, two thirds of that of Priver- 
num, and the Falernian district of Campania, were seized 
for the Roman people, and assignments of 2^ jugers on this 
side, 34 on the other side of the Liris, were made to the poor 
plebeians, who murmured greatly at the large quantity that 
was reserved as domain. As the Campaniaii. knights (ICOU 
in number) had remained faithful to Rome, to compensate 
them for the loss of the Falernian land, they were given the 
Roman viunicipium, and each assigned a rent-charge of 350 
denars a year on the state of Capua. 

The Latin and Volscian towns continued singly to resist, 
and the conquest was not completed till the year 417. Pru- 
dence and some moderation were requisite on the part of 
Rome, in order not to have rebellious subjects in the Latins. 
Citizenship therefore, in different degrees, was conferred 
upon them ; but they were forbidden to hold national diets, 
and commerce and intermarriage between the people of their 
different towns were prohibited. The piincipal families of 
Velitra; were forced to go and live beyond the Tiber, and 
their lands were given to Roman colonists. Their ships of 
war were taken from the Antiates, who were forbidden to pos- 
sess any in future. Some of them were brought to Rome; 
the beaks {rostra) were cut off" others, and the pulpit {suf(- 
gestutii) in the Forum adorned with them, whence it was 
named the Rostra. The munitipium, such as the Latins had 
formerly had it. was given to the people of Capua, Cumai, 
Suessula, Fundi, and Formis. The Latin contingents in 
war were henceforth to serve under their own officers, apart 
from the legions. 

While the Roman dominion was thus extended without, 
wise and patriotic men of both orders saw the necessity of 
mternai concord, and of abolishing antiquated and now mis- 
chievous claims and pretensions. In 41G, t lerefore, the 
patrician consul .'ib. ^Emilius named his plebe an coUeaguo 



SECO.TD SAMNITE WAR. 139 

Q. Publilius dictator, who then brought forward the following 
laws to complete the constitution. 1. The patricians should 
give a previous consent to any law that was to be brought 
before the centuries. For as such a law must previously 
have passed the senate, and the centuries could make no 
alteration in it, and n ore wisdom was not likely to be found 
in the curies than in the senate and centuries united, their 
opposition could hardly have any ground but prejudice and 
spite. 2. The Plebiscita should be binding on all Quirites. 
The object of this law was the same, for as the people now 
occupied the place of the former Populus, and every measure 
was approved of and prepared in the senate, the leaving the 
power of rejecting it with the patricians was needless, and 
might be mischievous. 3. One of the censors should of 
necessity be a plebeian. The curies were induced, we know 
not how, to give their assent to these laws. Internal discord 
was now at an end, and the golden age of Roman heroism 
and virtue began. 

The affairs for the ten succeeding years are of comparative 
unimportance. The Romans and Samnites both knew that 
another war was inevitable, and they made the necessary 
preparations for it. In 428 the people of the Greek town of 
PaloBopolis, being in alliance with the Samnites, began to 
exercise hostilities against the Roman colonists in Campania. 
As they refused to give satisfaction, the consul Q,. Publilius 
Philo was sent against them, while his colleague, L. Cornelius 
Lentulus, watched the motions of the Samnites. Publilius 
encamped between PaliEopolis and its kindred town of Neap- 
olis, and on his sending word home that there was a large 
body of Samnite and Nolan troops in them, envoys were sent 
to Samnium to complain of this breach of treaty. The Sam- 
nites replied that those were volunteers, over whom the state 
had no control; that they had not, as the Romans had 
alleged, excited the people of Fundi and Formiaj to revolt, 
while the Romans had sent a colony to Fregellae, in a district 
which of right was theirs; that, in fine, there was no use in 
arguing or complaining when the plain between Capua and 
Sue:'sula offered a space on which they might decide whose 
should be the empire of Italy. The Roman fetial then veiled 
his head, and with hands raised to heaven prayed the gods to 
prosper the arhis and counsels of Rome if right was on her 
side ; if not, to blast and confound them. Right certainly was 
not on the side of Rome, for she had first violated the treaty ; 
hut war was ndt to be averted, and it was now to begin, 



140 HISTORF OF HOME 

A Roman army entered Samnium on the Volscian side, 
ravaged the country, and took some towns. Publilins' year 
having expired, his command was continued to him under 
the new title of Proconsul ; and soon a party in Neapohs, 
weary of the insolence of the foreign soldiers, began to plot 
a surrender. While Nymphius, one of the leading men, in- 
duced the Samnites to go out of the town, to embark in the 
ships in the port, and make a descent on the coast of Latium, 
Charilaus, another of the party, closed the gate after them, 
and admitted the Romans at another. The Samnites instant- 
ly dispersed and fled home ; the Nolans retired from the town 
unmolested. 

A chief ally of the Samnites were the people of the Greek 
city of Tarcntum ; on the other hand, their kinsmen, the 
Apulians and Lucanians, were in alliance with Rome. But 
in this year (429) a revolution, of the nature of which we 
are uninformed, took place in Lucania, the consequence of 
which was the subjection of the country to Samnium. A 
similar fate menaced the Apulians, if not aided ; but to reach 
Apulia it was necessary to pass through the Vestine country, 
the people of which (one of the Marsian confederacy) re- 
fused a passage. It was apprehended at Rome, that if the 
Vestinians were attacked, the other three states, who were 
now neutral, would take arms, and throw their weight into 
the Samnite scale, and their valor was well known ; but, 
on the other hand, the importance of A])ulia, in a military 
point of view, was too great to allow it to be lost. The consul 
D. Junius Brutus accordingly led his army into the Vestine 
country: a hard-fought victory, and the capture of two of 
their towns, reduced the Vestinians to submission, and the 
other members of the league remained at peace. 

The other consul, L. Camillus, fell sick as he was about 
to invade Sanmium, and L. Papirius Cursor was made dicta- 
tor; but as there was said to have been some error in the 
auspices, he was obliged to return to Rome to renew them. 
As he was departing he strictly charged Q. Fabius, .the 
master of the horse, whom he left in command, not to risk 
an action on any account during his absence. But, heedless 
of his orders, Fabius seized the first occasion of engaging 
the enemy, over whom he gained a complete victory. As 
soon as the dictator learned what had occurred he hastened 
to the camp, breathing fury. Fabius, warned of his approach, 
besought the soldiers to protect him. Papirius came, ascend- 
ed his tribunal, summoned the master of the horse before 



SEVERITY OF THE DICTATOR PAPIRIUS. 



141 



him, and demanded why he had disobeyed orders, and thus 
weakened the military discipline. His defence but irritated 
his judge the more ; the lictors approached and began to strip 
him for death ; he broke from them, and sought refuge 
among the Triarians : confusion arose : those nearest the 
tribunal prayed, the more remote menaced the dictator : tlie 
legates came round him, entreating him to defer his judg- 
ment till the next day ; he would not hear them. Night at 
length ended the contest. 

During the night Fabius fled to Rome, and by'his father's 
advice made his complaint of the dictator to the assembled 
senate ; but while he was speaking, Papirius, who had fol- 
lowed him from the camp with the utmost rapidity, entered, 
and ordered his lictors to seize hini. The senate implored ; 
but he was inexorable : the elder Fabius then appealed to 
the people, before whom he enlarged on the cruelty of the 
dictator. Every heart beat in unison with that of the time- 
honored father ; but when Papirius showed the rigorous 
necessity of upholding military discipline, by which the 
state was maintained, all were silent, from conviction. At 
length the people and their tribunes united with Fabius 
and the senate in supplication, and the dictator, deeming his 
authority sufficiently vindicated, granted life to his master 
of the horse. 

Papirius, when he returned to his army, gave the Samnitcs 
a decisive defeat ; and having divided the spoil among his 
soldiers to regain their favor, and granted a truce for a 
year to the enemy, on condition of their giving each soldier 
a garment and a year's pay, he returned to Rome and tri 
umphed. 

The events of the next year (431) are dubious; bat in 
432 the camp of the dictator, A. Cornelius Arvina, who had 
entered Samnium without sufficient caution, was surprised 
by a superior force of the enemy. The day closed before 
an attack could be made, and in the night the dictator, 
leaving a number of fires burning in the camp, led away his 
legions in silence. But the enemy were on the alert, and 
their cavalry hung on the retiring army, to slacken its pace. 
With daybreak the Samnite infantry came up, and the dic- 
tator, finding further retreat impossible, drew his forces up 
in order of battle. A desperate conflict commenced; during 
five hours neither side gave way an inch; the Samnite horse, 
peemg the baggage of the Romans but slightly guarded, 
made for it, and began to plunder ; ^hile thus engaged, they 



142 HISTORY OF ROME. 

were fallen on and cut to pieces by the Roman horse, who 
then turned and assailed the now unprotected rear of tlie 
Samnite infantry. The dictator urged his lesrions to new 
exertions ; the Samnites wavered, broke, and fled ; their gen- 
eral and thousands fell, and thousands were made captives. 

Meantime, on the side of Apulia an equ.ally glorious vic- 
tory was gained by the consul Q.. Fabius ; and the spirit of 
the Samnites being now quite broken, they were anxious 
for peace on almost any terms. As it is usual with a peo- 
ple, when n^easures to which they have given their full and 
eager consent have failed, to throw the entire blame on 
their leaders, so now the Samnites cast all their misfortunes 
on Papius Brutulus, one of their principal men, and resolved 
to rieliver him up to the Romans as the cause of the war. 
The noble Samnite saved himself from disgrace by a vol- 
untary de.ith ; his lifeless corpse was carried to Rome; the 
Roman prisoners, of whom there was a large number, were 
released, and gold sent to ransom the Samnites. The ut- 
most readiness to yield to all reasonable terms was evinced ; 
but nothing would content the haughty senate but the su- 
premacy,* and sooner than thus resign their national inde- 
pendence the Samnites resolved to dare and endure the 
uttermost. 

In the spring (433) the Roman legions, led by the con- 
suls T. Veturius aiid Sp. Postumius, encamped at Callatia 
in Campania, with the intention of directing their entire 
force against Middle Samnium. The Samnite general, C. 
Pontius, spread a fdse report that Nuceria, in Apulia, was 
hard pressed by a Samnite army, and on the point of sur- 
render, and the consuls resolved to attempt its relief with- 
out delay. They entered the Samnite country, and advanced 
heedlessly and incautiously. In the vicinity of the town of 
Caudium they reached the Caudine Forks, as a pass was 
named consisting of a narrow valley between two wooded 
mountains; a hollow way led into it at one end, and a nar- 
row path over a mountain, which closed it up, led out of 
it at the other end. Into these toils the consuls conducted 
their army ; they saw nothing to alarm them till the head 
of the column came to the further end, and found the pas- 
sage stopped with rocks and trunks of trees, and on looking 
round beheld the hills occupied by soldiery.. To advance 

* Answering to the hegemony of the Greeks. See Hist, of Greece 
patsim. • 



SURRENDER AT THE CAUDINE FORKS. 143 

or to retreat was now equally impossible ; they threw up 
entrenchments in the valley, and remained there, the Sam- 
nites not attacking them, in reliance on the aid of famine.* 
At length, when their food was spent and hunger began to 
be felt, they sent deputies to learn the will of the Samnite 
leaders. It is said that Pontius, on this occasion, sent for 
his father to advise him : this venerable old man, who, in 
high repute for wisdom, dwelt at Caudium, was conveyed to 
the camp in a wain, and his advice was either to let the 
Romans go free and uninjured, or totally to destroy the 
army. Pontius preferred a middle course, and the old man 
retired shedding tears at the misery he saw thence to come 
on his country. The terms accorded by Pontius were the 
restoration of the ancient alliance between Rome and Sam- 
nium ; the withdrawal of Roman colonies from places be- 
longing to the Samnites ; and the giving back all places to 
which they had a right. The arms and baggage of the 
vanquished army were, as a matter of course, to be given up 
to the conquerors. How rarely has Rome ever granted a 
vanquished enemy terms so mild as these ! Yet the Roman 
historians had the audacity to talk of the insolence of the 
victorious Samnites ; and the Roman senate and people had 
the baseness, meanne-ss, injustice, and barbarity to put to 
an ignominious death the noble Pontius twenty-seven years 
after ! 

These terms were sworn to by the consuls and their prin- 
cipal officers, and six hundred knights given as hostages till 
they should have been ratified by the senate and people. 
A passage wide enough for one person to pass was made in 
the paling with which the Samnites had inclosed them,! 
and one of the pales laid across it, and through this door 
the consuls, followed by their officers and men, each in a 
single garment, came forth. Pontius gave beasts of burden 
to convey the sick and wounded, and provisions enough to 
take the army to Rome. 

1'hey reached Capua before nightfall ; but shame, or doubt 
of the reception they might meet with, kept them from en- 
te^-ing. Next morning all the people came out to meet and 
console them. Refreshments and aid of every kind were 
given them, and they thence pursued their way to Rome. 

* There is good reason to suppose that the Romans made a desperate 
effort to extricate themselves, and were driven back witli great slaugh 
ler. (Appian, Samn. iv. 6. Cicero de Off. iii. '30.) 

t Appian, Samn. iv 6. Gellius, xvii. 21. 



144 HISTORY OF ROME. 

When the news of their calanjity had first readied Rome, 
a total cessation of business (jiistitium) had taken place, 
and a general levy, either to attempt their relief or to de- 
fend the city, had been made, and all orders of people went 
into mourning.* In this state of things the disgraced army 
reached the gates. It there dispersed ; those who lived in 
the country went away; those who dwelt in the city slunk 
with night to their houses. The consuls, having named a 
dictator for the consular elections, laid down their office. 

The senate having met to consider of the peace, the con- 
sul Publilius called on Sp. Postumius to give his opinion. 
He rose with downcast looks, and advised that himself and 
all who had sworn to the treaty should bo delivered up to 
the Samnites, as having deceived them, by making a treaty 
without the consent of the lioman people, and a fresh army 
be levied, and the war renewed ; and though there was 
hardly a senator who had not a son or some other relative 
among the hostages, it was resolved to do as he advised. 
Postumius and his companions were taken bound to Cau- 
dium ; tiie fetial led them before the tribunal of Pontius, 
and made the surrender of them in the solemn form. Pos- 
tumius, as he concluded, struck his knee against the fetial's 
thigh, and drove him off, crying, " I am now a Samnite, 
thou an ambassador: I thus violate the law of nations ; ye 
may justly now resume the war." 

Pontius replied with dignity : he treated this act of re- 
ligious hypocrisy as a childish manoeuvre; he told the Ro- 
mans that if they wished to renounce the treaty with 
any show of justice, they should place their legions as they 
were when it was made ; but their present conduct he said 
was base and unworthy, and he would not accept such a 
surrender as this, or let them thus hope to avert the anger 
of the gods. He then ordered Postumius and the other 
Romans to be unbound and dismissed. 

Tiie war therefore was renewed, and the Romans, re- 
turning to their original plan of carrying it on simulta- 
neously in Apulia and on the western frontier of Samnium, 
sent the consul L. Papirius to lay siege to Nuceria, which 
was now in the hands of the Samnites, while his colleague 
Publilius led his tirmy into Samnium. Papirius sat down 
oefore Nuceria; but a Samnite army came and encamped 
at hand, and rendered his communication with Arpi, whence 

* Appian, Samn. iv. 7. 



SAMNITE WAR. 145 

he drew his supples, so difficult, that it was only by the 
knights going and fetching corn in little bags on their horses 
that any food could be had in the camp. The arrival of 
Publilius with the other army relie^^ed them ; and after a 
vain attempt of the Tarentines to mediate a peace, the Ro- 
mans attacked and stormed the Samnite camp with great 
slaughter, which, though they were unable to retain it, had 
tho effect of making the Samnite army retire, and leave 
Nuceria to its fate. Its garrison of seven thousand men 
hen capitulated, on condition of a free passage, without 
.wrms or baggage.* 

The two following years (436, 437) were years of truce, 
1!) consequence of exhaustion on both sides ; and during the 
truce the Romans so extended and consolidated their do- 
minion in Apulia that no attempt was ever after made to 
shake it otT. In 433 the war was resumed, and the Ro- 
mans laid siege to Saticula, an Oscan town not far from 
Capua and in alliance with the Samnites. Meantime the 
Samnites had taken the colonial town of Plistica; and the 
Volscians of Sora, having slain their Roman garrison, re- 
volted to them. They then made an attack on the Roman 
army before Saticula, but were defeated with great loss, 
;ind the town immediately surrendered. The Roman armies 
then entered and ravaged Samnium, and the seat of war 
was transferred to Apulia. While the consular armies were 
thus distant, t\\e Samnites made a general levy, and came 
and took a position at Lautulae, in order to cut off the com- 
munication between Rome and Campania. The dictator, 
Q.. Fabius, instantly levied an army, and hastened to give 
them battle. The Romans were utterly defeated, and fled 
from the field; the master of the horse, Q,. Aulius, unable 
to outlive the disgrace of flight, maintained his ground, and 
fell fighting bravely. Revolt spread far and wide among 
the Roman subject;; in the vicinity ; the danger was great 
and imminent, but the fortune of Rome prevailed, and the 
menacing storm dispersed. 

In 440 the Samnites sustained a great defeat near a town 
named Cinna, whose site is unknown. The Campanians, 
who were in the act of revolting at this time, submitted on 
the appearance of the dictator, C. Msenius, and the most 
guilty withdrew themselves from punishment by a voluntary 

* As it appears from Diodorus (xv. 72) that Nuceria was not taken 
till 439, Niebuhr regards this as a fiction of the Romans, anxious to 
efface ass soon as possible the disgrace at Caudium. 

13 s 



146 HISTORY OF ROME. 

death. The Ausonian towns, Ausona, Minturna;, and Ve 
scia, were taken by treachery and stratagem, and their pop 
nlation massacred or enshived, as a fearlul lesson to tlie 
subjects of Rome against wavering in their allegiance. 

The united armies of the consuls, M. Pcetelius and C. 
Sulpicius, entered Samnium on the side of Caudium ; but 
while they were advancing timidly and cautiously through 
the formidable region, they learned that the Sainnite army 
was wasting the plain of Campania. They led back their 
forces, and erelong the two armies encountered. The 
tactics of the Romans were new on this occasion ; the left 
wing, under Pcetelius, was made dense and deep, while the 
right was expanded more than usual. Pcetelius, adding th*^ 
reserve to his wing, made a steady charge with the whole 
mass: the Samnites gave way; their horse came to their 
aid; but Sulpicius coming up with his body of horse, and 
charging them with the whole Roman cavalry, put them to 
the rout. He then hastened to his own wing, which now 
was yielding; the timely reinforcement Jurned the beam, 
and the Samnites were routed on all sides with great 
slaughter. 

The following year (441) was marked by the capture of 
Nola and some other towns, and by the founding of colo- 
nies to secure the dominion which liad been acquired. In 
442 Sora was taken in the following manner. A deserter 
carne to the consuls, and offered to lead some Roman sol- 
diers by a secret path up to the Ar.x, or citadel, which was 
a precipitous eminence over the town. Ilis offer was ac- 
cepted ; the legions were withdrawn to a distance of six 
miles from the town ; some cohorts were concealed in a wood 
at hand, and ten men accompanied the Soran traitor. 
They clambered in the night up through the stones and 
bushf.s, and at length reached the area of the Arx. Their 
guide, showing them the narrow steep path that led thence 
down to the town, desired them to guard it while he went 
down and gave the alarm. He then ran through the town 
crving that the enemy was on the Arx; and when the truth 
of his report was ascertained, the people prepared to fly 
from the town ; but in the confusion, the Roman cohorts 
broke in and commenced a massacre. At daybreak the 
consuls came ; they granted their lives to the surviving in- 
habitants, with the exception of two hundred and iiventy- 
live, who, as the authors of the revolt, were brought bound 
to Rome. ?nd scourged and beheaded in the Forum. 



TUSCAN WAR. 



;47 



The iide of war had turned so decidedly agajnsi t'lie 
Samnites, that one or two campaigns more of the whole 
force of Rome would have sufficed for their subjugation. 
But just now a new enemy was about to appear, who was 
likely to give ample employment to the Roman arms for 
some time. The Etruscans, who, probably owing to their 
contests with and fears of the Gauls, had for many years 
abstained from war vvith the Romans, now, either moved 
by the instances of the Samnites or aware of the danger of 
suffering Rome to grow too powerful, began (442) to make 
such hostile manifestations that great alarm prevailed at 
Rome. Various circumstances, however, kept off the war 
for nearly two years longer. 

In 443 all the peoples of Etruria, except the Arretines, 
having sent their troops, a Tuscan army prepared to lay 
siege to the frontier town of Sutrium. The consul Q,. vEmil- 
ius came to cover it, and the two armies met before it. At 
daybreak of the second day, the Tuscans drew out in order 
of battle; the consul, having made his men take their 
breakfast, led them out also. The two armies stood opposite 
each other, each hesitating to begin, till after noon ; the 
Tuscans then fell on: night terminated a bloody and inde- 
cisive action; each retired to their camp, and neither felt 
themselves strong enough to renew the conflict next day. 

The next year (444) a Tuscan army laid siege to Su- 
trium, aud the consul Q,. Fabius hastened from Rome to 
its relief As his troops were far inferior to the Etruscans 
in number, he led them cautiously along the hills. The 
enemy drew out his forces in the plain to give him battle ; 
but the consul, fearing to descend, formed his array on the 
hill side in a part covered with loose stones. Relying on 
their numbers the Tuscans charged up-hill; the Romans 
hurled stones and missile weapons on them, and then char- 
ging, with the advantage of the ground, drove them back, and 
the horse getting between them and their camp forced them 
to take refuge in the adjacent Ciminian wood. Their camp 
became the prize of the victors. 

Like so many others in the early Roman history, this 
battle has probably been given a magnitude and an impor- 
tance which does not belong to it, and the truth would seem 
to be that the consul only repulsed the advanced guard of 
the enemy, and not feeling himself strong enough to engage 
their main army, resolved to create a diversion by invading 
iheir country. ,,,. 



I 



148 HISTORY OF ROMF 

North of Sutrium, (Sutri,) near the modern Viterbo, ex- 
tends a range of high ground, which at that time formed 
the boundary between Roman and independent Etruria. It 
was covered with natural wood, and was thence named the 
Ciminian Wood. Over this barrier Fabius resolved to lead 
his troops. He sent to inform the senate of his plan, that 
I measures might be taken for the defence of the country 

i during his absence. Meantime he sent one of his brothers, 

1 who spoke the Tuscan language, in disguise to. penetrate 

[ to the Umbrians, and to form alliances with any of them 

[ that were hostile to the Etruscans. The only people, 

however, whom he found so disposed were the Camertines, 
who agreed to join the Romans if they penetrated to their 
country. 

The senate, daunted at the boldness of Fabius' plan, sent 
five legates and two tribunes of the people to forbid hini to 
enter the wood, perhaps to arrest him if he shoidd hesitate 
to obey. But they came too late : in the first watch of the 
\ night Fabius sent forward his baggage, the infantry fol- 

lowed; he himself a little before sunrise led his horse up to 
the enemy's camp, as it were to recoimoitre. In the evening 
he returned to his own camp, and then set out and came 
up with his infantry before night. At daybreak they reached 
the summit of the mountain, and beheld the smiling plains 
of Etruria stretched out before them. They hastened to 
seize the offered prey : the Etruscan nobles assembled their 
vassals to oppose them, bnt they could offer no eflectual re- 
sistance to the disciplined troops of Rome. The Roman 
army spread their ravages as far as Perusia, where they en- 
countered and totally defeated a combined army of Etrus- 
cans and Umbrians; and Perusia, Cortona, and Arrctium, 
three of the leading cities of Etruria, sent fijrthwith to sue 
for peace, which was granted for a term of thirty years. 
' As the Romans were returning to the relief of Sutrium 

they encountered at the lake of Vadimo, between Perusia 
and Falerii, another Etruscan army, of select troops.* The 
two armies engaged hand to hand at once; the first ranks 
fought till they were exhausted ; the reserve then advanced 
and the victory was only decided by the Roman knights dis- 
mounting and taking their place in the front of the line. 
While Fabius was conducting the war in Etruria, his 



* TJiej' were bound by a solemn oath {lege sacrata) to tight to iheir 
uttermost. These were probably the troops of the western towns 



SAMNITE AND TUSCAN WARS. 



149 



colleague C. Marcius had entered Samnium and taken 
Allifa; and some other strongholds. The Samnites collected 
their forces and gave him battle ; and the Romans were de- 
feated, several of their officers slain, the consul himself 
wounded, and their communication with Rome cut off. 
When the news reached Rome, the senate at once resolved 
to create a dictator, and to send him off to the relief of Mar- 
cius with the reserve which had been levied on account of 
the Etruscan war. Their hopes lay in L. Papirius Cursor; 
but the dictator could only be named by tne consul ; there 
was no way of reaching Marcius, and Fabius had not yet 
forgiven the man who had thirsted after his blood. The 
resolve of the senate was borne to Fabius by consulars; they 
urged him to sacrifice his private feelings to the good of 
his country : he heard them in silence, his eyes fixed on the 
ground, and they retired in uncertainty. In the stillness of 
the night he arose, and, as was the usage, nc^med L. Papirius 
dictator, and in the morning he again listened in silence to the 
thanks and praises of the deputies. The dictator immedi- 
ately set forth and relieved the army of Marcius, but, impet- 
uous as he was, he contented himself for some time with 
merely observing the enemy. 

At length the time arrived for a decisive action. The 
Samnite army was divided into two corps, the one clad in 
purple, the other in white linen tunics, the former having 
their brazen shields adorned with gold, the latter with sil- 
ver : the shields were broad above, narrow below. Each 
soldier wpre a crested helmet, a large sponge to protect his 
breast, and a greave on his left leg. In the battle the Ro-r 
man dictator led the right wing against the gold-shielded, 
the master of the horse, C. Junius, the left against the sil- 
ver-shielded Samnites. Junius made the first impression 
on the enemy ; the dictator urged his men to emulation, and 
the Roman horse by a charge on both flanks completed the 
victory. The Samnites fled to their camp, but «'ere unable 
to retain it, and ere night it was sacked and burnt. The 
'golden shields adorned the dictator's triumph, and they were 
then given to the money-dealers to ornament their shops 
in the Forum. 

Q,. Fabius was continued in the consulate for 445, and 
P. Decius given to him as his colleague ; the former had 
the Samnite, the latter the Etruscan war. Fabius routed 
the Marsians and Pelignians, who had now joined against 
Rome, and he then led his legions into Umbria, whose peo- 
13 • 



150 HISTORY OF ROME. 

pie had taken arms, and with little difficulty reduced ihein 
to submission. Decius meantime had forced the Etruscans 
to sue for peace, and a year's truce was granted them on 
their giving each soldier two tunics, and a year's pay for the 
army. 

In the remaining years of the war, the exhausted powers 
of the Samnites could offer but a feeble resistance to the 
legions of Rome. On the occasion of a defeat which they 
sustained in 440, the proconsul Q,. Fabius adopted the 
novel course of dismissing the Samuite prisoners, and sell- 
ing for slaves those of their allies. Among these there 
were several Hernicans, whom he sent to Rome; the senate 
having instituted an inquiry into the conduct of the Her- 
nican people in this affair, those who had urged them to 
give aid to the Samnites now engaged them to take arms 
openly. All the Ilernicail peoples but three shared in the 
war; but they made a stand little worthy of their old re- 
nown ; one short campaign sufficed for their reduction, and 
they were placed (447) on nearly the same footing as the 
Latins had been thirty years before. 

The Samnites at length (449) sued for peace, and ob- 
tained it on the condition they had so often spurned, that of 
acknowledging Rbme's supremacy, in other words, of yield 
ing up their independence; but peace on any terms Avas 
now necessary, that they might recruit their strength for 
future eflTorts. The Romans then turned their arms against 
the .iEquians, who had joined the Hernicans in aiding the 
Samnites, and in fifty days the coiisuls reduced and de- 
stroyed forty-one of their Cyclopian-walled towns. The 
Marsian League sought and obtained peace from Rome 



■\tP»nr>'y fifit 



THIRD SAiyiNITE AND ETRUSCAN WARS. 151 



CHAPTER VII. 

THIRD SAMNITE AND ETRITSCAN WARS. BATTLE OF SENTI- 

NUM, AND SELF-DEVOTION OF DECIUS. BATTLE OP AQUI- 

LONIA. REDUCTION OF THE SAMNITES. HORTENSIAN 

LAW. — -WORSHIP OF jESCULAPIUS INTRODUCED. — LUCA- 

NIAN WAR. ROMAN EMBASSY INSULTED AT TARENTUM. 

OALLIC AND ETRUSCAN WAR. 

Four years (450 — 454) passed away in tolerable tranquil- 
lity. In 4-54 Lucanian envoys appeared at Rome, praying 
for aid agriinst the Samnites, who had entered their country 
in arms, given them various defeats, and taken several of 
their towns. The Romans, in right of their supremacy, 
sent orders to the Samnites to withdraw their troops from I I 

Lucania : the Samnites' pride was roused at being thus re- I I 

minded of their subjection ; they ordered the fetials off their | I 

territory, and war was at once declared against them by | \ 

the Romans. As the Etruscans were now also in arms, ji I 

the consul L. Cornelius Scipio went against them, while f | 

his colleasrue Cn. Fulvius invaded Samnium. I | 

Scipio engaged -a numerous Etruscan army near Vola- \ « 

terriB. Night ended a hard-fought battle, leaving it un- | I 

decided. The morn however revealed that the advantage | I 

was on the side of the Romans, as the enemy bad aban- | I 

doned their camp during the night. Having placed his || 

baggage and stores at Falerii, Scipio spread his ravages || 

over the country, burning the villages and ham>tets; and no 
army appeared to oppose him. Fulvius meantime carried 
on the war with credit in Samnium. Near Bovianum he 
defeated a Samnite army, and took that town and another 
named Aufidena. 

The rumor of the great preparations which the Samnites 
and the Etruscans were said to be making caused the peo- | 

pie to elect Q. Fabius to the consulate, ag^anst his will ; 
and at his own request they joined with him P. EXecius. As 
the Etruscans remained quiet, both the consuls invaded 
Samnium, (455,) Fabius entering from Sora, Decius from 
Sidicinum. The Samnites gave Fabius battle near Tifer- 
num • their infantry stood firm against that of the Romans; 
the charge of the Roman cavalry had as little effect. At 
length, when the reserve had come to the frojit, and he 



152 HISTORY OF ROME. 

contest WHS most obstinate, the legate Scipio, whom the 
consul iiad sent away during the action with the Hastates 
of the first legion, appeared on the neigliboring hills. Both 
armies took them for the legions of Decius ; the Samnites' 
courage fell, that of the Romans rose, and evening closed 
on their victory. Dacius had meantime defeated the Apu- 
lians at Maleventum. During five months both armies 
ravaged Sanmium with impunity; the traces of five-and- 
forty camps of Decius, of eighty-six of Fabius, bore witness 
to the sufferings of the ill-fated country. 

The next year (450) the Samnites put into execution a 
daring plan which they had formed in the preceding war, 
namely, sending an army, to be paid and supported out of 
their own funds, into Etruria, leaving Sanmium meantime 
at the mercy of the enemy. The Sanniite army, luider 
Gellius Egnatius,- on arriving there, was joined by the 
troops of most of the Tuscan states; the Unibrians also 
shared in the war, and it was proposed to take Gallic mer- 
cenaries into pay. The consul Ap. Claudius entered Etru- 
ria with his two legions and twelve thousand of the allies, 
but he did not feel himself strong enough to give the con- 
federates battle. The consul Volunniius, probably by com- 
mand of the senate, led his army to join him ; but Appius 
gave him so ungracious a reception that he was preparing 
to retire, when the officers of the other army implored him 
not to abandon them for their general's fault. Volunmius 
then agreed to remain and figlit : a victory was speedily 
gained over the Etruscans and Samnites, whose general 
Egnatius was unfortunately absent; 7300 were slain, 2120 
taken, and their camp was stormed and plundered. 

As Volumnius was returning by rapid marches to Sam- 
nium, he learned that the Samnites had taken advantage 
of his al)sence to make a descent on Campania, where they 
had collected an immense booty. He forthwith directed 
his course thither : at Cales he heard that they were en- 
camped on the Volturtuis, with the intention of carrying 
their prey into Samnium to secure it. He came and en 
camped near them, but out of view ; and when the Samnites 
had before day sent forward their captives and booty under 
an ^'scort, and were getting out of their cam]) to follow 
them, they were suddenly fallen on by the Romans: the 
camp was stormed with great slaughter; the captives, hear- 
ing the tumult, unbound themselves, and fell on their escort: 



THIRD SAMNITE AND ETRUSCAN WARS. 15-3 

the Sainnites were routed on all sides; 6000 were slain. 
2500 were taken, 7400 captives, with all their property, 
were recovered. 

The union of the Saninites, Etruscans, Umbrians, and 
Gauls, which had now been formed, caused the greatest 
apprehension at Rome, and the people insisted on electing 
Q,. Fabius consul, to which he would only consent on con- 
dition of his approved mate in arms P. Decius being given 
him for colleague. His wish was complied with. The 
four legions of the former year were kept on foot and com- 
pleted, two new ones raised, and two armies of reserve 
formed. The number of troops furnished by the allies was 
considerable : among them were one thousand Campanian 
horse, for as the Gauls were strong in this arm, it was ne- 
cessary to augment its force. 

During the winter Fabius set out, with four thousand foot 
and six hundred horse, to take the command in Etruria. 
As he drew nigh to the camp of Ap. Claudius he met a party 
sent out for firewood ; he ordered them to go back and use 
the palisades of their camp for the purpose. This gave con- 
fidence to the soldiers, and to keep up their spirits, he never 
let them remain stationary, but moved about from place 
to place. In the spring (4.57) he returned to Rome to ar- 
ranore the campaign, leaving the command in Etruria with 
L. Scipio. 

The consuls led their main force to join the troops left 
with Scipio; one army of reserve under Fulvius was sta- 
tioned in the Faliscan, another in the Vatican district. 
But the Gauls, pouring in by the pass of Camerinum, 
had annihilated a Roman legion left to defend it; their 
numerous cavalry spread over Umbria and got between 
Scipio and Rotne ; and as they rode up to the consular 
army, the heads of the slain Romans, which they carried 
on spears and hung at their horses' breasts, made the Ro- 
mans believe that Scipio's whole army had been destroyed. 
A junction however was formed with him, and L. Volum- 
nius, who commanded in Samnium, was directed to lead 
his legions to reinforce those of the , consuls. The three 
united armies then crossed the Apennines, and took a po- 
sition in the Sentine country to menace the possessions of 
the Senonian Gauls; and the two armies of reserve ad- 
vanced in proportion, the one to Clusium, the other to 
the Faliscan country. The confede'-ates came and en- 
camped before the Romans; but the} avoided an action^ 

T 



154 HISTORY OF ROME. 

prohnhly Walttng for reinforcements. The consuls, lenniing 
by (le^^ertors tliat the i)lan of the enemy was for the Gauls 
and Saiuuites to give them battle, and the Etruscans and 
Umbrians to fall on their camp diiring the action, sent 
orders to Fulvius to ravage Etruria : this called a large 
part of the Etruscans home, and the consuls endeavored to 
bring on an engagement during their absence. For two 
entire days they vainly sought to draw the confederates to 
the field ; on the third their challenge was accepted. 

Fabtus commanded on the right, opposed to the Samnites 
and the remaining Etruscans and Umbrians ; Decius led 
the left wing against the Gauls. Ere the fight began, a 
wolf ciiased a hind from the' mountains down between the 
tXvo armies; the hind sought refuge among the Gauls, by 
whom she was killed ; the wolf ran among the Romans, who 
made way for him to pass; and this appearance of the 
favorite of Mars was regarded as an omen of victory. 

In the hope of tiring the Samnites, Fabiiis made his men 
act rather on the defensive, and he refrained from bringing 
his reserve into action. Decius, on the other hand, know- 
ing how impetuous the first attack of the Gauls always was, 
resolved not to await it ; he charged with both foot and 
horse, and twice drove bSick the numerous Gallic cavalry ; 
but when his horse charged a third time, the Gauls sent 
forward their war-chariots, which spread confusion and dis- 
may amoUg them ; they fled back among their mfantry ; the 
victorious Gauls followed hard upon them. The battle, and 
with it possibly the hopes of Rome, was on the point of 
being lost, when Decius, who had resolved, if defeat im- 
j>ended, to devote himself like his father at Vesuvius, de- 
sired the pontiff M. Liviu?, whom he had kept near him 
for the purpose, to repeat the form of devotion ; then add- 
ing to it these words, " I drive before me dismay and 
(lisrht, slaughter and blood, the anger of the powers above 
and below ; with funereal terrors I touch the arms, weapons, 
and ensigns of the foe ; the same place shall be that of my 
end and of the Gauls and Samnites," he spurred his horse, 
rusheti into the thick of the enemies, and fell covered with 
wounds. The pontiff, to whom Decius had given his 
lictors, encouraged the Romans; a part of Fabius' reserve 
came to their support : the Gauls stood in a dense mass 
covered with their shields the Romans, collecting the piVa 
that lay on the ground lurled them on them ; but the 
Gauls stood unmoved, til Fabius, who by bringing forward 



BATTLE or AQUILONIA. 



155 



his reserve and causing his horse to fall on their flank, had 
driven the Samnites to their camp, sent five hundred Cam- 
panian horse, followed by the Principes of the third legion, 
to attack them in the rear , they then broke and fled. Fabius 
again assailed the Samnites under their rampart ; their gen- 
eral, Gellius Egnatius, fell, and the camp was taken. The 
confederates lost 25,000 men slain and 8000 taken ; 7000 
was the loss in the wing* led by Decius, 1200 in that of 
Fabius. This was one of the most important victories ever 
achieved by the arms of Rome. ' ' 

The following year the war was continued in Etruria 
and Samnium, and a bloody battle was fought at Nuceria. 
The next year (459) the consuls, L. Papirius Cursor and 
Sp. Carvilius, took the field against a Samnite army, which 
all the aids of superstition had been employed to fender 
formidable. 

All the fighting men of Samniam were ordered to appear 
at the town of Aquilonia. A tabernacle, two hundred feet 
square and covered with linen, was erected in the midst of 
the camp. Within it a venerable man named Ovius Pac- 
tius offered sacrifice after an ancient ritual contained in an 
old linen book. The Imperator or general then ordered the 
nobles to be called in separately; each as he entered beheld 
through the gloom of the tabernacle an altar in th6 centre, 
about which lay the bodies of the victims, and around which 
stood centurions with drawn swords. He was required to 
swear, imprecating curses on himself, his family, and his 
race, if he did not in the battle go whithersoever the Impe- 
rator ordered him, if he fled, or did not slay any one 
whom he saw flying. Some of the first summoned, refusing 
to swear, were slain, and their bodies lying among those 
of the victims served as a warning to others. The Impe- 
rator selected ten of those who had thus sworn, each of 
whom was directed to choose a man till the number of 
sixteen thousand was completed, which was named, from 
the tabernacle, the Linen Legion. Crested helmets and su- 
perior arms were given them for distinction. The rest of 
the army, upwards of 20,000 men, was little inferior in any 
respect to the Linen Legion. 

The Roman armies entered Samnium ; and while Papir- 
ius advanced to Aquilonia, Carvilius sat down before a 
fortress named Cominium, about twenty miles from that 
nhce. The ardor for battle is said to have been shared 
to such an extent by all in the Roman army, that the Pul* 



156 HISTORY OF ROME. 

larius, or keeper of the sacred chickens, made a false report 
of favorable signs. The truth was told to tne consul as 
he was going into battle ; but he said the signs reported to 
him were good, and only ordered the Pullarii to be placed 
in the front rank; and when the guilty one fell by the chance 
blow of a pi/um, he cried, that the gods were present, the 
guilty was punished. A raven croaked aloud as he spoke ; 
he ordered the trumpets to sound and the war-cry to be 
raised. , 

The Samnites had sent off twenty cohorts to the relief 
of Coniiniutn; their spirits were depressed, but they kept 
their ground, till a great cloud of dust, as if raised by an 
army, was seen on one side. For the consul had sent off 
before the action Sp. Nautius, with the males and their 
drivers, and some cohorts of the allies, with directions to ad- 
vance during the enj/agement, raising all the dust they could. 
Nautius now came Ln view, the horseboys having boughs in 
their hands, which they dragged along the ground ; and 
the arms and banners appearing through the dust, made 
both Romans and Samnites think that an army was ap- 
proaching. The consul then gave the sign for the horse to 
charge; the Samnites broke and fled, some to Aquilonia, 
Bome to Bovianum. The number of their slain is said to have 
been 30,340, and 3S70 men and 97 banners were captured. 
A(]uilonia and Cominium were both taken on the same day. 
The consuls remained in Samnium, ravaging the country, till 
the falling of the snow obliged them to leave it for the winter.* 

In the next campaign, (400,) the Samnite general C. Pon- 
tius gave the Roman consul Q,. Fabius Gurges, son of the 
great Fabius, a complete defeat. A strong party in the 
senate, the enemies of the Fabian house, were for depriving 
the consul of his comnvand ; but the peoph; yielded to the 
prayers of his father, who implored them to spare him this 
disgrace in his old age; and he himself went into Samnium 
as legate to his son. At a place whn.^e name is unknown, 
the battle which decided the fate of Samnium was fought. 
Fabius gained the victory by his usual tactics, of keeping 
his reserve for the proper time. The Samnites had twenty 
thousand slain and four thousand taken, among whom was 
their great Imperator C. Pontius. In the triumph of Fabiua 

* Livy's first Docad ends here. We have only an epitome of the next, 
which contained the history to the year 534. We are now for some 
years left to the guidance of the epitomatore, and th(! fragments of 
Appian and Dion. 



WORSHIP OF ^SCULAPIUS INTRODUCED. lo'l 

Gurges, his renowned father humbly followed his car on 
horseback ; and C. Pontius was led in bonds, and then, to 
Rome's disgrace, beheaded. Q,. Fabius Maximus, one of 
the greatest men that Rome ever produced, died it is prob- 
able shortly afterwards.* 

The Samnite war, which had lasted with little intermis- 
sion for nine-and-forty years, was now terminated by a peace, 
of the terms of which we are not informed. The Sabine?, 
who, after a cessation of one hundred and fifty years, fool- 
ishly took up arms against Rome, were easily reduced by 
the consul M'. Curius Dentatus, and a large quantity of their 
land was taken from them. Much larger assignments than 
the usual seven jugers might now be made, but Curius 
deemed it unwise to pass that limit ; and when the people 
murmured, he replied, that he was a pernicious citizen whom 
the land which sufficed to support him did not satisfy. He 
refused for himself five hundred jugers and a house at Tifata 
which the senate offered him, and contented himself with 
a farm of seven jugers in the Sabine country. 

The length of the Samnite war, its consequent great ex- 
pense, the destruction of property in the invaded districts, 
the neglect of agriculture on account of the incessant mil- 
itary service, and other causes which will easily suggest 
themselves, caused considerable distress at Rome, and it 
even came to a secession. The people posted themselves 
on the Janiculan; but the dictator, Q,. Hortensius, induced 
them to submit, either by an abolition or a considerable 
reduction of the amount of their debts. This is the last 
secession we read of in Roman history. 

On this occasion the Hortensian law, which made the 
plebiscits binding on the whole nation, was passed; a meas-. 
ure probably caused by the obstinacy and caprice of the 
patricians, but pregnant with evil, from which however the 
good fortune of Rome long preserved her. It was as if with 
us a measure which had passed the Commons were to be- 
come at once the law of the land.t 

Among the events of this period, the introduction of the 
worship of iEsculapius deserves to be noticed. In the year 

* The reason of his surname Maximus will be given in the noxt 
chapter. 

t Niebiihr says that the language of the law must have been ut quod 
trihiitim picbes jussisset popuium tencret. He thinks (Hist, of Ro ne 
ii. 3()t)) that the Hortensian law did awa\' with the veto of the senate, 
■js the Publilian did with that of th? curies. 

14 



158 HISTORY OF ROME. 

459 an epidemic prevailed at Rome, and the Sibylline books 
being consulted, it was directed to fetch yEsculapius tu 
Rome. A trireme with ten deputies was sent to Epidaurus 
for that purpose. The legend relates, that the senate of 
that place agreed that the Romans should take whatever 
the god should give them ; and that as tiiey prayed at tiic 
temple, a huge snake came out of the sanctuary, went on 
tu the town five miles off, through the streets, to the harbor, 
thence on board the Roman trireme, and into the cabin of 
Q.. Ogulnius. The envoys, having been instructed in the 
worship of the god, departed, and a prosperous wind brought 
them to Antium. Here they took shelter from a storm ; 
the snake swam ashore, and remained twined round a palm- 
tree at the temple of Apollo while they staid. When they 
reached Rome he left the ship again, and swimming to the 
island, disappeared in the spot where the temple of the god 
was afterwards built.* 

Rome now rested from war for some years. At length 
(468) the Tarentines, who had been the chief agents in 
3xciting the Samnite war, succeeded in inducing the 
Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls in the north, and the Lu- 
canians, Brutiians, and Saranites in the south, to take arms 
simultaneously against her. The commencement was the 
hostility exercised by the Lucanians against the people of 
the Greek town of Thurii, who, despairing of aid from any 
other quarter, applied to the Romans ; and a Roman army 
came and relieved the town. 

In 470, a Roman army under C. Fabricius came to the 
relief of Thurii, which was again invested by a united army 
of Lucanians and Bruttians. The spirits of the Romans 
sank as they viewed their own inferiority of force : wher} 
lo ! a youth of gigantic stature, wearing a doublo-crestefj 
helm, like those on the statues of Mars, was seen to seize a 
scaling-ladder, and mount the rampart of the enemies' camp. 
The courage of the Romans rose, that of the foes declined, 
and a signal victory crowned the arms of Rome. When, 
next day the consul sought that valiant youth, to bestow 
on him the suitable meed, he was nowhere to be found. 
Fabricius then directed a thanksgiving to Father Mars (as 
it must have been he) to be held throughout the army.t 

** The simple truth probably is, that the Romans obtained one of the 
tame sacred snakes that were kept at the temple of Jlsculapius : the 
details are of course legendary. 

t Val. Max. i. 8. G. This, says Niebuhr, is t.ae last poetic legend in 



ROMAN EMBASSY INSULTED. 



151) 



Many other victories succeeded ; and no Roman general 
had as yet acquired so much booty as Fabricius did in this 
campaign. 

When the Roman army retired, a garrison was left for 
the defence of Thurii. As it was only by sea that a com- 
munication could be conveniently kept up with it, a squadron 
of ten triremes, under the duumvir L. Valerius, was now 
in these waters. Some years before, it had been an article 
in a treaty with the Tarentines, that no Roman ship of war 
should sail north of the Lacinian capej but as they had 
taken no notice of it now, and there was as yet no open 
hostility between them and the Romans, Valerius entered 
the harbor of Tarentum. The people unluckily happened 
at that moment to be assembled in the theatre, which com- 
manded a view of the sea; a demagogue named Philocharis, 
a man of the vilest character, pointing to the Roman ships, 
reminded them of the treaty; the infuriated populace rushed 
on shipboard, attacked and sunk four, and took one of the 
Roman vessels. The duumvir was among those who per- 
ished. The Tarentines then sent a force against Thurii, 
where they plundered the town and banished the principal 
citizens: the Roman garrison was dismissed unmolested. 

The Romans, as they had an Etruscan war on their hands, 
were anxious to accommodate matters amicably in the south. 
Their demands therefore were very moderate ; they only re- 
quired the release of those taken in the trireme; the restora- 
tion of the Thurians, and restitution of their property ; and 
the surrender of the authors of the outrage. Audience was 
given to the envoys in the theatre. When they entered, the 
people laughed at the sight of their purple-bordered prcB- 
textce, and the faults of language committed by L. Poslu- 
mius, the chief of the embassy, redoubled their merriment. 
As the envoys were leaving the theatre, a drunken buffoon 
came and befouled the robe of Postumius in the most abom- 
inable manner : the peals of laughter were redoubled ; but 
Postumius, holding up his robe, cried out, "Ay, laugh, 
laugh while ye may; ye will weep long enough when ye 
hnve to wash this out in blood." He displayed at Rome 
his unwashed garment; and the senate, after anxious de- 
'iberation, declared war against Tarentum. (471.) The 



the Homan history. He is mistaken ; the Tyndarids appeared in 584, 
mounted nn their white horses, to one P. Vatienus, to announce the 
defeat of Perseus. Cic. de N. J) ii. 5i 



160 HISTORY OF ROME. 

consul L. yEmilius Barbula was ordered to lead his army 
thither, to offer anew the former terms, and if they were 
refused to carry on the war with vigor. The Tarentines 
however, would listen to no terms ; tliey resorted to their 
usual system of seeking aid from the mother-country, and 
sent an embassy to invite over Pyrrhus, the renowned 
king "of Epirus. Meantime .^miliiis laid waste their coun- 
try, took several strong places, and defeated them in the 
field. 

We will now turn our view northwards. In 409 a com- 
bined army of Etruscans and Senonian Gauls having laid 
siege to Arretium, the prrctor L. Metcllus hastened to its re- 
lief; but his army was totally defeated, thirteen tliousand 
men being slain, and nearly all the remainder made pri.son- 
ers. When an emba,ssy was sent to the Gauls to complain 
of breach of treaty, and to redeem tlie prisoners, the Gallic 
prince Britomaris, to avenge his father, who had fallen at 
Arretium, caused the fetials to be murdered. The consul 
P. Cornelius Dolabella instantly marched through the Sa- 
bine and Picentian country into that of the Senones, 
whom he defeated when they met him in the field: he then 
wasted the lands, burned their open villages, put all the 
men to death, and reduced the women and children to 
slavery. Britomaris, who was taken alive, was reserved to 
grace the consul's triumph. 

The Boians, who dwelt between the Senones and the Po, 
were filled with rage and apprehension at the fate of their 
brethren, and assembling all their forces they entered 
Etruria, where being joined by the Etruscans and the 
remnant of the Senones, they pressed on for Rome ; but 
at the lake Vadimo the consular armies met, and nearly an- 
nihilated their whole army; the Senones, it is said, in the 
frenzy of despair put an end to themselves when they saw 
the battle lost. The Gauls appeared again the next year 
(470) in Etruria; but a signal defeat near Populonia forced 
them to sue for peace, which, on account of the war in the 
south, the Romans readily granted. 

The waj- with the Etruscans continued till 4*<2, when, in 
conseqtience of that with Pyrrhus, the Romans concluded 
a peace with them on most favorable terms. This peace 
terminated the conflict, which had now lasted for thirty 
years, and converted Etruria into Rome's steadiest and 
most faithful ally. 



ARRIVAL OF PYRRHUS IN ITALY. 161 



CHAPTER Vm. 

■nm: -.ill ■)■■, i ■ 

ARRIVAL Ot". PYRRHUS IN ITALY. —BATTLE ON THE SIUIS. • 

CINEAS AT ROME. APPROACH OF PYRRHUS TO ROME. 

BATTLE OF ASCULUM. PYRRHlis IN SICILY. BATTLE OF 

BENEVENTUM, DEPARTURE OF PYRRHUS. ITALIAN AL- 
LIES; CENSORSHIP OF AP. CLAUDIUS. CHANGE IN THE 

CONSTITUTION. —THE ROMAN LEGION. ROMAN LITERA 

TURK. 

Pyrrhus, the ablest and most ambitious prince of his time, 
lent a willing ear to the invitation of the Italian Greeks which 
held out to him such a prospect of extensive dominion.* He 
sent his minister, the orator Cineas,t back with some of the 
envoys, to assure the Tarentines of aid ; and shortly after- 
wards Milo, one of his generals, landed with 3000 men to 
garrison the town. Having assembled an array of 20,000 
foot, 3000 horse, 2000 archers, 500 slingers, and twenty 
elephants, the king himself set sail (472) for Italy ; but 
a storm came on and dispersed his fleet; several ships were 
sunk or cast away ; and Pyrrhus, who had escaped with dif- 
ficulty, reached Tarentum with but a small force. He did 
not seek to exercise any authority till the rest of his troops 
were arrived ; but as soon as he found himself sufficiently 
strong, he began to employ the dictatorial power with which 
he had been invested. The Tarentines had thought they 
would have nothing to do but pay money, while the king's 
troops were fighting; but Pyrrhus let them know that they 
also must share in the toils and dangers of war. He set 
guards at the gates to prevent them from running out of the 
town, as they were doing; he shut up the theatre, forbade ail 
public meals and banquets, ordered the young men to practise 
military exercises in their gymnasia, and sent, under various 

, •'■• .,h ■■, 
* Wor the war with Pyrrhus see the ep'tomators and Plut., 

Pyrriiuy. ' 

! CiuvR^ v,"3? a Thessaliati "by birth, an able, eloquent, and noble 

minci<f'| i.'.:ia. well -,7orlhy of the friendship of the greatest prince of the 

age. to wiion h-i was ^.s a good genius. It is said that he had been a 

hearer of D^mosUicnts ; but that can hardly have been, as the great 

Athenian iKid iiuv.' L-^^en dead forty-one years. Cineas' style of oratory 

was also totally ciifterent from his. > 

14 * u 



162 HISTORY OF ROME. 

pretexts, the principal men over to Epirus, that they might 
serve as hostages in cjise of any conspiracy against his au- 
thority. 

The consul P. Valerius Lajvinus having led his army into 
Lucania, Pyrrhus, who had not yet been joined by his alliea, 
wrote to him, offering to arbitrate between the Romaii» and 
the Tareutii>€s, which last he said lie could compel to give 
satisfactioii. L.-Dviaus replied that the king must first atone 
for having entere<l Italy ; that words were needless, as Fa- 
ther Mars must decide between them. He had a spy who 
was taken, led through his army and then dismissed, with di- 
rections to tell Pyrrhus to come himself and see. 

Lceviuus was encauiped on the south bank of the rivcf Si- 
ris, in the plain between Ileraclca and Pandosia. Pyrrhus 
came au,d occupied the opposite bank. As he viewed the 
Roman camp, he observed to one of his friends that the bar- 
barians (the Greeks so named all people but themselves) 
showed nothing of the barbarian in their tactics. His object 
was to prevent their passing the river ; but the Ronian caval- 
ry crossed it higher up, and falling on the rear of the Epi- 
rotes who guarded the passage, enabled the infantry to get 
over. Pyrrlius sent his Thessalian horse against that of the 
Romans, who, though of an inferior quality, stood their 
ground- Hp then led on his phalan.x : Megacles, who wore 
file royal hqlm and mantle, was slain ; both sides thought 
Pyrrhus had fallen, and the Epirotes had fled but that the 
kmg made himself known. Seven .tiiiies the ph.danx and the 
legion a(^>anced and receded ; thei consul thought to decide 
the battle, by a charge of hor.se ott the rear ; but the elephai;it3 
were n^w brought into action, and at the sight of tlies^ un- 
known animals horse and man were filled with terror ; the 
Thessaliau horse charged and scattered them; they drew the 
infantry with them in their flight over the river, and none 
perhaps would have, escaped, were it not that a wounded ele- 
phant tnrnc^ hi? rage agaiii^f his own side. The remnant 
of the Roman army fled to Vcnusia : their loss had been 
7000 sjain, and, about 2000 taken. On the side of the vic- 
tors 4000 had fdicn. When Pyrrhus, on the following day, 
viewed the field of b-ittle, he cried, " With su^^h soldieis the 
world were mine, And were I their general tne j^omana 
would have it !" To those who congrafj'aied him on his 
success he replied, " One sucn victory mor , and I go back 
to Epirus." He ordered the bodies of the Romans to be 



CINE AS AT ROME. 163 

burned and buried like those of his own men. He proposed 
Ic »1 o viisoners to enter his service,* and on their refusal 
fr ;r J. ."^^hein from fetters. 

The whole south of Italy now joined Pyrrhus ; but this 
prince, who disliked long wars, and had had experience of 
Roman valor, preferred an honorable peace, which he thought 
might now be obtained, to a prolonged contest. He de- 
spatched his friend Cineas to Rome, to propose a peace, on 
condition of the independence of the Italian Greeks being 
acknowledged, and all that had been taken from the Samrtites, 
Lucanians, Bruttians, and Apulians being restored. Peace 
being made on these terms, the Roman prisoners, among 
whom were six hundred knights, would be released without 
ransom. The eloquence and the winning manners of Cineas, 
though his gifts were refused, had a great effect on the minds 
of many ; the relatives of the prisoners were anxious on their 
account ; the Etruscan war was not yet ended. The prof- 
fered terms seemed likely to be accepted, when Ap. Claudius, 
who, on account of the blindness with which he was afflicted, 
had long abstained from public affairs, had himself carried in 
a litter to the senate-house. His sons and sons-in-law came 
out to receive him, and lead him in, and his indignant elo- 
quence banished all thoughts of peace from the minds of his 
auditors, and Cineas was ordered to quit Rome. On his 
return to his master he told him that Rome was a temple, 
the senate an assembly of kings. While he was yet there, 
two letrions had been rai.sed to reinforce Laevinus, and 
volunteers had crowded with the utmost eagerness to be 
enrolled. 

Laevinus, who was now in Campania, was there joined by 
these legions, and he baffled the attempts of Pyrrhus on Capua 
and Neapolis, The king, as he could not bring him to ac- 
tion, resolved to push on for Rome, and form ajunction with 
the Etruscans. Instead of taking the Appian or lower road, 
on which there were several strong towns, he moved by the 
Latin road over the hills. He took Fregellse, entered the 
Hernican country^ where the people declared for him, pushed 
on to Praeneste,t and advanced five miles beyond it, to 

' The Grecian mercenaries at this time constantly changed sides 
after a defeat. The san e was the case in Italy in the middle ages, and 
in Ge-many in tiie Ihi-^y years' war. 

' He had a view o' Ilome from the citadel of the town. (Floru« 
i. 18.) 



164 HISTORY OF ROJ?E. 

within eighteen miles of Rome ; but here his course ended. 
Peace had just been made with the Etruscans, and the army 
employed against tiiem was now in Rome. La;vinus dis- 
turbed the communications in his rear : to take Rome by 
storm or blockade was hopeless. Heedless of the prayers oi 
the Prsonestines and Hernicans, he resolved to retrace his 
steps. On reaching Campania he found Laevinus at the 
head of six legions : " What ! " cried he, " am I fighting 
\ with the hydra ? " He drew up his troops, who raised the 

i war-cry, and clashed their arms. The Romans replied in 

I such cheerful tones that he did not deem it prudent to attack 

ithem, and he dismissed his allies and went to Tarentum for 
the winter. 
At Tarentum Pyrrlius was waited on by throe Roman 
) ambassadors, C Fabricius, Q. /Emilius Papus, and P. Cor- 

; nelius Dolal)ella, all- consulars, to treat of the ransom or 

i exchange of the numerous prisoners who were now in his 

f hands.* He rejected their offers ; but he gave the prisoners 

[ permission to go wi^h them to Rome to keep the Saturnalia, 

5 on their promise to return if the senate did iK>t make peace : 

[ and, as all their efforts proved vain, they returned every one 

I • into captivity. 

In the spring (473) Pyrrhus opened the campaign in Apu- 
lia. He was besieging Venusia when he heard that the con- 
suls P. Sulpicius and P. Dccius were advancing to its relief; 
he therefore raised the siege, and prepared to give them 
battle at a place named Asculum, on the edge of the moun- 
tains. As the ground here was against Pyrrhus, the advan- 
tage was on the side of the Romans in the first engagement; 
but he mancEUvred so as to dr<*iw:them down into the plain, 
where by a sudden attack of the elephants and light troops 
on their flank, while they were exhausting themselves by 
fruitless efforts against the solid phalanx, he put them to 
flight. As their camp was at hand, their loss was but 0000 
men ;^ that of the king was 3<>05. "One such victory more, 

■ fOnithii occasion, wo are told (Plut., Pyrrhus, 20) that the king, 
having learned the poverty of Fabricius from Cineas, tried to induce 
him to accept a present of gold. The Roman declined ; and next day, 
as he and Pyrrhus were conversing, a curtain behind them suddenly 
drew up, and an elephant, which had been placed there by the kina a 
3.'ders, stretched his trunk out over them, and gave a loud roar. Fa 
bri^ids. who had never seen one of these huge animals, only stopped 
dttiCa, btid said with a smile to the king, " Your gold did not move ma 
Yesterday, nor your beast to-day- 



PTRRHUS iN SICILY. 165 ! 

and I am undone," cried Pyrrhus, who returned to Taren- 1 

turn withoHt making any attempt on the Roman camp. '• 

The situation of Pyrrhus was now rather precarious : he i 
had lost the flower of his troops ; he could not reckon on his 
Italian allies, who had even plundered his camp during the ! 
last action ; the Gauls had invaded Macedonia and menaced ' 
all Greece, and he could not draw any troops from Epirus ; I 
while the Romans had concluded an alliance with the Cartha- 
ginians, and a Punic fleet of one hundred and thirty triremes ; 
was now off" the coast of Italy. On the other hand, strong ; 
inducements were held out to him to pass over into Sicily, ! 
and deliver it from the yoke of the Carthaginians. The j 
Romans, on their side, owing to the heavy burden of taxation t 
consequent on the war, were extremely desirous of peace. ! 
Just at this time, (474,) we are told,* Pyrrhus' physician sent 
secretly to the consuls C. Fabricius and Q,. yEmilius, offering I 
for a reward to poison his master. The consuls, abhorring > 
the treason, gave information of it to the king. Pyrrhus ' 
immediately despatched Cineas to Rome with his thanks to 5 
the senate ; he gave gifts and clothes to all his prisoners, and f 
sent them home with him. Cineas was also the bearer of I 
rich presents to the principal persons of both sexes at Rome. | 
These presents were, however, all rejected; the friendship [ 
of the Romans was to be had without gifts, it was replied, if I 
Pyrrhus quitted Italy. The prisoners of his allies, however, I 
were released in exchange, and a truce concluded. ! 

Pyrrhus was now at liberty to accept the invitation of the j 

Siciliotes. He left Italy, where he had spent two years and j 

four months; and, passing over to Sicily, remained there ;• 
three years, and made himself master of nearly the whole' 

island. During his absence the Roman arms, under Fabri- ; 

cius and other leaders, w^ere directed with success against his i 

Italian allies. At length, finding fortune becoming adverse i 

to him in Sicily, and being urged by the prayers of the Ta- \ 

rentines and his other allies, he returned to Italy (477) with f 

an army of 20,000 foot and 3000 horse, a portion of which j 

he sent into Lucania against the consul Lentulus, while, with 1 

the remainder, he advanced to engage the other consul, | 

M'. Curius Dentatus, who was encamped near Beneventum, » 

in Sainnium. r 1 

Curius occupied a strong position on a height, intending^' s 

• There is great contradiction in the various accounts of this trans- 
.iction, Niebuhr says that it was a mere iiction to open communica' 
tions, and was so understood by all parties. f 



166 HISTORY OF ROME. 

to await the arrival of his colleague. It was the intention 
of Pyrrhus to attack him at daybreak with some elephants 
and picked troops. A dnmrn, it is said, which he had us he 
slumbered in the beginning of the night, terrified him, and 
he wished to give up the project ; but his officers urging on 
him the impolicy of allowing the two Roman armies to join, 
he sent forward the troops. To reach the heights behind 
the Roman camp, they had to go a round through dense 
woods, guided by torch light. They lost their way, their 
torches burned out, and it was broad day when they reached 
their destination. Being wearied with their march, they 
were easily put to flight. The consul then came down into 
the plain to engage the main army ; the Romans were victo- 
rious on one wing, but the other was driven back to the camp 
by the phalanx and the elephants. Here a shower of arrows, 
bearing burning wax and tar, was hurled on the beasts, 
which growing furious carried confusion into the ranks of 
the phalanx. The rout was now complete, and Pyrrhus' 
camp was taken. The king soon after (478) (juitted Italy 
with but (jOOO foot and 500 horse, and two years later he 
lost his life in an attempt on the city of Argos.* 

In the course of the succeeding nine years the Roman 
dominion was established over the south and east of Italy, 
but few of the particulars have been transmitted to us. 

The Italian states stood in different relations to Rome. 
In general they held all iheir lands in full property, paying 
no land-tax ; but in a number of cases a portion of their 
territory had been converted into Roman public land, and 
assigned to colonists or occupied in the usual manner. 'J'hey 
were governed by their own laws and magistrates; but they 
had to supply troops, in rated proportions, when Rome was 
at war, and arm and pay, and perhaps feed them. They 
were named Allies,t (.S'oci/,) as distinct from the Latins, {No- 
men Lalinum,i) who stood on a somewhat different footing. 
The infantry of the Latins and Allies in a Roman army 
nstially equalled that of the legions in number ; the cavalry 

* History of Greece, p. 43'J- 

t It seems probable tha^the term Alljfs ^plie4 only tQ the Sabellian 
p&oples and those of Southern It^aly, and that it did not include the 
Tuscans, Uinbrians, or Italian Greeks; perhaps not even the Brut- 
tians, as being half-Greeka None, thnrefdre^ but genuine Italians 
could serve in the Roman armies. 

t, Thepioper expressicHi vraa sodi et (ot ae) ■nomen Latinum, as in 
Salhut and other accurate wtitcrs; the' sodi HOfhinis Latini of Livy ia 
quite incorrect. M ' 



CENSORSHIP OF \P. CLAUDIUS. 167 

was thrice as numerous. Their contingfipts wq^e gijlways 
commanded by their own officers, fi v^od o".> vli^.i-.a {r.iii ^ 



;i'"!! K 'rr ;i-)-inii,t .oiganx.-i'I 'lo «uioinA .P fj:// ')ut)j; )llo.> ^i 
During the period it the end 6f whidh we are? now arrived, 
considerable alterations were mcide in the political and mili- 
tary systems of the Romans. These we will novy proceed to 
ex'plain. t 

In the year 442, Ap. Claudius, afterwards named the Blind, 
{C(Bcus,) from the misfortune which befel him, was made 
censor with C. Plautius. He distinguished his censorship 
by commencing the celebrated Appian Road, which was 
gradually extended from Rome to Capua, and th/qnce across 
the peninsula to Brundisium, a distance of thre^ hundred 
and sixty miles, paved the whole way with square blocks of 
stone, and justly named the Q,ueen of Roads. He likewise 
made the first aqueduct, the Aqui Appia, at Rome ; the 
water being conveyed under ground from some springs near 
the Prienestine road, about eight miles from the city. 

But the changes which Appius attempted to make in the 
constitution are of more importance in a! political point of 
view. When selecting the senate, in virtue of his office, he 
omitted his enemies, and put in their place the sons of freed- 
men ; but all united against this innovation, and the consuls 
of the nk<t year calliad.the original members Of the senate 
Appius, being thu* foiledi, took another and a more perni- 
cious course : he distributed the freedmen throughout all the 
ttibes, and thus in effect put the elections entirely jpto their 
hands. To understand this, we must observe that the jerari- 
ans, among whom the Libertini or freedmen were included, 
were a very numerous and ieven wealthy body ; fbr all the arts 
and trades at Rome were exercised by them, the plebeians 
being restricted to agriculture. Th6y were divided into a 
number of giiilds, of »which that of the Scribs, or notar'.^s, 
^a^ the most important, ?is nearly all the public and private 
tegal writing at Rome, of which there was a great quantity, 
was exercised by them. The notaries were now directerf by 
Cn. FlaVJus, one ©f the ablest lilen of his time, who acted in 
concert with Ap. Clauaius. When we reflect then that the 
plebeians were continually reduced by service in war, from 
which the aernrians were exempt, and that they also unwill- 

-'1! .nu"\ - 



t 



r^8 HISTORY OF ROME. 

ingly left their farms to come to attend elections at Rome, 
we may easily see how the acrarMns of a rural tribe, wlio 
were numerous and always on the spot, could determine its 
vote. As a proof, Cn. Flavins himself was in 449 made 
cnrule sdile, and, to annoy the genuine Romans still more, 
his colleague was Q. Anicius of Prceneste, therefore a mere 
vntniceps, and one who had actuallv been in arms agaiAst 
Rome 'a few years before.* On this occasion the senators 
laid aside their gold rings, the knights their silver horse- 
trappings, in token of mourning, and it was unanimously 
resolved to change the law of election. 

It is by no means unlikely that Appius, who was at all 
times a strenuous opposer of the claims of the plebeian 
nobility, acted on this occasion ns the agent of the small 
knot of patrician oligarchs who wished to exclude the rival 
nobl^ from places of honor and dignity. Oligarchs ..thus 
situated usually seek to make allies of the inferior peo}i|e ; 
and Appius and his friends may have regarded the debase- 
ment of the plebeian tribes, by mixing freedmen through 
them, as the surest means to attain their ends ; for neither 
they nor their descendants could presume, it was supposed, 
to aspire to the consulate, and their enmity to the plebeian 
order mio^ht be reckoned on with some confidence, for keep- 
ing them from conferring it on the plebeian nobility. 

Cn. Flavins had gained his popularity by two acts of real 
benefit to the people. The dies fasti, or days on which 
courts sat and justice was administered, were at this time 
divided in a very perplexing way through the year, and peo- 
ple could only learn them from the mouth of the pontiffs. 
Flavins made a calendar, in which the nature of each day 
was marked, and himg it up publicly in the Forum, thus con- 
ferring an important boon on the whole people. He further 
made and published a collection of all the legal forms in civil 
actions. It is said that it was at the impulse of Appius that 
he made the Fasti public. t 

In 449, Q. Fabiiis and P. Decius were created censors, in 
order to obviate the evil cau.'ied by Appius. . TJiey separated 
the whole of the market-faction, {tnrba forensis,) as the 
aerarians were called, from the rural tribes, and placed them 
in the four city-tribes; and the measui^e was can8i<lered of 
such importance, that Fabius derived the name of Maximus 
3fost great) from it. We will endeavor to show in what 

• Pliny, H. N. xxxiii 6. i Pbnj, "< svpra. 



CHANGE IN THE CONSTITUTION. 169 

Its importance consisted, and that it was only part of a great 
change in the constitution.* 

In consequence of the change in the value of money, of 
the extension of the franchise to such a number of people by 
the formation of new tribes, of the necessity of increasing 
the number of those liable to serve in the legions, and from 
other causes, the Servian constitution of the Classes was no 
longer adapted to the Roman people; It was therefore 
abandoned, and in its place a new one, founded on the tribes, 
was substituted. t The tribes were divided each into two cen- 
turies, one of old and otieof young men; the Six Suffrages 
remained ; all who had a million of asses and upwards of 
property, were placed in the twelve plebeian equestrian 
centuries; all who had property between that sum and 4000 
asses had votes in the tribes. The centuries, with the 
exception of the Suffrages, were divided into two Classes*^ 
the first containing the rural tribes and plebeian knights, the 
second the city-tribes; the centuries of the former were 
termed Primo Vocdtcs, those of the latter Postremo Vacates. 
Those of the rural tribes decided by lot which should vote 
first ; and the successful one was named the Prerogative, as 
being ^rst asked by the presiding magistrate ; its vote gen- 
erally decided the others. The order of voting was, the 
first class, the Suffrages, the second class. | The whole 
number of centuries at this time, vvhen there were thirty-one 
tribes, was eighty, i. e, six patrician and twelve plebeian 
equestrian, fifty-four rural, and eight city centuries. § 

The new-modelled comitia of the tribes differed from the 
original one in four points ; viz. the separation of the ple- 
beian knights, and the participation of the patricians; the 

* In what follows we give. a hypothesis of Niebuhr's ; for the proofs 
and development we mnst refer to his own work, vol. iii. 374 — 409. 
(German.) 

t That the Servian constitution was abandoned long before the end 
of the republic, is proved by the following passages: Liv. i. 43; xxiv. 
7 and 9; xxvi. 22j xxvii,. £. Cic. RuUas, ji^S- Plancius, 20. 

X cic. Phil. ii. 33: ' ■ .., ... 

§ The four city-tribes were the Suburane, Esquiline, Colline, and 
Palatine; the fifteen oriffinal rural one's were the .-Emilian. Camilian, 
Cluentian, Cornelian, Fabian, Galerian. Horatian, Lemonian, Mene- 
nian, Papirian, Pnpinian, Romilian, Serbian, Veturian, Voltinian. The 
Claudian was added in 2.'J0,; the Crustumine m 25i) ; the Stellatine, 
Tronricntine, Sabatine, and Arniensian in 3(jS ; the Pomptine and 
Publilian in 397 ; the Mcecian and Scaptian in 421 ; the Ufentjne and 
Falerine in 43.5 ; the Terentine and Aniensian.in 453, and the Veline 
and Quirine about 5l4 ; thus making 35 in all. ,1 

15 V 



170 HISTORY OF ROME. '■' 

Jivision into centuries of old and young men ; the (ixclusion 
of the Proletarians . the employment of the aaspices. We 
nftay see that it retained as much of the Servian constitution 
as wis possible ; that it was a nearer approach to democracy 
is not to be denied, but this was unavoidable; yet thei^ 'was 
not actually universal suffrage, as in the Greek d'crnocracics , 
and as, except on some very particular occ;.«ions, it could 
be only the people of property in the rural tribes thai were 
at Rome when the comitia were held, the elections iuid the 
passing of laws must have lain almost entirely with them. 
The wisdom of Fabius is proved by the length of time that 
the system continued to work well. Its corruption pro- 
ceeded from causes which he could not have foremen or 
obviated. 

The changes in the military system during this period 
were also considerable. They were to the following effect. 

The unwieldy, helpless nature of the phalanx had at Bbme 
time, perhaps in the Gallic war, become ni^arent, and 'it was 
converted into a more active form. At the time of the Latin 
war we tind the legion thus constituted!* It consisted of 
fire cohorts or battalions, the Hastats, Principes, Triariahs, 
Rorarianp, and Accensi ; the first two were named Ahtefeig- 
naiii and Antepilani, because they werd stationed before ihe 
standards {si^nu) and the Triarians, who were aleo /)>lmed 
Pilani frtJtn their weapon, the pibim.i The Antesignani 
consisted eiich of fifteen maniples or thirty centuries; and in 
the plan, which supposed thirty tribes, each century' con- 
tuined thirty men with the cfenturion ; and the cohort there- 
fore 91)0 men and 30 officers. As every thing in the Roman 
institutions was regular and uniform, we must suppose the 
remaining cohorts to be of equal strength; and this gives 
a total of 4;">1>0 common men for the legion ; of which 
240() (viz. GOO Hastats, 900 Principes, and 900 Triarians) 
were troops of the line; 1200 (viz. 300 Hastats and 900 
Rorarians) light troops ; f the 900 Accensi were merely a 
depot-baitalion that followed the legion. Two legions thus 
composed formed a consular army. 

The Hastats derived th^ir name from the spears [hastie) 

* 'livy, viii! a*. ' " '•'/ "''-■' -^ .m i!|,!i.;l (ir.iili.ii''I iiri-il.|.'l ,■!• ... 

f The 7;£/Mm was '« T^eiftiftW cttHi'iJoj^H oFa Hki^dfe'inf Wbd* 'thVtee 
cubits long, and an iron head of the satne length, one half of which 
projected beyond the wood. 

t N'tpbuhr tfives these tiumbers 2^00 and 1100; but in t.iis case 300 
Hastats remain unaccounted for. 



THE BOaiAN LEGION. 



171 



which they bore; the Frindpes were so called as being of 
fhe first class;* the Triarians as being formed out of the 
first three classes,! for the Romans in the period of this 
«gion, still served according to the classes; the Rorarians, 
■;r Sprinklers, from their task of showering (rordre) their 
missiles in the beginning of the action.| The 40 centuries 
of the first class gave 30 for the. Principesj 10 for the Tri- 
arians ; the second and third class gave each 10 for the 
Triarians, their remaining 20 being the Ilastats of the line. 
Of the forty centuries of the last two classes, 10 were light 
Hastats, and 30 Rorarians. ;: , 

The maniples of the three cohorts of troops of the line 
were drawn up in quincunx, thus ; 

n n n j^,^;^c:i'xi.'n u n 

n n n ;r1q[J,,'&.-VnE. n n n 
n u n n ^,)p;,j,„fi,,,,;Q, ..,f^,^( ^,,,.,. 

with lanes or intervals befweeh' theni. !£!ci6h iri'ariipl^ as 
consisting of two centuries, had two centurions to command 
it, and a standard-bearer. The maniples of the Hastats 
('contained 40 shielded men, that is, men of the second and 
third class, § 20 armed only with spear and dart, that is, 
of the fourth class; the Principes bore spears and lonor 
cut-and-thrust swords; the Triarians pila; t\\e Rorarians 
slings, as being of the fifth class. When in battle array, 
the light troops were in front, and began the action ; they 
then retired through the lanes : the Hastats succeeded, and 
when they were wearied, they fell back through the Prin- 
cipes, who then came into action ; and if the enemy still 
resisted, the Triarians, who had hitherto been sitting under 
their standards, rose, the Principes and Hastats retired 
through the; inteijyals pf their maniples, which then closed; 
and the Triarians, having hurled their j>/Za.,Qn the>.)veAried 
foe, fell on them sword in hand. |, ,,v,,, .,,,,1, ,,,,..,. 

About the middle of the fifth century the legion under- 
went a further modification, ajid became such as it was 
w^i^p opposed to Hantji.ib^., and as it is describee by Polyb- 

* " Scutati omnes, insignibus maxime armis." (Livy.) This shows 
that they were men of property. >. ■ 

t Not from their position, for then their naiAe would hav^ been Te?- 
iiariaivs. ! 
^ I " I^eoi quod ante rorat qu^rp,p{Hi|." ^..yarco^li. vi. p. 92. Bip. ed, 

§ See th? system, p. 51. 

-l -. . ,i,.'T. .yS- Gf It ,8ui']vIo'l 



172 HISTORY OK ROME. 

ius.* Fabius MaximuS and Decius were probably the au 
thors of this change also. 

As the class system was no longer suited to the levies, 
they were now made from the tribes, from each of which 
four centuries, or l^O men, were selected for each legiori ; 
so that when the tribes were thirty-five, the legion contained 
4200 common men. These were all armed by the state, 
and classified according to their age ; the youngest being 
the light troops, or Velites, who began the battle; the next 
in nge the Hastats, and so on, the Triarians being the 
oldest men. The Ha.stats and Principes carried pila and 
swords, the Triarians were armed with spears. Of the 4200 
men of the legion, 1200, or twenty maniples, were Has- 
tats ; the same number Principes ; one half of it, or GOO, 
Triarians ; the remaining 1200 Velites. The cavalry of 
each legion consisted of 300 men divided into ten troops, 
(turmep,) each of 30 men, and commanded by three deciirions. 
Its station in action was on the wings. Each Jcgiou had six 
tribunes, each maniple two centurions and two ensigns . 
legates {hgdti) or lieutenants, commanded the legions under 
the general. The array of battle still continued to be \n 
quimunx. j^., . 

As the century continued tp, be drawn up three in front 
and ten deep, a question ari^ses how it vvas to act; and it 
can only have been in the following manner. The century 
also was drawn up in quincunx. 



thus fotniing ten lines, each man being allorttd a space of 
three feet every way. When those in the first line had 
thrown their p?7o, they fell back, and the second line step- 
ped forward and took their place, and on so till the whole 
ten lines had engaged; and if there was a supply of ^?7a, 
the same course may have been gone through over again; 
the same was the case when they came to employ their 

swords.' •'■''' '':.;::""'.:,■'• ..,.,■;':';,■„ „ 

What the literature of Rome was at iiiis period we have 
not the means of ascertaining. Brief, dry chronicles of pub- 
lic events were kept ; the funeral orations made over men 

• PolybiuB, Ti. 19—26. xviii. 13—15. 



nOUAN LITERATURE 173 

of rank weic prese.>'c-J by their families; a moral poem of 
App. Claudius the Blind, and his speech against peace with 
Pyrrhus, were extant in Cicero's days. Cato and Varro* 
say that it was^lhe custom of the Romans to sing at their ban- 
quets old songs containing the praises of the illustrious men 
of former times. It is the opinion of Niebuhrf that the poems 
from which he supposes the history of the kings and of the 
early days of the republic to have been framed, were the 
production of plebeian poets, and composed after the time 
of the capture of the city by the Gauls ; the middle of the 
fifth century, which was the golden age of Roman art, he 
thinks may also have been that of Roman poetry. The 
measure in which the Romans composed their poems, and 
which is named Saturnian Vers^, continued to be used to 
the middle of the seventh century of the city ; but we have 
very few specimens of it remaining, and its nature is but 
imperfectly understood. 

* The former in Cicero, Tusc. Qusest. iv. 2. Brutus, 19 ; the latter in 
Nonius, s. V. Jissavoce. From the passage of the Brutus " (jucb multis 
scBculis ante suam (Catonis) mtaCem" it would seem to follow that the 
custom had gone out of use long before Cato's time ; yet Dionysius 
(i. 79) plainly speaks of Ballads of Romulus and Remus as being still 
sung in his time ; and Horace (Carin. iv. 15, 25 — 32) seems to speak of 
the practice of singing the praises of the renowned of ancient days aa 
•till continuing. 

t Hit'.ory of Rome, i. p. 257 

15» 



THE 



HISTORY OF ROME. 



PART III.* 



THE REPUBI.IC — CONQUEST OF CAR- 
THAGE AND MACEDONIA. 



CnA?TER I. ,„ 

. ' ■■ . • i.;iM<| ^.r,.i . .r ! 

LARTIIAGE. FIRST iPONtC -WirAlR/U- 8lE»li OF AQRlGENTrM. — 

ROMAN FLEET. NAVAL VICTORY OF DI/ILltTS. -r— INVASION 

OF AFRICA. DEFEAT AND CAPTURE OF REGULUS. — LOSSES 

OF THE ROMANS AT SEA. BATTLE AT PANORMOS. DEATH 

OF REGULUS. DEFEAT OF CLAUDIUS. VICTORY AT THE 

iEGATIAN ISLES. PEACE WITH CARTHAGE. EFFECTS OF 

THE WAR. 

The present portion of our history will be chiefly oc- 
cupied by the wars between Rome and Carthage ; we will 
therefore commence it by a brief sketch of the political con- 
stitution and history of the latter state. 

Carthage was a colony of the Phcenicians t founded on 
the north coast of Africa, about a century before the build- 
ing of Rome. The colony was led, it is said, by Elissa, or 
Dido, the sister of the king of Tyre : a spot of land under 
payment of tribute, was obtained from the original inhabit- 

" The authoritios for this Part are eo various that we must mention 
lliem at each chapter. Livy (partly in epitome) and the epitomators 
ire tlie only consecutive ones. The first Punic war is related in detail 
b}' Polybius, i. 1 — 64. 

t The Greeks called the Tyrians and Sidonians <r>oii(xtc,on accoMnt 
»1 their red or purple garments ; hence the Latin Pani and vuninm 



CARTHAGF,. 175 

ants of the country, and a town built,* which rapidly in 
creased in size and wealth. Tlie people first freed them- 
selves from the tribute, then reduced the adjoining tribes, 
and gradually extended their dominion over the coast of 
Africa from the confines ofCyrene to the Atlantic. The 
Balearic isles and Sardinia also owned the dominion of Car-, 
thage, and she early had settlements on the north coast of . 
Sicily. ■■J 

The constitution of Carthage obtained the praise of Aris-' 
totle. It was, like those of the most flourishing commercial 
states of antiquity, a mixture of aristocracy and democracy, 
with a preponderance of the former, which was composed 
of the families of greatest wealth and influence, from whom 
the persons were chosen who were to fill the chief offices 
in the state, and who all served without salary, 'ihe senate 
was formed out of the principal families, and its members 
had their seats for life. It was presided over by the Suffttcs,f 
magistrates who are compared to the Roman consuls and 
the Spartan kings. If the suffetes and senate disagreed, the 
matter was brought before the people, whose decision was 
conclusive, on which occasion any one who pleased might 
speak and give his opinion. The suffetes frequently went 
out in the command of the armies, but the office of general 
was distinct from theirs. There was a magistracy of one 
hundred judges, to whom the generals had to give an ac- 
count of their conduct in war; and nowhere does the Punic 
character appear in a more odious light than in the cruel 
punishments inflicted on those whose only fiiult had been 
their ill fortune; nothing was more common than to crucify 
a defeated general. These Hundred, who resembled the 
Spartan Ephors, became like them in course of ti»^<e the 
tyrants of the state, and helped to cause its ruin. ... 

The troops of Carthage were chiefly mercenaries hired 
in Africa, Spain, Gaul, and Italy. The Carthaginians 
were remarkably precious of the blood of their own citizens, 

* The fort or citadel of the town was naturally named Betzura, (fort,) 
of which the Greeks made Byrga, {(it'oaa,) and as this signified an 
or-hide, they invented the tale of Dido's deceiving the Africans by 
asking for as much land as on ox-hide would cover, and wiien tliey 
gave it, cutting the hide into thongs. This story has gone the touikI 
of the world. "Hassan Sabah, the chief of the Assassins, thus got tiie 
fort of Alamut in Persia, the English (the Persians say) Calcutta, Hen- 
gist and Hnrsa their settlement in the Isle of Thanet, and one of the 
colonies in New England its land from the Indians. 

f The Hebrew Shofetim .or Jadges. 



176 HISTORY OF ROME. 

while they lavished that of their mercenaries with reckless 
prodigality. 

Tne first attempt made by the Carthaginians to extend 
their dominion in Sicily was at the time of Xerxes' inva:?ion 
of Greece, when fhey sustained u most decisive defeat at 
Ilitnera frotn Gelo of Syracuse. They refrained from any 
further efforts till the people of Segesta, (Egesta), who had 
called the Athenians into Sicily, applied, on thdr defeat, to 
Carthage for aid against Selinus. The aid was granted ; 
and this was the occasion of a succession of wars for more 
than a century between the Carthaginians and the Sicilian 
Greeks, in which the former acquired the dominion over 
the greater part of the island. We are now to see them in 
conflict with the mistress of Italy. 

The war between these two powerful rivals commenced 
in a manner little creditable to Rome ; the following was 
the occasion. After the death of Agathocles of Syracuse, 
the Campanian mercenaries who had been in his pay were 
dismissed. They left Syracuse as if they were returning 
home, but instead of doing so they treacherously seized the 
town of Messfuia ; • they partly killed, partly expelled the 
men, and divided the women, children, and property among 
themselves. The name which they assumed was Manier- 
tines;* they conquered several places in the island, their 
immbers rapidly increased, and when their countrymen had 
imitated their treachery iii the opposite town of Rlieginm,! 
a strict alliance was formed between the two freebooting 
communities. But when the Romans had destroyed their 
Italian tdlies, and they had themselves sustained a complete 
defeat from Hiero of Syracuse, they saw tlie necessity ot 
foreign aid if they would escape destruction. A part of them 
applied to Anno, the Punic admiral, and put the citadel 
mto his hands; another party sent off to Rome, offering 
possession of the town, and imploring aid on, the score of 
consanguinity. (488.) i)'^' ■ ' 

The Roman Senate was greatly perplexed how to act. 

* From Mamers, or Mars, the god of war. 

t In thr first year of the war with Pyrrhus, the eighth legion, consist- 
ing of (^ainpnnians, had been placed in garrison at Rhegium. Under 
the pretext <it"a conspiracy among Iho inhabitants, they massacred the 
men, and riidiiced the women and children to slavery, and casting oft 
tlieir allegiance acted as an independent state. In 4rt2, however, the 
consul C. Genuciusstornud the town» and he led the 300 who remain- 
ed alive of the legion to Rome, where they were scourged and be- 
headed, at the rate of fifty a day. 



FIRST PUNIC WAR. 177 

It was of the utmost importance to prevent the Carthagin- 
ians from becoming masters of Messan a ; but, on the otlicr 
hand, Rome's policy had hitherto been in the main upright 
and honorable, and with what face could they who had just , 
punished so severely their own legion for an act of treachery, 
come forward as the protectors of those who had set them 
the example? They long pondered, and could come io no 
conclusion; the consuls then brought the matter before the 
people, who, beguiled by the prospect of booty held out^ and 
the apparent ease of the enterprise, and heedless of national 
honor, voted the required aid.^ 

The charge of relieving Messana was committed to the 
consul App. Claudius ; and one of his legates proceeding 
with some troops and ships to Rhegium, after one ineffec- 
tual attempt succeeded in crossing the strait and getting 
into the town. Ilanno was invited to a conference, at 
which he was treacherously seized, and only released on 
condition of his giving up the citadel, an act of weakness for 
which he was crucified on his return to Carthage. But 
another Hanno now came with a large fleet, and landed an 
army, which, in conjunction with the troo^-s of Iliero, king 
of Syracuse, (with whom an alliance was made,) besieged 
the city on the land side, while the fleet lay at Pelotus. 

The consul arrived shortly after, and taking advantage 
of the night landed his legions close to the camp of the 
Syracusans. He drew them up unobserved, and in the 
morning totally defeated the troops of the king, who fled to 
his capital ; whither, after having defeated the Punic army 
also, Appius followed him, and sitting down before it laid 
waste the lands. 

The two consuls of the following year (489) landed in 
Sicily, where sixty-seven towns, subject to Hiero or the 
Carthaginians, placed themselves under the dominion of 
Rome. They approached Syracuse, and Hiero, in com- 
pliance with the wishes of his people, made proposals of 
peace, which was granted on his paying 200 talents, re- 
leasing all the Roman prisoners, and becoming the ally of 
Rome. The Carthaginians made no efforts to impede the 
progress of the Roman arms in Sicily ; but they were ac- 

* "This vote is an eternal disgrace to Rome, and a sign that even 
then the constitution was beginning to incline too mnch to the demo-' 
cratic side ; although in the interior of the state no disadvantage to the 
republic thence arose for a long linte to con>e." Niebuhr, iii. 660 
(German.) 

w 



ITS HISTORY OF KOME. 

lively engaged in naking preparations for a vigorous cam- 
paign. They hiied troops in Liguria, Gaul, and Spain, 
which, joined with their African troops and the light Nu- 
niidian cavalry, they sent over to Sicily (490) under Han- 
nibal the son of Cisco, while another army was collected in 
Sardinia for the invasion of Italy. 

Hannibal made Agrigentuni his head-quarters. Leaving 
the defence of Italy to the praetor, the two consuls, L. Pos- 
tumius and Q.. Mamilius, passed over to Sicily, and came 
and encamped within a mile of Agrigentum. Having re- 
pelled an attack of the enemy, they formed two separate 
camps, united by a double ditch and a line of posts; their 
magazines were in the town of Erbessus, which lay at no 
great distance in thei,r rear. They remained thus for five 
months, when, at the urgent desire of Hannibal', whose 
troops were beginning to suffer from hunger, Hainio was 
sent to Sicily with a force of 50,000 foot, 6000 horse, and 
sixty elepliants. He advanced to Heraclca, and took the 
town of Erbessus: the Romans were now reduced to great 
straits for provisions; an epidemic also broke out among 
them, and tlie consuls were thinking of giving over the siege ; 
but Iliero, whose all was at stake, made every effort to sup- 
ply them, and they resolved to persever". Hanno now en- 
camjied within little more than a mile of them, and the 
two armies remained for two months opposite each other. 
At length, urged by repeated signals and messages from 
Hannibal, descrii)ing tlie distress in the town, Hanno re- 
solved to hazard an engagement ; the Romans, who were 
.suffering nearly as much, eagerly accepted it, and after a 
hard-fought battle victory remained with thorn. Hanno 
fled to Heraclea, leaving his camp in the hands of the victors, 
thirty of his elephants were killed, three wounded, and 
eleven taken. During the battle Hannibal made a fruitless 
attack on the Roman lines ; but he soon after took advan- 
tage of the darkness of the winter nights to break through 
them, and get off with what remained of his army. The 
Romans then stornicd the town, and sold such of the in- 
habitants as survived into slavery. 

Several of the towns of the interior now came over to the 
Romans, but those on the coast stood too much in awe of 
the Punic fleet to follow their example : the coast of Italy 
also sutfered from its descents, and the senate saw that they 
must meet the Carthaginians on their own element if they 
would end the contest with advantacje. But the Punic 



NAVAL VICTORY OF DUILIUS. 



119 



ships of war were quinqneremes , and as the Romars and 
their Greek subjects had never had larger ships than tri- 
remes, their carpenters could not build the former kind j \ 
without a model. At length (492) a Carthaginian ship of \ \ 
war, having gone ashore on the coast of Bruttium, fell into j | 
their hands, and with this for a model, in the space of sixty ! ! 
days from the time the timber was cut, they built a fleet of I | 
one hundred and thirty ships. Meantime stages had been j i 
erected, on which the destined rowers were taught their art. 
When the fleet was ready, the consul Cn. Cornelius Scipio j ; 
sailed over to Messana with seventeen ships, and the rest ; 
followed along the coast as fast as they could get to sea. j 
While he remained at Messana envoys came, inviting him to j 
take possession of the Liparjean isles, and he inconsiderately 
sailed over to them : the Punic admiral Hannibal, who was 1 
at Panormus, hearing he was there, sent twenty ships after I 
him, which closed him up in the port during the night. \ 
The Romans in terror left their ships and fled to the land, 1 \ 
and the consul was obliged to surrender. Hannibal now : \ 
conceived such a contempt for the Romans as sailors that 
he thought he might easily destroy their whole navy. He 
therefore sailed along the coast of Italy with fifty ships to 
reconnoitie • but happening, as he doubled a cape, to fall in 
with their fleet in order of battle, he lost the greater part 
of his ships, and escaped with difliiculty with the remainder. ) f 

The Romans were well aware of their own inferiority as ( 

seamen, and they knew that their only chance of success | \ 

was by bringing a sea to resemble a land fight. For this \ \ 

purpose they devised the following plan. In the fore part i \ 

of each ship they set up a mast, twenty-four feet high and \\ 

nine inches in diameter, with a pulley-wheel at the top of .' \ 

it ; to this mast was fastened a ladder thirty-six feet long and ( 

four broad, covered with boards nailed across it, and having \ 

on each side a bulwark as high as a man's knee ; at the end \ 

of it was a strong piece of iron with a sharp spike and a \ \ 

ring on it, through which a rope ran to the mast, and over j 

the wheel, by which it could be raised or lowered. This j 

Corvus or raven, as the machine was called, was to be let j 

fall on the enemy's ship, which the spike would then hold 
fast, and the soldiers holding their shields over the bulwarks, 1 | 

to protect them, could board along it. 

The other consul, C. Duilius, took the command of the 
fleet, and hearing that the Carthaginians were plundering 
the lands of Mylae, he sailed to engage them. As soon aa 



180 HISTORY OF LOME. 

t^ey saw him, they came out with one hundred and tiiirly 
sl^lps, , as to a certain victory, not even condescending to 
form in line of battle. At the sight of the ravins tiiey 
paused a little, but they soon came on and attacked the 
foremost ships. The ravens were then let fall ; the Roman 
soldiers boarded along them : the Africans could ill with- 
stand them, and they took thirty ships, among which was 
that of Hannibal, the admiral, a scptinmc which had be- 
longed to king Pyrrhus. The rest of the Punic fleet ma- 
noeuvred, hopmg to be able to attack to advantage; but they 
either could not get near the Roman ships, or if they did, 
1 were caught by the ravens. They at last fled, with the loss 

of fourteen ships sunk, three thousand men slain, and seven 
thousand captured. The joy of the Romans at this their 
first naval victory >vas evinced by the permanent hono! 
assigned to Duilius; he was permitted for the rest of Im 
life to have a torch carried before him and be preceded by d 
flute-player when returning home from supper. 

After this victory the Romans divided their forces, and the 
consul L. Scipio sailed (493) with a fleet to make an attack 
on Sardinia, where he destroyed a Punic fleet and n)ade a 
great number of captives. Meantime the Carthaginians were 
recovering their power in Sicily; but the consul of the next 
year, (494,) A. Atilius Calatinus, restored the Roman pre- 
ponderance there. The towns of Mytisiratum, Enna, Ca- 
marina, and others, which had gone over to the Carthagin- 
ians, were taken, and tlieir inhabitants massacred. 

The following year (49-5) little was done on land ; the 
Carthaginians had, however, reestablished iheir sway over 
one half of the island. A naval victory j^ained by the con- 
sul C. Atilius Regulus off the port of Tyndaris inspirited 
the Romans to make a bold attempt to terminate the war 
by an invasion of Africa. They therefore (49G) collected 
330 ships, each carrying 300 seamen, which sailing round 
Pelorus and Pachynus, took 40,000 soldiers on board on t/se 
coast of Sicily. The Carthaginians had assembled at Lily- 
bf-Eum a fleet of 3o0 ships, carrying 150,000 men to oppose 
them. It was the greatest military effort that the ancient 
world ever saw.* 

The Roman fl^et was divided into four squadrons ; the 

* The plan of invading Africa during a war with the Carthaginians 
had been successfully put in practice by Agatliocles about fifty years 
before this lime. (01. 117, 3.) See Diodor. xx. 3, et seq. It wa» thi» 
kbat doubtless suggested the idea to the Romans. 



INVASION OF AFRICA. 181 

first iwo were commanded by the const s M. Atilius Reg- 
ulus and L. Manilas in person. The two admiral-ships 
Bailed side by side; each was followed by his squadron, in 
a single line, each ship keeping further out to sea than the 
one before it, so that the two lines formed an acute angle ; 
and the triangle was completed by the third squadron sail- 
ing abreast, and having the horse-transports in tow; the 
fourth squadron closed the figure, being in a single line, 
and extending on each side beyond the base. The Punic 
admirals, Hanno and Hamilcar, likewise divided their fleet 
into four squadrons, which sailed parallel, Hanno com-^ 
manding the right, Hamilcar the left wing. The two 
central squadrons, by a feigned flight, drew the first two 
Roman ones after them, and thus broke the triangle ; the 
Punic left wing then attacked the third squadron, while the 
right wing sailed round and fell on the fourth. As the 
Punic ships which had fled now turned round and fought, 
there was a threefold engagement. At length the first two 
Roman squadrons, having beaten those to which they were 
opposed, came to the aid of the third and fourth, and the 
Carthaginians were forced to retire, with the loss of thirty 
ships sunk and sixty-four taken ; that of the Romans was 
twenty-four ships 

The consuls returned to Sicily to repair the ships they 
had taken, and to complete the crews of the whole fleet. 
They then made sail for Africa ; and as the Punic fleet was 
too weak to oppose them, they landed safely on the east 
side of the Hermaic cape, (Cape Bon,) whence advancing 
southwards they took the town of Clupea, which was de- 
serted at their approach, and made it their place of arms. 
The country thence to Carthage was like a garden, full 
of cattle, corn, vines, and every natural production, and 
studded all over with the elegant country-seats of the citi- 
zens of Carthage. The whole of this lovely region was 
speedily pillaged and destroyed, and thousands of captives 
were dragged to Clupea, the Carthaginians not venturing 
out to the defence of their property. 

It was the usage of the Romans for at least one consular 
army to return to Rome for the winter and be discharged, 
and they would not depart from it on the present occasion. 
To the messenger therefore whom the consuls sent home for 
instructions, it was replied, that Manlius should return with 
his army and the greater part of the fleet, while Regulua 
should remain in Africa. It is said that Regulus earnestly 
16 . 



1S2 HISTORY OF ROMSU 

applied for Jeave to return, as his little plebeian farm was 
going to ruin for want of his presence ; but that tlie govern- 
ment undertook to bear the expense of its cultivation, and to 
support his family while he was away in the service of tlie 
slate. He therefore remained, with 15,000 foot, 500 horse, 
and 40 ships. 

The Carthaginians having recalled Haniilcar from Sicily, 
he brought with him 5000 foot and 500 horse ; and being 
joined in command witli Hasdrubal and Bostar, he advanced 
to oppose Reguius, who was now (497) besieging a town 
named Adis, close by the lake of Tunis.* Instead of keep- 
ing to the plain, wliere their elephants and cavalry could act 
to advantage, the Punic generals took their post on the hills, 
and were in consequence defeated, with the loss of 17,000 
men killed, and 5000 men and 18 elephants taken. Reguius 
now conquered Tunis ; seventy-four other towns submitted 
to him; he ravaged the country at his will; the Numidians 
revolted ; the country people all fled into Carthage, where 
famine began to be felt. 

Reguius, fearing that his successor would come out and 
have the glory of taking Carthage, sent to propose a peace. 
Some of the principal men came to his camp to treat, but he 
offered only the most humiliating terms. He required that 
Carthage should acknowledge the supremacy of Rome, pay 
a yearly tribute, retain but one ship of war, give up all claim 
on Sicily and Sardinia, release the Roman prisoners, and 
redeem her own. The Punic envoys retired without deign- 
ing a reply. 

But the haughtiness of the Roman proconsul was to meei 
its due chastisement. The Carthaginians had sent to Greece 
to hire troops, which now arrived ; and among them was a 
Spartan named Xanthippns, an officer of some distinction. 
When Xantliippus viewed the condition of the Punic army 
and saw its force, he told his friends, that it was not the 
Romans but their own generals that had been the cause of 
the preceding defeats. The government on learning his 

* On the banks of the Bagrada, said the legend, (Plin. H. N. viii. 14. 
Zonarag viii. ItV Silius Pun. vi. 140,^ abode a serpent of the enormoua 
letifftli of I'iO feet; and when the soldiers came h ther for water, he 
killed or drove them off. It was found necessary to employ the bal- 
lists and other artillery against him, as against a town, and at length 
he was slain. His skin and jaw-bones were brought to Rome, where 
they remained in one of the temples till the time of the Numantine 
war. We must recollect that the first Punic war was th? subject 
of Nevius' poem. 



EFEAT OF THE ROMANS. 



183 



sentiments conceived so high an opinion of his alents, that 
it was resolved to give him the command of the army ; and 
he speedily infused confidence into the minds of he soldiery, 
who readily observed his superiority over their former com- 
manders. In reliance on 100 elephants and a body of 6000 
horse he ventured to offer battle to the Romans, although he 
had but 14,000 foot, and theirs now amounted to upwards of 
32,000 men. He placed the mercenaries on the right, the 
Punic troops on the left ; the elephants were ranged one 
deep in front of the line, the cavalry and light troops were on 
the flanks. The Romans put their light troops in advance 
against the elephants, and drew up the legionaries much 
deeper than usual ; the horse were on the flanks. The left 
wing of the Romans easily defeated the mercenaries opposed 
to tliem, and drove them to their camp ; but the Punic horse 
routed that of the Romans, and then fell on the rear of the 
fight wing, against the front of which the elephants were 
urged on ; and when the Roman soldiers had with great loss 
forced their way through them, they had to encounter the 
dense Carthaginian phalanx. Assailed thus on all sides, 
they at length gave way ansi fled ; the battle being in the 
plain they were exposed to the elephants and horse, and all 
were slain but five hundred men, who with the proconsul 
were made prisoners. The left wing, (about 2000 men,) 
which had pursued the mercenaries, made their escape to 
Clupea. Xanthippus, having thus saved Carthage, prudently 
went home soon after to avoid the envy and jealousy which 
as a stranger he was sure to excite. We are told * (but 
surely we cannot believe it) that the Carthaginians rewarded 
him richly, and sent some triremes to convey him and the 
other Lacedtemonians home, but gave secret orders to the 
captains to drovvn them all on the way, which orders were 
obeyed ! 

The Carthaginians laid siege to Clupea, but the Romans 
defended it gallantly. When intelligence of the defeat 
reached Rome, it was resolved to send a fleet without delay 
to bring off the survivors, and the consuls M. iEmilius Pau- 
ius and Ser. Fulvius Nobilior put to sea with three hundred 
and fifty ships. The Punic fleet engaged them off the Her- 
maic cape, and was defeated with the loss of 104 ships sunk, 
30 taken, and 30,000 men slain or drowned. The Romans 
then landed, and having defeated the Punic army obliged 
them to raise the siege ; but seeing that the country was so 

* Zonoras, viii. 13. Appian, Punica, 3. Silius, Pun. vi. 680 



184 HISTORY OF lOME. 

exhausted that no supplies could oe had, they prepared to 
reenibark and depart. 

It was now after the summer solstice, a stormy and peril- 
ous season in the Mediterranean. The pilots earnestly 
advised to avoid the south coast of Sicily, and rather to sail 
along the north coast. But as this was chiefly in the hands 
of the Cartluiginiaus, the consuls would not attend to the 
advice of their pilots. They set sail, and got safely across; 
but on the coast of Caniarina the fleet was assailed by so 
furious a tempest that but eighty ships escaped. The whole 
coast thence to Pachynus was covered with wrecks, and with 
the bodies of drowned men. Hiero acted on this occasion 
as a faithful ally, supplying the survivors with food and rai- 
ment and with all necessaries. The remaining ships then 
sailed for Messana. 

The courage of the Carthaginians rose when they heard of 
this misfortune ; they got ready two hundred ships, and sent 
Hasdrubal with his army and one hundred and forty ele- 
phants over to Sicily. The Roman senate, nothing dismayed 
by the loss of their fleet, gave orders to build a new one ; 
and in three months they had one of two hundred and 
twenty ships afloat; with which the consuls Cn. Cornelius 
Scipio and A. Atilius Calatinus (498) sailed to Messana, 
whence, being joined by the ships there, they went and laid 
siege to Pauornms. The new town being taken by storm, 
the old town capitulated; those who could pay a ransom of 
two pounds of silver were allowed to depart, leaving their 
property behind ; those who could not pay that sum were 
sold for slaves; of the former there were 10,000, of the 
latter 13,000. Tyndaris, Soloeis, and some other towns on 
that coast, then submitted. 

The consuls of the next year, (499,) Cn. Servilius and C. 
Senipronius, sailed over, and made various descents on the 
coast of Africa. But their ignorance of the ebb and flood 
in the little Syrtis was near causing the loss of the whole 
fleet ; the ships went aground on the shoals, and it was only 
by throwing all the burdens overboard that they were got off. 
They then sailed round LiljbjEum to Panormus, and thence 
boldly stretched across for the coast of Italy; but off.Cape 
Palinurus they encountered a fearful storm, in which they 
lost upwards of one hundred and fifty ships. The senate 
and people, quite cast down by this last calamity, resolved to 
send no more fleets to sea, but to keep only sixty ships tc 
convoy transports and guard the coast of Italy. 



DEATH OF REGULUS. . 85 

Nothirg of importance marks the next two years ; but in 
502, Hasirubal, encouraged by the want of spirit shown of 
late by the Romans, led his army from Lilybseum toward 
Panormus. The Roman proconsul L. Csecilius Metellus, 
M'ho was lying there with an army to protect the harvest, fell 
back to the town. He set his light troops, well supplied 
with missiles, outside of the ditch, with orders if hard-pressed 
to retire behind it and continue the contest; and directed 
the workmen of the town to carry out missiles for them, 
and lay them under the wall. He kept the main body of his 
troops within the town, and sent constant . reinforcements to 
those without. When the Punic host came near, the drivers 
urged on the elephants against the light troops, whom they 
drove behind the ditch ; but as they still pressed on, showers 
of missiles from the walls and from those at the ditch, killed, 
wounded, and drove furious the elephants ; and Metellus, 
taking advantage of the confusion thus caused, led out his 
troops and fell on the flank of the enemy. The defeat was 
decisive ; some were slain, others drowned in attempting to 
swim to a Punic fleet that was at hand ; the whole loss was 
twenty thousand men ; one hundred and four elephants were 
taken, and all the rest killed. After this defeat the Cartha- 
ginians abandoned Selinus, whose inhabitants they removed 
to LilybsBum, which place and Drepana alone remained in 
their lands. 

An embassy to propose a peace, or at least an exchange 
of prisoners, was now despatched to Rome, and Regulus, 
who had been five years a captive, accompanied it, on his 
promise to return if it proved unsuccessful. The tale of his 
heroism, as transmitted to us by the Roman writers, is one 
of the most famed in Roman story. Unhappily, like so many 
others, it passes the limits of truth. 

Regulus, we are told, refused, as being the slave of the 
Carthaginians, to enter Rome ; with their consent he at- 
tended the debates of the senate, whom he urged on no 
account to think of peace, or even of an exchange of pris- 
oners ; and, lest regard for him should sway them, he 
affirmed that a slow poison had been given him, and he must 
shortly die. The senate voted as he wished ; and, rejecting 
the embraces of his friends and relatives, as being now dis- 
honored, he returned to his prison. The Carthaginians, in 
their rage at his conduct, resolved to give him the most 
cruel death; they cut off his evelids, and exposed him to the 
ravs of the sun, enclosed in a cask or chest set full of sharp 
16* X 



l86 HISTORY OF ROMK. 

spikes, where pain and want of food and sleep ternnnated 
his existence.* 

Regnlus, there can be no doubt, died at Carthage, but 
probably of a natural death. The senate had put the Punic 
generals Bostar and Haniilcar into tiie hands of liis family 
as hostages for his safety; and, when his wife heard of his 
death, she attributed it to neglect and want of care, and in 
revenge treated her prisoners with such cruelty that Bostar 
died, and Hamilcar would have shared his fate, but that the 
matter came to the ears of the government. The young 
Atilii only escaped capit.d punishment by throwing all the 
blame on their mother ; the body of Bostar was burnt and 
the ashes sent home to Carthage, and Hamilcar was released 
from his dungeon. t 

After their victory at Panormus the Romans proceeded 
with an army of forty thousand men and a fleet of two hun- 
dred ships to lay siege to the strong town of Lilybaeum. But 
it was gallantly defended by its governor Himilco, and 
re.sistetl all the efforts of the Romans, aided by the artillery 
with which the Syracusans supplied them, during the re- 
mainder of the war. 

In fact, the remaining nine years of the war (502 — 511) 
were years of almost constant misfortune and disgrace to the 
Romans; and had the Carthaginian system been the same 
as theirs, mid the same obstinate perseverance been mani- 
fested, the final advantage would probably have been on the 
side of Carthage. In the beginning of the war the Roman 
generals, for instance, had had a decided superiority ; now 
the case was reversed, and Himilco, Hannibal, and above all 
Hamilcar Barcas {Lightning 1^) far excelled those opposed to 
them. 

We will pass over the details of the events of these years, 
only noticing the following, as it relates to the internal his- 

• Cicero against Piso, m. Off. iii. 27. Fin. v. 27. Gellius, yii. 24. 
Horace, Carin. iii. .'>, 41. Appian, Pun. 4. According to Silius (ii. 'M'A) 
Re<.'uliis was crucified. Zonaras, (viii. l.""),) following perhaps Dion, 
givi's the common account, but speaks dubiously, (o>s' i, <p>',ini iiy"-) 
Perhaps all this lestinionj is more than outweighed by the significant 
silence of Polybius, who narrates the war in detail. 

t Diodorus, xxiv. 1. Zonaras as above. If this story be true, the 
preceding one can hardly be so. 

i From the Punic or Hebrew word Barak. Hence perhaps Barak, 
the lieutenant of Deborali, (Judges, ch. iv.) had his name ; the Scipioa 
were called fulmina belli. Yilderim (Lightning) was a surname of the 
celebrated Turkish sultan Bayazid. 



DEFEAT OF CLAUbltf. 



187 



tory of Rome. In the year 503 the consul P. Claudius 
Pulcher sailed with a fleet and army to Sicily, and leaving 
Lilybaeuni he went with one hundred and 'twenty-three ships 
to make an attempt on Drepanum. He hoped to surprise it 
by sailing in the night, but it was daybreak when he arrived, 
and Adherbal, who was there, had time to get his fleet out to 
give him battle. The pullarii told the consul that the sacred 
chickens would not eat ; " if they will not e-at," said he, 
" they must drink ; " and he ordered them to be flung into 
the sea.* . A battle thus entered into in contempt of the 
religious feelings of the people could not well be prosperous ; 
the Roman fleet was totally defeated ; ninety-three ships with 
all their crews were taken by the enemy ; the consul fled 
with only thirty. Claudius on coming to Rome was ordered 
to name a dictator ; with the usual insolence of his family he 
nominated his client M. Claudius Glicia, the son of a freed- 
man. The senate in indignation deprived the unworthy 
dictator of his oflrce, and appointed A. Atilius Calatinus, 
afterwards named Serranus, (Soiffer,) because he was found 
by those, who came to inform him of his elevation, sowijig 
the corn with his own hand in his little plebeian farm.t 
Claudius was prosecuted for violation of the majesty of the 
people, and he did not long survive the disgrace, dying 
probably by his own hand, like so many of his family. 

The Romans were so disheartened by this last defeat that 
for five years they re<mained without a navy. At length, 
seeing that unless they could prevent supplies from being 
sent to Hamilcar from home, there would be no end to the 
war, they resolved once more to build a fleet. But the 
treasury was exhausted ; public spirit however, as at times 
in Greece, impelled the wealthy citizens to come forward, 
and each giving according to his means, a fleet of two hun- 
dred ships, built after an excellent model, was got ready, 
with which the consul C. Lutatius Catulus and the praetor 
P. Valerius proceeded to Sicily early in the spring of the 
year 511. 

Lutatius, finding that the Punic fleet was gone home, 
blockaded both Lilybfcum and Drepanum by sea ; and he 
pressed on the siege of tnis last pace with great vigor, 
hoping to take it before the fleet could return. Mean- 
time, aware that he would have to hght at sea, he had his 



* Cicero de Nat. Deor. ii. 3 ; de Div. i. 16. ii. 8. 
+ Pliny, H. N. xviii. 4. Val. Max. iv. 6,4. 



Liv. Epit. 19. 



189 HISTORY OF ROME. 

crews daily put through their exercise. When it was known 
at Carthage that a Roman fleet was again on the coast 0( 
Sicily, the ships of war were all got ready for sea, and 
laden with corn and all things requisite for the army of Ha- 
milcar, who was besieging the town of Eryx ; and the ad- 
miral, Haiino, was directed to sail thither without delay, 
and, having landed the stores, to take on board some of the 
best troops, and Hamilcar with them, and then to force the 
enemy to an engagement. Hanno accordingly sailed to 
the isles named ./Egates,* off Cape Lilybseuui,. and there 
landed. Lutatius, on learning that the Punic fleet was at 
sea, and judging of its object, took some of the best troops 
on board, intending to give battle in the morning. During 
the night the wind changed; it blew strong, and favorable 
to the enemy, and the sea grew somewhat rough. The 
consul was in doubt how to act ; but reflectinir that if he 
gave batfle now he shoidd only have to fight Hanno, and 
that too with his ships heavily laden, whereas if he waited 
for fine weather he should have to engage a fleet in fighting 
order with picked troops, and above all with the formidable 
Hamilcar on board, he resolved to hesitate no longer. He 
advanced in line of battle ; the heavy ships and raw levies 
of the Carthaginians could ill resist the expedite quinque- 
remes and seasoned troops of the Romans, and the issue of 
the contest was not long dubious : fifty Punic ships were 
sunk, seventy taken ; the number of the prisoners amounted 
to ten thousand. 

This defeat quite broke the spirit of the Carthaginians. 
Having vented their rage as usual on their unfortunate 
admiral by crucifying him, they gave full powers to Ha- 
milcar to treat of peace with the Roman consul, who, aware 
of the exhausted condition of Rome, gladly hearkened to 
the overtures of the Punic general, and peace was concluded 
on the following terms, subject to the approbation of the 
Roman people. The Carthaginians were to evacuate all 
Sicily, and not to make war on Hiero or ^is allies; they 
were to release all the Roman prisoners without ransom ; 
and to pay the Romans the sum of 2200 EuboVc talents in 
the course of twenty vears. The people, thinking these 
terms too favorable to Carthage, sent out ten commission- 
ers to Sicily, and by these the sum to be paid was increased 

" Liv. Epit. 19. Polybius speaks of but one isle, and names it 
ZBgtksa. 



PEACE WITH CARTHAGE. 



189 



a thousand talents, and the terms reduced tc ten ; ears, and 
the Carthaginians were obliged to evacuate the islands be- 
tween Italy and Sicily, and forbidden to send any ship ol 
war off the coast of the territory of Rome or her allies, or 
to enlist troops in Italy. 

Thus, after a duration of twenty-four years, terminated 
the first war between Rome and Carthage. The efforts 
and the sacrifices made by the former state were greater 
than at any period of her history. The Roman population 
was reduced by half a million in the contest; the Italian 
allies must have diminished in proportion : seven hundred 
ships of war were lost; the enormous property taxes which 
they had to pay oppressed the people beyond measure ; 
large portions of the domain were sold, and this, with the 
sale of small properties in land, caused by distress, gave 
origin to the great inequality of property which afterwards 
proved so pernicious to the state. On the side of Carthage, 
the war was little less injurious. It is true she did not, 
like Rome, lavish the blood of her own citizens, but she 
had to pay her mercenaries high, and for this purpose to 
increase the taxes of her subjects, and thereby augment 
their discontent ; all the imposts were doubled, and the 
land-tax was raised to one half of the produce.* 

The peace left Rome mistress of Sicily ; and so exhausted 
was the island by the war, that the purchase seemed hardly 
worth the cost. The occasion of the war was evidently 
unjust on the side of Rome ; and it would appear that 
her wiser policy had been to confine herself to Italy ; but 
in reality the choice was not in her power, for Carthage 
was now extending her dominion ovgr the West, and the 
contest for empire or existence must have come sooner or 
later. We must also bear in mind, that the empire of the 
world had been destined by Providence for Rome. 

Sicily being the first country acquired out of Italy, it was 
the first example of a Roman province.^ A governor was 
sent to it annually ; all war was prohibited among its people ; 
excise, land-tax, and other taxes were paid to Rome ; but no 
public lands were retained there, and no assignments made 
to Roman citizens. 

Hiero continued to the end of a long life to rule his little 



* Carthage lost 500 ships in the war. 

t Promncia Niebuhr regards as equivalent with proBe»tt«, and paral- 
lel to vectigal. ..'j 



190 HISTORY OF ROSIE. 

realm of S)racuse as the favored ally of Rome: and liis 
wisdom, justice, and beneficence caused the Syraciisans to 
enjoy more real happiness than they had done at any period 
of their history.* 



CHAPTER Il.t 

CIVIL WAR AT CARTHAGE. ILLYRIAN WAR. GALLIC WARS 

Scarcely had the Carthaginians concluded the war with 
Rome when they were engaged in another which menaced 
their very existence. The mercenaries who had served in 
Sicily, enraged at their pay and the rewards which Hamil- 
car had promised them being withheld, turned their arms 
against the state. They laid siege to Carthage, Hippo, and 
Utica. Most of the subjects, exacerbated by the enormous 
imposts which had been laid on them, joined them, and they 
defeated the only army that Carthage could assemble. At 
length the conduct ~f the war was committed to Hamilcar, 
and by his able mea^.lres he succeeded in annihilating flie 
revolters. The war, one of the most sanguinary and fero- 
cious ever known, lasted three years and four months. It 
gave the world an example of the danger of having the army 
of a state entirely composed of mercenaries. 

Durinij this war the Romans acted with honor : they 
set the Punic prisoners who were in Italy at liberty ; they 
allowed provisions to be sent to Carthage, but not to the 
quarters of the rebels; and when the troops in Sardinia, who 
had also revolted, applied to them for aid they refused it. 
They could not, however, persist in this honorable course : 
on a second application from these troops, who were hard 
pressed l)y the native Sards, they sent a force thither; and 
when the Carthaginians were preparing to assert their do- 
minion over the island, they were menaced with a war with 
Rome. They were therefore obliged to give up all claim 
to Sardinia, and even to pay an additional sum of 1200 

* We here iose the invaluable guidance of Niebuhr, whose work 
terminates at this point. 

) Polybius, i. 65 to the end, ii. 1 — 35. 



ILLYRIAN WAR. 191 

lalentf, as compensation for injuries they vera alleged to 
have done the Roman merchant shipping. This flagrant 
injustice on the part of the Romans rankled in the mind of 
the Carthaginians, and it is assigned as the chief cause of the 
second Punic war, which inflicted so much misery on Italy. 

For several years now the Romans were engaged in re- 
ducing the barbarous natives of Sardinia and Corsica, and 
in extending their dominion northwards in Italy. It was 
also at this time that they first began to turn their views 
over the Adriatic, and regard the state of Greece. The fol- 
lowing was the first occasion. 

The lUyrians had for a long time been united under one 
head, and had exercised robbery and piracy on a large 
scale by sea and by land. Their last king, Agron,* dying 
from intemperance caused by his joy at his subjects having 
taken and plundered the wealthy town of Phoenice in Epirus, 
his widow Teuta assumed the government as guardian to 
her infant son. Piracy was now carried to a greater extent 
than ever, and continual complaints came to the Roman sen- 
ate from their subjects on the east coast of Italy. C. and L. 
Coruncanius were therefore sent (522) as ambassadors to 
Teuta : she treated them with great haughtiness, and the 
younger of the envoys told her that, with the help of God, 
the Romans would make her amend the royal authority in 
Illyria. They departed ; and the queen, off*ended at his free- 
dom of speech, sent some persons after him who murdered 
him. This breach of the law of nations was followed by 
a declaration of war by the Rbmans. 

The following spring (523) the consul Cn. Fulvius sailed 
from Rome with two hundred ships, while his colleague 
L. Postumius led a land army of 20,000 foot and 2000 horse 
to Brundisium. Fulvius directed his course to the isle of 
Corcyra, of which the Illyrians were now masters ; but 
Demetrius of Pharus,f who commanded there, having in- 
curred the wrath of Teuta, had sent, offering to put it into 
the hands of the Romans. He kept his word, and the Cor- 
cyrasans gladly submitted to the Roman dominion. Fulvius 
then passed over to Apollonia, where he was joined by 
Postumius. This city also put itself under the protection of 
Rome, and Epidamnus or Dyriachium, whither they next 

* Agrron was great-grandson of Bardylis, who fell in battle against 
I'hilip of Macedonia. (History of Greece, Part IIT. c. 1.) 
1 Tills was an island on the coast of Illyria. 



192 HISTOBY OF ROME. 

proceeded, did the same. The consuls then ent.red lUyria, 
where several tribe:^ revolted from Teuta ; and, leaviiio 
Demetrius to rule over them, Fulvius returned to Rome, 
while Postumius wiritered at Epidiwiinus. In the spring 
(524) Teuta obtained peace, on condition of paying tribute 
giving up all claim to the greater part of Illyria, and enga- 
ging not to sail from her port of Lissus with more than two 
barks, and these unarmed.* Postumius sent to inform the 
i£toliau and Acha3au leagues of this peace. Embassies 
were soon after despatched to Athens and Corintli, and a 
this last place the Romans were allowed to join in the Isth 
mian games. 

In the year 514 a war had commenced with the Boian 
Gauls, supported by some of their kindred tribes and by the 
Ligurians. It was continued through the following year, 
with advantage (jn the side of the Romans. In 510 a lar^e 
body of Transalpine Gauls came to the aid of the Boians; 
but at Ariniiuum they fell out among themselves, killed their 
kings, and slaughtered one another. The survivors returned 
home, and the Boians and Ligurians were glad to obtain 
peace. The following year the temple of Janus at Rome, 
which was to be closed in time of peace, was shut, for th6 
first time, it is said, since the reign of Numa. 

Four years after this peace (5'2()) the tribune C. Flaminiua 
brought in a bill to assign the Picentine district, which had 
been occupied, by the Senouian Gauls, and which they still 
held as tenants to the state. The Boians and other neigh- 
boring tribes saw in this a plan of the Romans to deprive 
them all gradually of their lands, and they determined on 
resistance. The Boians an<l Isumbrians sent to invite the 
Ga^satans, who dwelt on the Rhone to come and share in a 
war in which great plunder was e.\,>ected. The invitation 
was readily accepted ; and in the eighth year after the divis- 
ion of the Picentine land, (527,) the G^esatans crossed the 
Alps and descended into the plain of the Po, where they 
were joined by all the Gallic tribes except the Venetians and 
the Cenomanians, w^hom the Romans had gained over to 
their side. With a host of 50,000 foot and 20,000 horse 
and chariots they then crossed the Apennloes and entered 
^•]truria. 

* Tlie Rouvins afterwards (533) made war on Demetrius for breach 
of tills treaty, and he had to seek refuge with Philip II. of Mftcedoni^ 
n whose service he spent tlie remainder of his life. 



GALLIC WARS. 



103 



The terror caused at Rome by this irruption of the Gauls 
was great. All Italy shared in it, and prepared to resist the 
invaders. The number of men actually under arms on this 
occasion was 150,000 foot and 6000 horse, and the total 
amount of the fighting men of Rome and her allies (the 
Greeks anil Etruscans not included) was 700,000 foot and 
70,000 horse. 

One of the consuls, C. Atilius, was at this time in Sar- 
dinia ; his colleague, L. yEmilius, had encamped at Ari- 
minum ; one of the pra;tors commanded an army in Etruria. 
The Gauls had reached Clusium, in their way to Rome, 
when they learned that the praetor's army was in their rear. 
They returned, and by a stratagem gave this army a defeat : 
six thousand Romans were slain ; the rest retired to a hill, 
where they defended themselves. The consul yEmilius, who 
had entered Etruria, now came up; and tlie Gauls, in order 
to secure the immense booty which they had acquired, by the 
advice of one of their kings declined an action, resolving 
to return home along the coast, and then to reenter Etruria, 
light and unencumbered, ^milius, being joined by the re- 
mainder of the praetor's army, followed their march, in order 
to harass them as much as possible. Meantime Atilius had 
landed his army at Pisa, and was marching for Rome. His 
advanced guard met that of the Gauls, and defeated it. 4- 
general action soon commenced, the Gauls being attacked 
in front and rear: they fought with skill and desperation; 
but their swords and shields were inferior to those of the 
Romans, and they were utterly defeated, with the loss of 
40,000 slain and 10,000 taken ; that of the Romans is not 
known. Atilius fell in the action. vEmilius, having made 
a brief inroad into the Boian country, returned to Rome and 
triumphed. 

The consuls of the succeeding year (528) reduced the 
Boians to submission. Heavy rains and an epidemic in their 
army checked all further operations. Their successors, P. 
Furius and C. Flaminius, (the author of the war,) carried the 
war beyond the Po, and ravaged the lands of the Isumbrians, 
who having assembled a force of fifty thousand men pre- 
pared to give them battle. The Roman consuls, who were 
devoid of :».'. military skill, fearing to trust their Gallic allies, 
placed them on the south side of the Po, the bridges over 
which they broke down, and drew up their troops so close 
• o its td4,'fc as to leave no space for the requisite movements. 
K) thAt their onlv hopes of safety lay in victory. Fortunately 
i7 y 



194 HISTORY OV ROxHE. 

for the Roman irmy the tribunes possessed the skill the 
consuls wanted. Knowing that the long Gallic broadswords 
Dent after the first blow, and must be laid under the foot 
and straightened to be again of use, they gave /lila to their 
front ranks, and directed them, when the Gauls had bent 
their swords on these, to fall on sword in hand. These 
tactics succeeded completely; the straight, short thrust- 
swords of the Romans did certain execution, and their vic- 
tory was decisive. 

After this defeat the Gauls sent an embassy to Rome 
suing for peace ; but the new consuls, M. Claudius Mar- 
cellus and Cn. Cornelius Scipio, (5lJ(),) fearing to lose an 
occasion of distinguishing themselves, prevented its being 
granted. The Isumbrians hired thirty-three thousand 
Gajsatans ; but all their efforts were unavailing ; they were 
every where defeated, their chief towns Acerra; and Medio- 
lanum (Milan) were taken, and shortly afterwards the colo- 
nics of Mutina, (Modcna,) Cremona, and Piacentia founded, 
to keep them in obedience. Marcellus at his triumph bore 
on a trophy the arms of the Gallic king Viridomarus, whom 
he had slain with his own hand, and suspended them, as the 
third ■iS'/;rt//rt opium* to Jupiter Feretrius, on the Capitol. 

The Roman dominion now extended over the whole of 
Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, lllyria, and Corcyra, and 
the towns of the coast of Epirus. 



CHAPTER in.t 

CONQUESTS OK THE rARTIIA^ilNf.^NS IN SPAIN. TAKING OF 

SAOUNTUM. MARCH OF nANNMBAI, FOR ITALY. HANNI- 

IJAI.'s PASSA(;E of the AI.PS. BATTLK OF THE TICINUS. 

BATTLE OP THE TREBIA. BATTLE OF THE TRASIMENP, 

LAKE. HANNIBAL AND FABIHS CUNCTATOn. BATTLE OP 

CANNiB. PROGRESS OF HANNIBAL. 

While the Romans were thus extending their dominior 
in Cisalpine Gaul, the Carthaginians were equally active in 

' riuf. Marcellus,?. The other two are the fictitioiis ones of Romu- 
lus, the real of Cossns. Spe above, p. KM. 

< Fc the second Punic war we have the third do ad of Livy, who 











f^^ 



CONq,UESTS »F THE CARTHAGINIANS IN SPAIN. 195 

forming an empire in Spain. Tiie loss of Sicily and Sar- 
dinia, and the heavy sum of money exacted from tliem liy i 1 
the Romans, had increased their enmity to fhem ; and Ha- 
milcar, conscious of his great talents, and that by the fault 
of others he had been obliged to give up his hopes of re- 
covering Sicily, and filled with hatred to the Roman name, 
burned to possess the means of waging war with them once 
more. The possession of Spain he saw would give abun- 
dance of men and money, and the divided state of the nations 
and tribes who held it would make the acquisition of do- 
minion easy. As soon, therefore, as the civil war was ended, 
and the Numidians who had shared in it were reduced, he 
embarked his army, (-514,) and landed atGades, (Cadiz.) He 
was attended by his son-in-law Hasdrubal and his son Han- 
nibal, then a child of nine years of age. As he was offering 
sacrifice previous to embarkation, he made those who were 
present withdraw a little ; then leading his son up to the 
altar, he asked him if he would go with him; and on his 
giving a cheerful assent, he made him lay his hand on the 
flesh of the victim, and swear eternal enmity to Rome. 

During nine years Hamilcar carried on a successful war 
in Spain. He reduced the modern Andalusia and Estra- 
maditra, and penetrated into Portugal and Leon. Hamilcar 
fell (523) in an engagement with the people of the country. 
The army chose Hasdrubal to succeed him, and the Cartha- 
ginian senate confirmed their choice, and sent him addi- 
tional troops. Hasdrubal, by his talents, his mildness, jus- 
tice, and good policy, won, the affections of the Spaniards, 
and extended the dominion of Carthage to the river Iberus, 
(Ebro;) and he founded on the coast the city of New Car- 
thage (Carthagena) for the capital, which soon nearly rival- 
led Carthage itself in extent and wealth. This able general 
perished by the hand of an assassin in the eighth year of his 
command, ('5-31,) and the army, as before, assuming the 
right of appointment, set Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar, who 
had been second in command to Hasdrubal, in his place, and 
their choice was confirmed by the government. 

Hannibal, who was now twenty-five years of age, felt that 
the time for executing his father's projects against Rome 
was at hand. He proposed to march a veteran army into 
Italy, and he ho.ped that one or more decisive victories there 

tollowed Polybius; also this last writer's own narrative to the battle of 
CannaB consecutively, and, for the corvclusion, Appian's Piinica ana 
Hannibalian War; Plutarch's livesof Marcellus and Fabius Maximus. 



196 HISTOHY : F BOMB. 

would induce the Samnitea and other Italian peoples to rise 
and assert their independence. In order to extend the Punic 
dominion still further in Spain, to enrich his troops, and to 
give them confidence in themselves and their general, he Jed 
them into the country of the Olcades, on the Anas, (Guadi- 
j aua,) and took their chief town, natned Althaea or Carteia. 

J The following spring (532) he entered the country of the 

f Vaccaians, and took their towns of Elmantica or lierman- 

{ dica, and Arbucala ; and as he was on the way back to New 

i Carthage, he defeated on the banks of tiie Tagus an army 

I of more than one hundred thousand Spaniards who came to 

j oppose him. The whole of Spain south of the Ebro, with 

{ the exception of the city of Saguntum, now obeyed the 

\ power of Carthage. The people of this town, who claimed 

• a Greek origin, ami the other Greek towns on the coas^of 

I Spain, had put themselves under the protection of Rouie, and 

I a Roman embassy was sent to Carthage, in the time of Has- 

\ drubaJ, to stipulate for their independence, and to recjuire 

! that the Tunic power should not be extruded beyond the 

[ Ebro. The Saguntsnes, aware of the ultimate designs of 

} Hannibal, sent pressing embassies to Rome, praying for aid, 

as Hannibal, having caused a quarrel between them and 
the Torboletans, menaced their existence. An embassy was 
therefore sent to Hannibal, who gave a haughty, evasive 
reply, and sending to Carthage for instructions, he received 
power to act as he deemed best. Under the pretext of 
aiding the Torbolctans, he therefore came and laid siege to 
Saguntum with an army of 150,000 men. The conijuest 
of thi.«?town was an object of the utmost importance in hia 
eyes; he would thus deprive the Romans of the place of 
arras which they had in view for carrying on the war m 
Spain ; he would strike the Spaniards with a salutary dread 
of the Punic power, and leave no enemy of importance in 
his rear on his proposed way for Italy : and he would acquire 
vast wealth for the prosecution of the war. 

During eight months the Saguntines made a most heroic 
resistance. Their applications to Rome for aid were vain, 
as they produced nothing but fruitless endiastries to Hanni- 
bal and to Carthage. At length the town was stormed, aU 
vvithin it slaughtered or enslaved, and the immense booty 
sent to Carthage or reserved for the war. The Romans, 
when tliey heard of the capture of Saguntum, issued a dec 
laration of war unless Hannibal was given up to them, and 
sent an. embassy for this purpose to Carthage. The chief 



MARCH OF HANNIBAL FOR ITALY. 191 

of the embassy, Q,. Fabius Maximus, simply stated the, de- 
mands of Rome ; the Carthaginian senate hesitated, not 
willing to surrender Hannibal, and as little inclined to say 
that he had acted by public authority. Fabius then, holding 

up his toga, said, " In this I bear peace or war, take which I 

ye will." <* Give which you please," replied the Suffes. ' 

" War, then," cried he, shaking it out. " We receive it," ; 

was shouted forth on all sides. The embassy returned to ' 

Rome, whence the consul Tib. Sempronius was already ' 

gone to Sicily, with 160 ships and 26,000 men, in order to \ 
pass over to Africa, while his colleague P. Cornelius Scipio 

had sailed for Spain with sixty quinqueremes and 24,000 i 

men, and the prnetor L. Manlius commanded a third army ! 

of about 20,000 men in Cisalpine Gaul. ! 

During the winter Hannibal made all the requisite ar- 
rangements for the defence of Africa and Spain, and he '• 
formed treaties with the Gauls on both sides of the Alps. In ) 
the beginning of the spring (534) he assembled his army of \ 
90,000 foot, 12,000 horse, and 37 elephants, at New Car- \ 
thage, and committing the government of Spain to his ] 
brother Hasdrubal, and leaving him a force of about 15,000 !i 
men and fifty-seven ships of war, he crossed the Ebro on j 
his way for Italy. In his progress thence to the Pyrenees \ 
he overcame the various peoples of the country, in which he ; 
left Hanno with 10,000 foot and 1000 horse. Desertion i 
and other causes reduced his army, but at the foot of the ! 
Pyrenees it numbered 50,000 foot and 9000 horse, all | 
steady and well-disciplined soldiers. Having passed these 
mountains, he marched without delay for the Rhodanus, : 
(Rhone,) on the further bank of which he found a large ! 
army of Gauls assembled to dispute his passage.* He col- '■ 
lected, and had constructed, a great number of boats and j 
rafts, but it seemed too hazardous to attempt to pass a broad, ; 
rapid river in the presence of so large an army. He there- i 
fore sent at nightfiill a division of his troops under Hanno 
up the river, with directions to cross it a day's march off, | 
and then to come down the left bank and take the enemy [ 
in the rear. Hanno did as directed, and having halted a \ 
day on the other side to refresh his men, marched down the ' 
stream. When he made the fire signal agreed on, Hannibal, \ 
who had every thing ready, commenced the passage. The 
Gauls rushed down to oppose him ; but they soon saw the 

* Opposite Beauvaise. 
17* 



193 HISTORY OF ROME. 

camp behind them in flames, and after a short resistance 
turned and fled. The remainder of the Punic army then 
passed over.* 

Meantime Scipio, having coasted Etruria and Liguria, on 
his way to Spain, was encamped at tlie inouth of the Rhone, 
four days' march from the phice where Hannibal was lying. 
He sent forward a party of horse to reconnoitre, who fell 
in with and drove back five hundred Numidian horse sent 
out by Hannibal for the same purpose. When they returned, 
and told the consul where the Punic arniy was, he embarked 
his troops, and sailed up the river to attack them ; but on 
coming to the place he found them gone. He then returned 
with all speed, and sending his brother Cn. Scipio to Spain 
with the greater part of his forces, embarked for Pisa with 
the remainder to meet the foe on iiis descent from the Alps. 
Hannibal, urged by an embassy from the Boian Gauls, 
had resolved to lose no time in advancing into Italy. He 
marched four days up the left bank of the Rhone, to its 
junction with the Isara, (Isere.t) The country between 
these rivers was named the Island, and two brothers were at 
this time contending for the regal authority over it. Hanni- 
bal sided with the elder, who in return supplied him with 
clothing and provisions for his army, now IJ8,000 foot and 
j SOOO horse, and gave him an escort through the country of 

j the Allobroges to the foot of the Alps. 

j Hannibal went for ten days about one hundred miles up 

1 the Isara ; J he then turned to the mountains. But here 

] difficulties began to assail him. The Gauls occupied the 

J passes, but as they did not keep their plans secret, he learned 

. that they were there; and also finding out they only kept 

I guard by day, retiring to their town by night, he set out in 

the night with some select troops and seized the heights 
they used to occupy. In the morning the army set forward ; 

* He adopted the following plan to get the elephants over the river. 
Broad rafts were attached to the bank, and other rafts to these on ti)e 
outside, and the whole covered with earth ; the elephants readily went 
on this, two females being placed at tiieir head. The outer rafts were 
then loosed, and towed over by boats, the eleplianls in general remain- 
ing quiet on them ; some however jumped into the river, but they 
were saved. (Polyb. iii. 4<).) 

t Polybius calls the other river the Scoras or Scaras , Livy the Arar, 
(■Saon?,) but the confluence of the Rhone and Saone is too far ofl", and 
i\¥> land between them does not agree with PolvWus' description of th* 
I.-i'md. 

'J'o MoBtmelian and Bourgneuf. 



HANNIBAL £ PASSAGE OF THE ALPS. 



199 



but the Gauls assailed them in the pass, where they had to 
proceed along a narrow path over a deep ravine, and did 
n uch mischief, especially to the horses and beasts of burden. 
Hannibal, however, at the head of his select troops, drove 
them off. He then took and plundered several villages and 
their chief town. The march now lay for three days in a 
fruitful valley, where there were numerous herds of cattle. 
On the fourth day the people who dwelt at the other end 
of the valley sent to propose a peace with him, offering host- 
ages and guides. Hannibal, though he distrusted them, 
agreed to the treaty, but he prudently remitted none of his 
precautions. After two days' march the troops entered a 
rugged, precipitous pass leading out of the valley, and here 
the Gauls had made preparations to overwhelm them. But 
Hannibal had wisely put the baggage, and horse, and ele- 
phants in advance, and kept his troops of the line in the 
rear, which foresight saved the army. The loss, however, 
in men and beasts was considerable, as the Gauls showered 
stones and rolled down rocks from the heights above them. 
Hannibal was obliged to pass the night separate from his 
cavalry. In the morning, finding the Gauls gone, the army 
joined and moved on, though still harassed by their desul- 
tory attacks. It was remarked that they never assailed the 
part of the line of march where the elephants were, as 
the unusual appearance of these animals inspired them with 
terror. 

On the ninth day the army reached the summit of the. 
Alps. Here they made a halt of two days to rest, and to 
enable those who had been left behind to rejoin. The snow 
which now fell, it being late in the autumn, and the prospect 
of the further difficulties they would have to encounter, dis- 
pirited the troops ; but their leader, by pointing out to them 
the rich plain of the Po, and assuring them of the facility 
of conquest, soon raised their spirits, and they commenced 
the descent. Here however, though there were no enemies 
to attack them, the loss was nearly as great as in the ascent 
The new-fallen snow made the path indiscernible, and those 
who missed it rolled down the precipices. They still how- 
ever advanced, till they found themselves on the edge of a 
steep, which it was plain the elephants and beasts of burden 
could never get down. Hannibal tried to take a round to 
escape this steep ; but the thin crust of ice which had formed 
on the snow gave way under the feet of the beasts, and held 
them impounded, and even the men could not get along it. 



2!0G HISTORY OF ROME. 

lie therefore cleared away the snow on the edge :f the steep, 
iind encamped there for the night. Next day he set hid men 
at work to level a way down ; * and they made it that day 
passable for the horses and nudes, which they brought down 
to the parts where there was pasturage ; but it took three days 
to make a way for the elephants. The descent now offered 
no further difficulties, and the army was soon encamped in the 
country of the Isumbrian Gauls.t 

Five months had now elapsed from the day they had set 
out from New Carthage, fifteen days of which had been oc- 
cupied in the passage of the Alps The army had in that 
time been considerably reduced by its various losses, and it 
now numbered but 'iiGjCXJO men, i. e. r2,000 African and 
8000 Spanish foot, and (iOOO horse. 

Having given his army sufficient rest, Ilaniiibal advanced 
into the country of the Ligurian tribe of the Taurini, (Pied- 
mont,) whose capital he took by storm. This struck terror 
into the surrounding tribes, and they all joined the invaders. 
Hannibal, finding that those in the plains were only withheld 
from doing the same by their fear of the Roman armies in 
their country, resolved to advance at once, and deliver them 
from their apprehensions. 

Scipio had meantime advanced from Pisa, and collecting 
what troops there were in Etruria and Cisalpine Gaul, crossed 
the Po with the intention of giving Hannibal battle at once. 
The Punic general was equally anxious to fight; both armies 
approached the river Ticinus, (Tessino,) which the Romans 
crossed, and came to within five miles of Victumvite, (Vige- 
vano?) where Hannibal lay. Next morning Scipio went out 
to reconnoitre with his horse and light troops; Hannibal did 
the same, and the two parties met. An action ensued : the 
consul put his light troops and the Gallic horse in front, sup- 
ported by the heavy horse; Hannibal set his bridled horse |: 

* According to Liv}', Appian, and others, Hannibal, in order to be 
able to cut down the rocks, )>ad large trees hewn into pieces, and piled 
around them, and set fire to, and, witen the rocks were glowing liot, 
vinegar poured on them, which rendered them soft and easy to cut. 
The truth of this circumstance (which is unnoticed by Polybius^ has 
lieen disputed in modern times. 

t Some critics make Hannibal come over the Great, others over the 
Little St. Bernard; some are for Mt. Genevre, the Simplon, or Mt. 
Viso ; others, (who we incline to think are right,) for Mt. Cenis. 
According to these last, his roulo was Montmelian, Maltaverne. Aigue- 
belle, La Chapelle, St Jean de Maurienne, St. Micliel, Modane, 
Verney, Lans-le-llourg, Summit of G^nis, La Novalcse, Suee, S\ 
Ambroise, Rivoli. 

t The Numidians did not use bridles. 



BATTLE OF THK TREBIA. 



201 



in the centre, the Numidians on the flanks. At the first 
shock the Roman light troops gave way and fled; the heavy- 
horse maintained the conflict till the Numidians fell on their 
rear. Scipio himself received a severe wound, and is said 
to have been indebted for his life to his son, afterwards so 
famous, then a youth of seventeen. The Romans dispersed 
and fled to their camp ; and Scipio, now aware of the enemy's 
great superiority in cavalry, resolved to retire without delay 
beyond the Po, where the country was less level. He reached 
this river, and got over before the Carthaginians came up, 
and he also had time to loosen the bridge of rafts. About 
six hundred men who remained on the other side fell into 
their hands; the rest of the army reached Placentia in safety. 
Mannibal went two days' march up the river, and passed it in 
a narrower place by a bridge of boats; he then came to 
within six mites of Placentia, and offered battle, but to no 
purpose. The Gauls now readily joined him; and a body 
of 2000 Gallic fool and 200 horse, who were in the Roman 
service, cut to pieces the guard at one of the gates, and came 
over to him. Scipio, thinking his position no longer safe, 
led his troops out in the night, in order to occupy a stronger 
one on the hills about the river Trebia, wher6 he might wait 
fi)r the arrival of his colleague, who had been recalled from 
Sicily. When Hannibal found Scipio gone, he sent the Nu- 
niidians after him ; but they fell to rummaging the deserted 
camp for plunder, and the Romans got safely over the river, 
and encamped. Hannibal then came and sat down aboftt 
five miles off*, where the Gauk supplied him with abundance 
of provisions. 

Sempronius, on receiving his recall, embarkv.*, his troops, 
and sailed up the Adriatic to Ariminum, where he landed, 
and lost no time in joining Scipio on the Trebia. The con- 
suls differed in opinion : Scipio, who was still disabled by 
his wound, was for delay, which must be injurious to the 
enemy, and would probably cause the fickle Gauls to change 
their minds; besides which he himself when recovered miglit 
he of some service to his country : Sempronius was for in* 
mediate action, as the time of elections was at hand, and 
moreover the illness of his colleague woufd afl'ord him the 
occasion of gaining the sole glory Of victory. An occasion 
of action soon presented itself , i - 

The Gauls who dwelt from the Trebia to the Po, wishing 
to keep well with both parties, declared openly for neither 
Hannibal, to punish them, sent a body of 2000 foot and lOOfl 

z 



202 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Numidian liorse to plunder their lands. They came to the 
Roman camp imploring protection, and Sempronius sent out 
some horse and light troops, who drove off those of the 
enemy. Elate with this success, he became still more anxious 
for battle, and Hannibal, who wished for an engagement for 
the very same reasons that Scipio was opposed to it, prepared 
to take advantage of Sempronius' ardor. Having observed 
in the plain between the two armies a stream whose banks 
were overgrown by bushes and briers, he placed in ambush 
in it during the night his brother Mago with 1000 foot and 
as many horse, and in the morning he sent the Numidian 
horse over the Trebia to ride up to the enemy's camp and 
try to draw them out ; he meantin»e ordered the rest of the 
army to take their breakfast, and get themselves and their 
horses ready. 

Sempronius, when he saw the Numidians, sent his horse to 
drive them off; his light troops followed, and he then led out 
the rest of the army. It was now midwinter, the day was 
bitterly cold and snowy, and the troops hud not had theii 
breakfast ; the Trebia was swollen by the rain that had fallen, 
and it was breast high on the infantry as they waded through 
it. Cold and hungry, they advanced to engage an army that 
was fresh and vigorous, for Hannibal had directed his men to 
anoint and arm themselves by the fire in their tents. When 
he saw the Romans over the river, he led out his troops, and 
drew them up about a mile from his camp. His advance 
guard consisted of 8000 dartmen and Balearic slingers ; he 
drew up his heavy infantry, Afiicans, Spaniards, and Gauls, 
about 20,000 in one line, with H),00(i horse, one half on 
each wing, and the elephants in front of the wings. Sem- 
prcjnius drew up his army of 10,000 Romans and 20,000 
allies in the usual manner: he placed his horse (about 4000) 
on the wings. ']'he Roman light troops being already fa- 
tigued, and having spent their weapons in the pursuit of the 
Numidians, were easily beaten ; and while the troops of the 
line wore engaged, the Punic horse charged and scattered 
that of the Romans; the light troops and Numidians then 
advanced nnd fell on the flanks of the Roman line; the 
troops in ambush *rose at the same time, and attacked them 
in the rear. The Roman wings, assailed in front by the 
elephants and in flank by the light troops, gave way and fled ; 
the centre, about ten thousand men, drove back the Punic 
troops in front of it, but it suffered from those in its rear. 
At length, seeing their wings driven off the field, and fearing 



ii 



HANNIBAL ENTERS ETRLHIA. 



203 



khe nuinbei of the enemy's horse if they attempted to aid 
thein, or to recross the river to their camp, tliey made a 
desperate effort, and breaking through the adverse line forced 
their way to Placentia. Most of the remainder were de- 
stroyed at the river by the horse and the elephants ; those 
who escaped made their way to Placentia. The victors did 
not venture to cross the river : all their elephants but one 
died in consequence of the extreme cold and wet. Scipio 
the next night led the troops in the camp over the Trebia to 
Placentia, and thence to Cremona. 

Sempronius sent word to Rome that but for the weather 
he should have obtained a complete victory. The truth, 
hdwever, was not to be concealed ; but the Roman spirit only 
rose the more in adversity. Cn. Servilius and C. Flaminius * 
were created consuls, Sempronius having gone to Rome tc 
hold the elections. 

Hannibal, having made an ineffectual attempt on a maga- 
zine near Placentia, and taken Victumviae, gave his troops 
some repose. Early in the spring (535) he attempted to 
cross the Apennines, but a violent storm of thunder, hail, 
wind and rain, forced him to give over his project. He then 
gave Sempronius a second defeat near Placentia, after which 
he led his troops into Liguria. Flaminius went to his prov- 
ince in the spring, and having received four legions, two 
from Sempronius and two from the prjetor Atilius, crossed 
the Apennines and encamped at Arretium, (Arezzo.) Hanni- 
bal, finding the Gauls so discontented at his remaining in their 
country that he was obliged to change his dress frequently, 
and to wear various wigs in order to escape their attempts on 
his life, resolved to enter Etruria without delay. Of the 
various routes into that country he fixed on that through the 
marshes formed by the river Arno,t as he could thus elude 
the Roman consul. He placed his African and Spanish in- 
fantry with the baggage ir advance ; these were followed by 
the Gauls, and last came the horse. He himself rode on his 
only remaining elephant. For four days and three nights 
they had to march through the water, enduring every kind 
of hardship. Most of the beasts of burden perished, several 
of the horses lost their hoofs, and Hannibal himself lost the 
sight of one of his eyes. 

* This was the Flaminius who had caused the Gt lie war. See 
above, p. 192. 

i Livy, xx'n. 2. They were on the rigl t bank of the Lower Arno. 
(Nieb. i. 126.) Micali and some other moderns maintaia that they v/en 
the marshes formed by the i. ppt; to. 



204 HISTORY OF ROME. ' ' 

Hav .ng learned the character of the Roman consul, a "ain 
rash man, utterly unskilled in military affairs, Hannil)al re- 
solved to provoke him to a battle before the arrival of his col« 
league. He therefore proceeded to lay waste the fruitful 
country between Fsesulae and Arretium. The sight of the 
devastations he committed enraged Flaminius, and he would 
not be withheld by his officers from giving battle. Hannibal 
had now reached the vicinity of Cortona, and when he found 
that Flaminius was following him, he prepared to select the 
mo.st advantageous position for engaging. He therefore ad- 
vanced, with the hills of Cortona on his leil, the Trasimene 
lake on his right, till he came to a spot where the hilla 
approach the lake, leaving a narrow path, and then recede, 
forming a valley closed at the end by an eminence. He 
stationed his line-troops at the further end of this valley, 
placing his light troops on the hills on the right side of it, 
and his horse and the Gauls ot) those on the left. He thus 
awaited Flaminius, who arriving in the evening, encamped 
on the lake without the pass, into which ho led his troops 
early the next morning. A dense fog happening to rise and 
spread over the valley concealed the enemy from the view 
of the Romans; the head of their column had just reached 
the place where the Punic troops awaited them, when Han- 
nibal ^ave the signal for attack, and they were assailed at 
once in front and flank. Not having time to form, they were 
cut down in their line of march. Flaminius himself was 
killed by the Gauls early in the action. Numbers ran up to 
their necks in the water; but the enemy's horse charged 
after them and cut them to pieces.* The number of the 
slain was 15000; a body of 6000 broke through in front, and 
made their way over the hills to a neighboring village, 
whither they were pursued by Maharbal and forced to sur- 
render, on promise of being allowed to depart without their 
arms; but Hannibal, denying the right of Maharbal to grant 
these terms, assembled all his prisoners, to the number of 
upwards of 15,000, and separating the Romans, whom he re- 
taincd, he dismissed the allies, declaring, as was his wont, 
that he was come a& the deliverer of Italy from Roman 
tyranny. His own loss was about fifteen hundred men. 

* According to Livy (xxii. 5) and Zonaras (viii 12.5,) the ardor of 
thp combatants was such tliat th«'y did not perceive the shock of an 
earthquake wliich occurred at that time, and threw down large portions 
df several towns, sank mountains, and turned rivers from their course 
Of this Polybius says nothing', t ■'*'•• 



HANNIBAL AND FABIUS CUNCTATOR. 205 

chiefly Gauls, on whom he generally contrived to make the 
loss fall most heavily. 

Tliis defeat was of too great a magnitude for the govern- 
ment at Rome to be able to conceal or extenuate it. In the 
evening of tlie day the news arrived, the pretor mounted the 
Rostra and said aloud, " We have been overcome in a great 
battle." The people, unused to tidings of defeat, were quite 
overwhelmed; but the senate remained calm and resolute 
as ever in adversity. Soon after, another piece of ill news 
arrived; a body of four thousand horse, which the consul 
Servilius had sent on from Ariminum, were cut to pieces or 
forced to surrender by the Punic horse and light troops. It 
was now resolved to revive the dictatorship, an office for some 
time out of use, and Q,. Fabius Maximus was appointed,* 
with M. Minucius for his master of the horse, 

Hannibal marched through Umbria and Picenum, wasting 
and destroying the country on his way. On reaching the 
sea he sent home word of his successes; and having halted 
some time, to give his men and horses rest, he advanced 
through the country of the Marsian League into Apulia. 
The dictator, having received the two legions of the consul 
Servilius, and added two newly raised ones to them, ad- 
vanced with all speed to Apulia, and encamped in presence 
of Hannibal near Arpi. The Punic general vainly offered 
battle ; it was the plan of Fabius, thence named the Delayer, 
(Cuncfator,) to give him no opportunity of fighting, but to 
wear him out by delay. He accordingly kept on the hills 
above him, followed him whithersoever he went, made partial 
attacks under advantageous circumstances, and thus raised 
the spirit and confidence of his troops. Hannibal, having 
exhausted Apulia, entered Samnium, where he plundered 
the district of Beneventum and took the town of Telesia, 
Fabius still following him at a distance of one or two days' 
march, but giving no opportunity for fighting. It is re- 
markable, that though the Romans had suffered such defeats, 
not one of their allies had as yet fallen off. Hannibal hoped 
that by an irruption into Campania he should be able to 
force Fabius to give battle, or if he did not, that this con- 
fession of the inferiority of the Romans in the field would 
have its due effect on the minds of the allies. He there- 
fore marched by Allifas and Cales to Casilinum, wasted the 

* As there was no consul at Rome to nominate him, he was created 
Pro-dictator. 

18 



206 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Falernian district to Sinuessa, and encamped on the Vul- 
tuinus. Fabius moved along the Massic hills ; but neither 
tlie sight of the burning villages in the valley beneath, nor 
che reproaches and entreaties of Minucius and the other offi- 
cers, could induce him to change his system and descend 
into the plain. 

Hannibal, seeing there was no chance of a battle, pre- 
pared to retire, by the way he came, into quarters for the 
winter. Fabius hoped now to take him at an advantage : 
having pfaced a sufficient force to guard the pa.'ss near Tar- 
racina,* he occupied the town of Casilinum and the hill of 
Callicula, and posted his army on an eminence on the road 
^^y which the enemy must move for the pass. Hannibal, 
seeing the way thus impeded, and despairing of being able 
to force it, had recourse to stratagem. He had two thou- 
sand of the strongest oxen in the booty collected, and bun- 
dles of brushwood tied on their horns. In the latter part 
of the night, he directed the baggage-drivers to set fire to 
these bundles, and drive the oxen up the hill close to the 
pass ; and the light troops to hasten and occupy its summit. 
The oxen, infuriated by the heat and flame, ran wildly up 
the hill ; the Romans, who guarded the pass, thinking from 
the ninnber of lights that the enemy was escapit)g that way, 
made all the speed they could to occupy the summit; but 
they found the Punic light troops there already; both re- 
mained inactive waiting for the daylight. Hatmibal mean- 
time had led the rest of his army through the pass, and he 
sent some Spanish troops, who speedily routed the Romans 
on the hill. He then marched leisurely through Samnium 
into Apulia, where he took the town of Geronium, before 
which he pitched his camp; Fabius, who followed bin), en- 
camped at Larinum. 

The dictator, being obliged to return to Rome on some 
religious affairs, committed the command of the army to the 
master of the horse, imploring him on no account to give 
battle. But Minucius little heeded these admonitions ; he 
quitted the hills where he was posted, and came nearer to 
the Punic camp ; and he had the advantage in some slight 
actions which ensued. These successes were greatly mag- 
nified at Rome ; and the people, who were weary of the sal- 
utary caution of Fabius, were induced to pass a decree for 
making the authority of the master of the hcrse equal with 

* Probably the pass of Lnutuisr See above, p. liA 



HANNIBAL AND FABIUS CUNCTATOR. 20" 

that of the dictator. Fubius, who had returned to the army, 
made no complaint ; he divided the troops with Minucius, 
and they formed two separate camps, about a mile and a 
half asunder. 

Hannibal, who was informed of all that occurred, hoped 
now to be able to take advantage of Minucius's impetuosity. 
Tliere was a valley between their camps, in which, though it 
contained no bushes suited for an ambuscade, there were 
sundry hollows where troops might lie concealed, and in 
these he placed during the night five hundred horse and five 
thousand foot ; and that they might not be discovered by 
the Roman foragers, he sent at dawn some light troops to 
occupy an eminence in the middle of the plain. Minucius, 
as soon as he saw these troops, directed his light troops to 
advance and drive them off; he then sent his horse, and 
finally led out his heavy infantry. Hannibal kept sending 
aid to his men, and meantime led on his horse and heavy 
fbot. His horse drove the Roman light troops back on those 
of the line, and he then gave the signal to those in ambush 
to rise; the Romans were now on the very verge of a total 
defeat, when Fabius led his troops to their relief Hanni- 
bal, when he saw the good order of the dictator's army, drew 
off his men, fearing to hazard an action with fresh troops. 
As he retired, he observed that the cloud which had lain so 
long on the tops of the mountains had at last come down 
in rain and tempest. Minucius candidly acknowledged his 
fault and the superior wisdom of the dictator, and the whole 
army encamped together again. 

The winter passed away, only marked by some slight 
skirmishes. At Rome, when the time of the elections came, 
the consuls chosen were C. Terentius Varro, a plebeian,* 
and L. yEmilius PauUus, a patrician. Instead of the usual 
number of four legions, eight were now ~aised, each of five 
thousand foot and three hundred horse, md the allies gave 
as usual an equal number of foot and thrice as many horse. 
King Hiero sent a large supply of corn, and one thousand 
slingers and Cretan archers. 

As soon as the season for the ripening of the corn ap- 
proached, (536,) Hannibal moved and occupied the citadel 

* From Livy's account of Varro, we are to suppose that lie was a vul- 
gar, low-born demagogue. He says (xxii. 2")) that he was ihe son of a 
butcher; yet we find him continued in command for some years aftof 
his defeat, which can hardly be ascribed to mere popular favor 



208 UlSTOIiy OF ROME. 

of a tow n named CaiuiJE, where the Rpmans had their mag • 
azines. The consulo of the former year, who commanded 
the army in these parts, finding their situation hazardous; 
and tlie all es inclined to revolt, sent to Rome for instruc- 
tions, and It was resolved that battle should be given without 
dela). /Emilius and Terentius set out from Rome with the 
new-raised troops, and their whole united force amounted 
to eighty-seven thousand liorse and foot. Fabius and other 
prudent men, placing their only reliance on Emilius, who 
liad distinguished himself in the lllyrian wars, anxiously im- 
pressed on him the necessity of caution, and of restraining 
liis vain and ignorant colleague, as this army might be m a 
great measure regarde<] as Rome's last stake. 

As Hannibal was greatly superior in cavalry, it was the 
advice of Emilius not to risk au action in the plain ; but 
Vaj-ro, ignorant and confident, on his day of command (for 
the Roman consuls when together took it day and day 
about) led the army nearer to where the enemy lay. Han- 
nibal attacked the line of march, but was driven off with 
some loss; and next day -Emilius, not wishing to fight, and 
unable to fall back with safety, encamped on the Aufidus, 
placing a part of the army on the other side of the river, a 
little more than a mile in advance of his camp, and equally 
distant from that of Hannibal, to protect his own and annoy 
the enemy's foragers. Hannibal, having explained to his 
troops the advantages to be derived from an immediate 
action, led them over the river and encamped on the same 
side with the main army of the Romans, and on the second 
day he offered battle, which /Emilius prudently declined. 
He then sent the Numidians across the river to attack those 
who were watering from the lesser camp. The patience of 
Varro was now exhausted, and next day at sunrise he led 
liis troops over the river, and joining with them those in the 
lesser camp drew them up in order of battle. The line faced 
the south;* the Roman horse were on the right wing by 
the river side ; the troops of tJie line, drawn up deeper 
than usiKil, extended thence; the horse of the allies were 
on the left wing, the light troops in advance of the line. 
Hannibal, having first sent over his light troops, led his 
army also to the other side of the river. He set his Spanish 

" Liry says that the arid wind, named the VnUurnus,blew clouds of 
dust in the faces of the Romans. This is not noticed by Polyhius, and 
If it was the case it was probably the fault of Varro. not the ski'l of Han- 
nibal H8 some suppose, that placed them in this positiou. 



BATTLE OF CANN^. 

and Gallic horste on his left wing, opposite tl at of the 
Romans; then one half of his heavy African infantry;* 
next, the Spaniards and Gauls, after them the rest of the 
African foot, and on the right wing the Numidian horse. 
When his line had been thus formed, he put forward the 
centre so as to give the whole the form of a half-moon. His 
whole force, inclusive of the Gauls, did not much exceed 
40,000 foot and 10,000 horse, while that of the Romans 
was 80,000 foot and about 6000 horse. On the one side, 
^^milius commanded the right, Varro the left wing, the 
late consul Servilius the centre; on the other, Hanno led 
the right, Hasdrubal the left wing, Hannibal himself the 
centre. 

The battle was begun, as usual, by the light troops; the 
Spanish and Gallic horse then charged ; the Roman horse, 
after a valiant resistance, overborne by numbers, broke and 
fled along the river; the light troops having fallen back on 
the heavy-armed on both sides, these engaged : the Gauls 
and Spaniards who formed the top of the half-moon, being 
borne down by the weight of the Roman maniples, gave 
way after a brief but gallant resistance. The victors heed- 
lessly pressing on, the African foot on either side wheeled 
to the right and left, and surrounded them. Jilmilius, who 
had commanded on the right, now came with a party of 
horse to the centre and took the command ; here he was 
opposed to Hannibal himself The Numidians meantime 
kept the horse of the allies engaged ; till Hasdrubal, having 
cut to pieces the Roman horse which he had pursued, came 
to their aid : the allies then turned and fled ; Hasdrubal, 
leaving the Numidians to pursue them, fell with his heavy 
horse on the rear of the Roman infantry. yEmilius fell 
bravely fighting; that part of the Roman infantry which 
was surrounded was slaughtered to the last man; the rest 
of the infantry was massacred on all sides; the Numidians 
cut to pieces the horse of the allies. The consul Varro 
escaped to Venusia with only seventy horse. A body of 
ten thousand foot, whom ^-Emilius had left to guard the 
camp, fell during the battle on that of Hannibal, which 
they were near taking ; but Hannibal, coming up after the 
battle, drove them back to their own caqip vvith a loss of 
two thousand men, and there forced them to. surrender. ■ 

* Hannibal had armed his African ajid Spanish infantry aflrr tlie 
tioman manner, with the Horrjan armawJuc-h h,a4 fallen into iiishanda. 
18* AA 



210 HISTORY OF ROME. 

This was the g. eatest defeat the Roman arms ever sus- 
tained. Out of 81 ,000 foot, according to Polybius, only 
JJOOO escaped, and 10,000 were made prisoners ; of 0000 
horse there remaiiud but 3V0 at liberty, 2000 were taken 
Among the slain were two quxstors ; twenty-one tribunes; 
several former consjls, praetors, and a)diles, among whom 
were the consul /Emilius, the late consul Servilius, and the 
late master of the horse Minucius; and eighty senators, or 
(hose who were entitled to a seat in the senate. The loss 
of the enemy was 4000 Gauls, 1500 Spaniards and African?, 
and about 200 horse. 

A part of the Roman troops, who escaped to Canusium, 
put themselves there under the command of Ap. Claudius 
and P. Cornelius Scipio, wiio were military tribunes ; and 
as these were consulting with some of the other officers, 
word came that L. Caicilius Metellus and some other young 
noblemen were planning to fly to the court of some foreign 
prince, utterly despairing of their country. Scipio rose, 
and followed by the rest vent to the lodgings of Metellus, 
where the traitors were a.' sembled : and there drawing his 
sword made them, under tjrror of death, swear never to de- 
sert their coujitry.* 

When tidings of this unexampled defeat reached Rome, 
the consternation was such as cannot be described. Grief 
and female lamentation was every where to be heard, but 
the ujagnanimity of the senate remained unshaken. By the 
advice of Fabius Maxinms, measures were taken for pre- 
serving tranquillity in the city, and ascertaining the position 
and designs of the victorious and the condition of the van- 
quished army. On account of the number of the slain, a 
general mourning for thirty days was appointed, and all 
public and private religious rites were suspended ; Q,. Fabius 
Pictor t was sent to iniiuire of the god at Delphi ; the Fatal 
Books were consulted, and by their injunction a Greek mnn 
and woman and a Gallic man and woman were buried alive 
in the Ox-market. Measures being thus taken to appease 
the wrath of Heaven, they proceeded to employ the means 
of defence. C. Claudius Alarcellus, the proprietor, was sent 
to take the command at Canusium, where about ten thousand 

* Liv. xxii. .^3. Tlje censors of the year 538 deprived Metellus and 
his companions of their horses, and made thcin a;rarians, on acconnt 
9f their conduct on this occasion. 

* This ifi the earliest ^man hiatorian. 

1, I:. I niiir't hno ^i^i^lwa•l • 



PROGRESS OF HANNIBAL. 211 

men were now assembled. M. Junius was made dicta*' r, 
and by enrolling all above and some under seventeen years 
of age, four legions and one thousand horse were raised; 
eigbt thousand able-bodied slaves were, with their own con- 
sent, purchased from their masters and enrolled in the le- 
gions ; the arms, the spoils of former wars, which hung in 
the temples and porticoes, were now taken down and used. 

It was apprehended at Rome that Hannibal might march 
at once for the city, and it is said that Maharbal had urged 
him to do so, and, on his hesitating, told him that he knew how 
to conquer, but not to use his victory. But the able general 
knew too well the small chance of success in such an attempt, 
and was well aware of how much more importance it was to 
try to detach the allies of Rome; and in this he soon had 
abundant success. The Samnites, Lucanians, Bruttians, 
most of the Greek towns, great part of Apulia and Campania, 
and all Cisalpine Gaul_ turned against Rome, whose power 
was now thought to be at an end. 

Yet never was Rome's steadfastness greater than at the 
present moment. Hannibal, being in want of money, offered 
bis Roman prisoners their liberty at a moderate ransom. 
Ten of them were sent to Rome, with Carthalo, a Punic 
officer, to consult the senate, on their oath to return. When 
they drew nigh to Rome, a lictor met Carthalo,ordering him off 
the Roman territory before night ; the senate, though assailed 
by the tears and prayers of the families of the captives, were 
swayed by the stern, rigid sentiments of T. Manlius Torqua- 
tus, and replied that they should not be redeemed. One of 
the envoys had, when leaving the Punic camp, returned to 
it on some pretext, and thinking, or affecting to think, him- 
self thereby released from his oath, remained at Rome ; but 
the senate had him taken and sent back to Hannibal. When 
Terentius Varro returned to Rome, all orders went out to 
meet him, and thanked him for not having despaired of the 
republic. How different, as Livy remarks, would have been 
the recep'tion of a defeated Punic general ! 

Hannibal, having entered Samnium, and made himself 
master of the town of Compsa, advanced to Campania, where 
the popular party in Capua, under the guidance of a dema- 
gogue of noble birth, named Pacuvius Calavius, had made 
an alliance with him, and took up his quarters in that lu.xu- 
rious city. About this time he despatched his brother Mago 
to Carthage, with an account of his successes and a demand 
of men, money, and supplies Mago, it is said, emptied ou^ 



n 



li 



212 HISTORY OF ROME. 

before the senate a bushel full of gold rings, the ornament of 
the equestrian order at Rome, to prove the magnitude of the 
losses of the Romans; but Hanno and the anti-Barcine* 
party still opposed the war, and advised to seek peace. The 
opposite party, however, prevailed ; it was voted to send him 
4000 Numidians, 40 elephants, and a large sum of money ; 
and Mago and another officer were sent to Spain to hire a 
body of 20,000 foot and 4000 horse. 



CHAPTER TV. 



; HANNIBAL IN CAMPANIA. OKFEAT OP I'OSTUMTUS. AF- 

FAIK8 OP SPAIN. TREATY BET\yEEN HANNIBAL AND 

KING PHILIP. HANNIBAL REPULSED AT NOLA. SUCCESS 

OF HANNO IN BRUTTIUM. AFFAIRS OF SARDINIA, OF 

SPAIN, OF SICILY. ELECTIONS AT ROME. DEFEAT 

OF HANNO. SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. AFFAIRS OF SP.^IN 

AND AFRICA. TAKING OF TARENTUM. SUCCESSES OR 

HANNIBAL. 

In the city of Nola, as at Capua, the popular party was 
I adver.se, the aristocratic favorable, to the cause of Rome. 

: Hannibal, therefore, hoping to get this town as he had gotten 

1 Capua, led his troops into i'.s territory. The Nolan senate 

' instantly sent off to the praetor MarcelUis,f who was at Casil- 

innm with an army, and he immediately set out, and keeping 
mostly to the hills, reached the town; Hannibal having just 
departed to make an' effort to gain Neapolis, for he was ex- 
tremely anxious to get possession of a good seaport on this 
coast. Failing, however, in his attempt, he went to Nuceria, 
which he forced to surrender ; and he then returned and en- 
camped before the gates of Nola ; Marcellus, fearing treach-' 
ery on the part of the people, retired into the town. Each 
day the two armies were drawn out, and slight skirmishes, 
but no general action, took place. At length the senators 
gave Marcellus information of a plot to i^hut the gates behind 
him when he had led his army out, and to admit the enemy. 

• * The' party who supported Hannibal at Cartfirge wis named Bat 
cine, from his fatfier's epithet Barcns. 

' The conqueror of the Gauls. See above, p. 194. 



HANNIBAL IN CAMPANIA. (213 

He therefore next day, instead of leading out his forces as 
usual, stationed them within the town; the legionaries and 
Roman horse at the middle gate, the recruits, the light 
troops, and the allies' horse at the two side ones ; and he 
gave strict orders for no one to appear on the walls. Han- 
nibal, when he drew out his army as usual and saw no one 
to oppose him, judged at once that the plot was discovered, 
and he resolved to .ittempt a storm, in reliance on a rising 
of the people in his favor. Having sent a part of his troops 
back to the camp for ladders and the other requisite imple- 
ments, he led his army up to the walls. Suddenly the gates 
all opened, the trumpets sounded, the Roman army rushed 
out on all sides, ^jid he was forced to retire with a consid- 
erable loss, Marcellus then closed the gates again, and 
having instituted an inquiry, put to death seventy persons 
whose guilt was proved. 

Hannibal, hjtying retired from Nola, went and laid siege to 
Acerra;, the people of which town, despairing of being able 
to defend it, fled from it in the night. He then advanced 
and laid siege to Casilinum, which was gallantly defended 
by a small but resolute garrison; and finding he had no 
chance of taking it, he led off his army to winter at Capua. 
Here, as was to be expected, his troops indulged in all kinds 
of luxury and debauchery ; and ignorant, rhetorical writers, 
who could not discern the real causes of the subsequent de- 
cline of Hannibal's power, ascribe it to this wintering in 
Capua. 

When the weather grew milder, Hannibal again invested 
Casilinum. The dictator Junius was at hand with an army 
of twenty-five thousand men, but he was obliged to go to 
Rome on account of the auspices, and he charged his master 
of the horse, Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, not to attempt any 
thing during his absence. Gracchus, therefore, though the 
garrison were, suffering the extremes of famine, could not 
attempt to convey them supplies. All he could do was to 
send barrels filled with corn down the stream by night, whicii 
the people watched for and stopped ; quantities of riuts were 
in like manner floated down to them. Unfortunately the 
Vulturnus happening to be swollen one night, overflowed, 
and some of the barrels were carried out on the bank where 
the enemy lay. The river now was strictly watched; and 
the garrison, having eaten the leather of their shields and 
every species of vile food, at length capitulated. Most of 
the towns of Bruttium which remained faithful to Rome 
were soon after forced to surrender. 



914 HISTORY OF R05IE. 

But a Still greater misfortune befell the Romans in tlie 
north of Italy ; L. Postumius, the consul elect, as he marched 
with an army of twenty-five thousand men, througli a wood 
in which the Gauls had sawn the trees on the way-side so as 
to be easily thrown down, was attacke<l by them ; numbers 
were crushed to death by the trees, and few of ^he whole 
army escaped. The consul's skull was fashioned into a 
drinlung cup by the victors, to be used at their principal 
temple. The news of this misfortune caused great terror at 
Rome ; but the senate carried on the business of the state 
with their usual equ;uiimity. Their body, which had been 
greatly reduced, received at this time an accession of one 
hundred and seventy-seven members.* Marcellus was elect- 
ed as colleague to Gracchus, in the room of Postumius ; but 
the election being pronounced faulty by the augurs, Fabiua 
Maximus was chosen in his stead. 

Having brought the war in Italy to the end of the third 
year, we will now take a view of the progress of affairs in 
Spain. 

Cn. Scipio on arriving in Spain (534) speedily reduced 
the whole coast from the Pyrenees to the Ebro. He ad- 
vanced into the interior, and defeated Hanno at a place 
named Scissis. The Punic general was made prisoner, 
with two thousand of his men, and six thousand were slain. 
Ilasdrubal meantime crossed the Ebro, and fell on and drove 
to their ships, with loss, the crews of the Roman fleet at 
Tarraco, (Tarragona.) He however always retired before 
Scipio,, who reduced the Ilergetes and some other peoples 
of that country. The following spring (535) Scipio sailed 
to the mouth of the Ebro, where the Punic fleet and army 
lay, and by a sudden attack drove the fleet of forty ships 
ashore, and carried away twenty-five of them ; and he after- 
wards defeated the Ilergetes, who had resumed their arms 
As Hasdrubal was coming to their aid, he was recalled by 

* Sp. CarviliuB on thistxjcasion proposed that two out of the senate 

of each of the peoples of the Latin Name should be given the full Ro- 
man franchise, and admitted into the Roman senate. This libera! and 
prudent project was of course treated with scorn. M. Fahins Buteo 
was made dictator for the purpose of completing the senate, which he 
i did in the following nvtaner ; — He selected lirrt those who had borne 

I curule offices since the censorship of ifLmilius and C. Flaminius, and 

had not yet been admitted into tlie senate ; then those who had been 
I wdiles, tribunes of the people, or qusestors; finally, those who had held 

I no office, but had in their houses the sfK>ils of enemies or a civic crown. 

I It is remarkable that there were now two dictators at a time, and that 

i Fabius had no master of the horse. 



TREATY BETWEEN HANNIBAL AND K7NG PHILIP. 215 

tidings that the Celtiberians, instigated by the Romans, had 
invaded the Punic province and taken three towns ; he 
hastened back to its defence, but was defeated in two battles, 
with the loss of 15,000 men slain and 4000 taken. 

In this state of aflairs P. Scipio, whose command had 
been prolonged, arrived with thirty ships of war, eight thousand 
troops, and a large supply of stores. The Romans now 
crossed the Ebro, and advanced to Saguntum, as it was here 
that the hostages which Hannibal had required from the 
Spanish princes were kept, and the garrison was not strong, 
and if the hostages were released those princes might be 
more easily induced to join the Romans. Fortune here fa- 
vored them; a Spaniard named Abelux persuaded Bostar, 
the commandant, that his wisest course would be to send 
the hostages back to their friends, whose gratitude might 
then be relied on ; and he offered to be himself the agent in 
the business. Bostar gave his consent ; Abelux went that 
night secretly to the Roman camp, and engaged with Scipio 
to put the hostages into his hands ; and the following night, 
when he left the town with them, a party of Romans, as 
had been arranged, took him and them and brought them 
into the camp. The hostages were forthwith sent off to 
their friends, and this apparent generosity produced a great 
effect in favor of the Romans. The approach of winter 
put a stop to all further operations. 

The following year (536) Hasdrubal had to turn all his 
forces against a people named the Carpesians,* who had 
risen in arms. When he had subdued them, he received 
orders from home to lead his army into Italy to join his bro- 
theT. At his earnest desire, Himilco was sent with a fleet 
and army to succeed him, as otherwise, he assured the 
senate, all Spain would be lost. He then marched for the 
Ebro; the Romans, learning his intentions, crossed that 
river, and an engagement ensued, in which Hasdrubal sus- 
tained a total defeat. This victory decided those who were 
wavering, and nearly all Spain now joined the Romans. 

In Italy, at the commencement )f the ne.xt campaign, 
(537,) the two main armies remained long inactive. The 
Romans were encamped at Suessula; Hannibal at Tifata, 
over Capua, During this time the Romans found that a 
contest with a new and powerful enemy awaited them, 
Philip, king of Macedonia, having ended the Confederate 

" This people dwell on the Tagus; their capital wasTolctum, (Toledo.) 



216" .HUV.A'l ;).•./. HISTORY Of ROMt. iT 

\y^ar,* resolved to join his arms with those of Hunnijal, to 
whom he sent an embassy : and a treaty was made, by which 
the king engaged to invade Italy witii a fleet of two hun 
dred ships; and that country being reduced under the do- 
minion of the Cartliaginians, tliey were to pass over and aid 
in bringing Greece and the islands under that of Philip. t 
Fortunately for the Romans, the ship in which the envoys 
were returning fell into their hands, and the summer was 
gone before a second embassy readied the Punic camp and 
returned, so that the season of action was lost. P. Vale- 
rius Flaccus was stationed with fifty ships at Tarentum to 
watch the progress of events beyond the sea, and the prjelor 
M. Valerius Lasvinus had orders, in case of any hostile move- 
ments there, to go to Tareutum, and to land his troops on 
the opposite coast, and transfer the war thither. 

The consul Fabius at length put his troops in motion, and 
having pa-ssed the Vulturnus, and taken some of the re- 
volted towns, marched between Hannibal's camp and Capua 
to Vesuvius, where Marcellus lay, whom he sent with his 
troops to the defence of Nola. Marcellus while here made 
frequent incursions into the adjoining parts of Samniurn 
ajid laid them waste, and at the earnest desire of the Sam- 
nites Hannibal led his troops against Nola, where he was 
joined by Hanno with his forces from Bruttium. Marcel- 
lus having drawn up his troops, as before, within the town, 
made a sally ; but a sudden storm of wind and rain came 
on and parted the combatants. The rain lasted all that 
night and part of the next day. On the third day a general 
engagement was fought, and Hannibal, it is said, was re- 
pulsed with the loss of 5000 men and si.x elephants ; and 
the next day 1272 Spanish and Numidian hor-^^e went over 
to the Romans, whom they served faithfully all the rest of 
the war. 

Hannibal having dismissed Hanuo went into Apulia for 
the winter, and fixed his camp near the town of Arpi. 
Hanno meantime endeavored to reduce the Greek towns 
in Bruttium, which, chiefly out of fear and hatred of the 
Bruttians, remained faithful to Rome. Hid attempt on 
Rhegium failed ; but ilie Locrians were forced to form an 

J. J 

• I* History of Greece, Part III. chap, vi . ^ 

t Livy, x.xiii. 33. Pnlybiiis (vii. 9) gives a copy of the treaty 
which is a very curious document. It only spraks however of an alfi- 
ancc offensive and defensive, and of oblicrinir the Romans to give up 
all their possessions on the farther coast of the Adriatic. 



AFFAIKS OF SARDINIA. 2-17 

alliance with Carthage. The Bruttians, enraged at being 
balked of the plunder of these two towns, collected a body of 
fifteen thousand men, and resolved to win the wealthy city 
of Croton for themselves. In this, as in almost every other 
town, the men of property were for, the lower orders against, 
the Romans. The latter put the town into the possession of 
the Bruttians ; the ojjtimatcs retired to the citadel, and the 
Bruttians and the people being unable to take it applied to 
Hanno. As the circuit of the town greatly exceeded the 
wants of the inhabitants, Hanno proposed to those in the 
citadel to receive a colony of Bruttians into the town ; but 
they declared that they would sooner die: at last they con- 
sented to emigrate, and retire to Locri. In these parts 
Rhegium alone now remained to the Romans. 

In Sardinia a man named Hampsicora had, at the insti- 
gation of the Carthaginians, raised the standard of revolt 
against the Romans. The ill health of the pro-prajtor, Q,. Mu- 
cius, prevented active operations against him ; but the prae- 
tor P. Manlius, who now came out as his successor, finding 
himself at the head of a force of 22,000 foot and 1200 horse, 
advanced, and encamped near the Sardinian army. Hamp- 
sicora had left the command with his son, and the inexpe- 
rienced youth venturing to engage the Romans was defeat- 
ed, with a loss of 3000 men killed and 1800 taken. This 
victory would have ended the war, but that Hasdrubal 
landed with a Punic army. Having joined Hampsicora, 
he gave Manlius battle. After a conllict of four hours vic- 
tory declared for Rome: the enemy had 12,000 slain, 3700 
taken, among whpm were Hasdrubal and two other Carthagin- 
ians of rank, Hanno and Mago. Hampsicora put an end to 
himself a few days after, and the whole island then submitted. 

In Spain the Scipios gave a decisive defeat to the three 
Punic generals Hasdrubal, Mago, and Hamilcar, who were 
besieging the town of Illiturgis, (near Andujar.) It is said 
that with but sixteen thousand men they routed sixty thou- 
sand, killing more men than were in their own army. 
Shortly after they gave them another great defeat at a 
town named Intibili. Several more of the native peoples 
now declared for the Romans. 

The steady ally of Rome, the good king Hiero, died this 
year, after a life of ninety, a reign of fifty years. He was 
succeeded by his grandson Ilieronymus, a boy of; but fifteen 
years of age. A party in Syracuse, adverse to Rome, per- 
suaded this giddy, profligate youth to seek the friendship of 
19 nB 



iilS HISTORY OF ROML. 

Carthage, and he sent an embassy with that view to Han 
nibal. His overtures were eagerly accepted; a treaty was 
formed, l)y which the island was to be divided between 
them, and Hieronymus commenced hostilities. He was 
iiowever assassinated shortly afterwards at Leontini ; but the 
anti-Roman party still maintained the superiority at Syra- 
cusie. 

'J'he time of the elections at Rome being arrived, (538,) 
the consul Fabius returned to hold them. The prerogative 
tribe (/. f. the one allotted to vote first) having named T. 
Otacilrus and M. ^Emilius, the consul addressed them, and 
reminding them of their bounden duty in the present con- 
dition of their country to eJect none but the ablest men, de- 
sired them to vote over again. They then chose himself and 
M. Marcellus; and all the otlier tribes followed their ex- 
ample, in selecting the only men fit to oppose to Hannibal ; 
and old men called to mind the similar consulates of Fabius 
Maximus and P. Decius in the Gallic, and of Papiriua and 
Carvilius in the Samnite war. It was resolved to have 
eighteen legions this year, (for which purpose six new ones 
were to be raised,) and a fleet of one hundred and fifty ships 
of war. One hundred new ships were built, and every citi- 
zen whose fortune had been rated at 50,000 asses and* up- 
wards in the last census was obliged to furnish one or more 
sailors, according to his property, and to give them a year's 
pay. 

The consul Fabius having returned to his army, the Cam- 
panians, fearing that he would open the campaign with the 
siege of Capua, sent to Arpi to implore Hannibal to return 
to their defence. He therefore came and resumed his posi- 
tion on Mount Tifata, whence he moved down to the coast ; 
and after making an ineffectual attempt on Puteoli, which 
the Romans had fortified, he, at the invitation of the popu- 
lar party, approached Nola. But Marcellus had thrown hint- 
self, with a force of six thousand foot and three hundred 
horse, into it. An action, as before, was fought under the 
walls, rather to the disadvantage of Hannibal, who, giving 
up all hopes of taking the town, broke up in the night and 
marched for Tarentum, where he had a secret understand- 
ing with some of the citizens, who had formerly been hia 
prisoners. 

As the Roman power was annihilated in Bruttium and 
Lucania, Hanno led his army of seventeen thousand foot 
and twelve hundred horse, composed of Punic, Lucanian, 



DEFEAT J3F HANNO 219 

and Bruttian troops, into Samnium, to occupy the impor- 
tant town of Beoeventum. But Fabius had sent orders to 
Tib. Gracchus, who was at Nuceria with two legions, prin- 
cipally composed of Volones,* to hasten to preoccupy it. 
Gracchus had executed his orders, and when Hanno came, 
and, encamping on the river Calor about three miles off, be- 
gan to lay the country waste, he led his troops out against 
him. As the Volones, when leaving their winter quarters, 
had begun to murmur at not having yet received their free- 
dom, he had written to the senate on the subject, and had 
received authority to act as he deemed best. He now as- 
sembled his troops, and told them that whoever next day 
brought him the head of an enemy, should have his freedom. 
At sunrise he led them out ; the enemy did not decline the 
proffered battle. They fought for four hours with equal ad- 
vantage, when Gracchus, being told by the tribunes that the 
condition on which he had promised freedom, greatly retard- 
ed the men, gave orders for them to fling away the heads and 
grasp their swords. The enemies were soon driven to their 
camp with great slaughter ; the victors entered pellmell with 
them, and of the whole army but two thousand, (the number of 
the slam on the side of the Romans,) and these chiefly horse, 
escaped. Gracchus conferred the promised boon of freedom 
on the spot, and led back his triumphant army to Beneven- 
tum, where the people all poured out to meet them, and craved 
the proconsul's permission to entertain them. Leave was 
granted ; tables were then spread in the streets ; the Volones 
feasted, with caps or bands of white wool on their heads. 
Gracchus had this scene afterwards painted in the temple of 
Liberty, which his father had built on the Aventine. 

The two consuls meantime had laid siege to and reduced 
Casilinum ; Fabius then entered Samnium and laid it waste; 
Hannibal's plans on Tarentum were foiled by M. Valerius, 
who put a garrison into the town. On the other hind, 
Gracchus having sent some cohorts of Lucanians to plunder 
the hostile territory, they were fallen on and totally cut tn 
pieces by Hanno. . 

In Syracuse, after some of the atrocities familiar to the 
Greek democracies, the supreme power was transferred from 
the hands of the party who were for moderation and remain- 
ing faithful to Rome, to the rabble and the mercenary sol- 
diers. War was resolved on, and the chief command given 

* Thart is, the volunteer slaves, who had been armed. See abore, 
p. 211. 



S20 HISTOKY OF ROME. 

to Hippocrates and Epic^'des, tvvp Carthaginiaia of Syra- 
cusari descent, whom Hannibal had sent to Hieronynius. 
Marcellus, to whom the conduct of the war against Syracnse 
was committed, took Leontini by assault, and then came and 
encamped at the Olympium before Syracuse,* while his fleet 
assailed the wall of Acradina on tlie sea-side. Quinqueremes 
were lashed together, and wooden towers erected on them 
and engines plied, while light troops kept up a constant dis- 
charge from vessels ranged behind them. But Archimedes, 
the greatest mechanist of the age, was in Syracuse ; and in 
the time of Hiero he had placed engines along the walls, 
which now baffled all the skill and efforts of the Romans, + 
and Marcellus found himself obliged to convert the siege 
into a blockade. Himilco, with a Punic army, having gained 
over Agrigentum and some other towns, came and encamp- 
ed on the Anapus, about eight miles from Syracuse; but 
finding it in no need of aid, he led off his forces to the town 
of Murgantia, which the people i)ut into his hcinds, with the 
Roman garrison and magazines which were in it. The peo- 
ple of Emia, in the centre of the island, being suspected by 
the Rojuan commandant of a similar design, he fell on and 
massacred them as they were sitting in assembly; and Mar- 
cellus,so far from blaming the deed, gave the plunder of the 
town to the soldiers. As Enna was sacred to the goddesses 
Ceres and Proserpina, the horror of this impious deed made 
most of the remaining towns declare for the Punic cause. 
JNlarcellus now fixed his winter camp at Leon, about five 
miles north of Syracuse. 

The Romans commenced this year active operations 
against the king of Macedonia, whom LiEvinus defeated near 
the town of Aj)ollonia in Epirus.| In Spain, the advantage 
was on the side of the Romans, who gained some victories 
over their antagonists. 

The consuls for tlie next year (539) were 0.. F.abius Max- 
imus (son of the late consul) and Tib. Sempronius Grac- 
chus. The year is remarkably barren of events. Hanni- 
bal remained jnactive in the neighborhood pf ^'^s^regtum ; 

"I ■ ■ - i^- v!,. • ■ .. i" I , • • ■ ys •■' 

* See the description and plan of Syracuse, History of Greece, 
p. 235. 2d edit. 

t We are told that Bome of his mscliinos were iron hands, which 
■eizing' the ships by tlie prow turned them up on the poop, and tlien 
let theni fall ; and that by means of burning-glasses he set fire to seve- 
ral of the Roman vessels. (Livy, xxiii. M. Zonaras, ix. 4.) 

t The whole of the wars between Philip and the Romans will b« 
found in the History of Greece, Part III. chap. vii. and ^m. 



TAKING OF TARENTUSr. 221 

Marcellus lay before Syracuse ; the consul Fabius recovered 
•.he town of Arpi. In Spain the Scipios were still suc- 
cessful ; they began to follow the example of the Cartha- 
^/inians by taking the natives into pay, and a body of Celii 
berians served under their standard. They also extended 
tlieir views to Africa, where a Nuinidian prince named 
Syphax was at war with the Carthaginians. They sent 
three ceiitmions to him to propose an alliance; their offer 
was gladly accepted by the Numidian, and at his request 
one of the centurions remained with him to form and disci- 
pline a body of infantry, an arm in which the Numidians 
had been hitherto very deficient. But the Carthaginians 
formed an alliance with Gala, the king of that portion of the 
Numidians named Massylians ; and his troops, led by his 
son Masinissa, a youth of seventeen years of age, being 
joined with theirs, they gave Syphax a total defeat. He 
fled to the Maurusians and collected another army ; but 
Masinissa pursued and prevented him from passing over to 
Spain as he had intended. 

The following year (540) was one of the most eventful 
of the war. Q.. Fulvius Flaccus and Ap. Claudius were 
chosen consuls, and the army was raised to three-and-twenty 
legions. 

Early in the year Tarentum fell into the possession of 
Hannibal, in the following manner.* A Tarentine envoy 
at Rome, named Phileas, persuaded his countrymen who 
were retained there as hostages to make their escape. They 
were pursued and taken at Tarracina, and being brought 
back were scourged and cast from the Tarpeian rock. This 
piece of cruelty irritated the minds of their friends and rel- 
atives at Tarentum, and thirteen young men entered into 
a plot to give the town up to Hannibal. Going out under 
the pretext of hunting, they sought the Punic camp, which 
lay at a distance of three days' march ; and two of them, 
named Nico and Philemenus, giving themselves up to the 
guards, demanded to be led into the presence of Hannibal. 
The plan was soon arranged, and Hannibal desired them, 
as they were going away, tcf drive off the cattle which would 
be sent out of the camp next morning to graze, as this would 
give them credit in the eyes of their countrymen, and help 
to conceal their dealings with him. They did as directed, 
arid, by sharing their booty, gained great favor and manv 

** Polybius, viii. 26. Livy, xxv. 7 — 11. 

19* 



222 HISTORY OF SOME. 

imitators They thus went backwards and forwards seve- 
ral times and it was arranged that the rest should remain 
quiet, wliile Philemenus, whose passion for the chase was 
well -known, should keep going in and out under the pretext 
of liunting. lie always went and came at night, alleging 
his fear of the enemy, and always returned loaded with 
game, partly killed by himself, partly given him by Hanni- 
bal. A portion of this he took care to give to Livius, the 
llomaa commandant, and another part to the guards at the 
gate by which he used to come in. At length he won their 
confidence so completely, that as soon as his whistle was 
heard outside in the night, the gate was opened, without 
any incpiiry. ,,. 

II:innibal judged that the time for action was now arriv^, 
lie had hitherto feigned illness, lest the Romans should 
wonder at his staying so long in the one place; and he now 
did so more than ever. Then selecting ten thousand of his 
boldest and most active troops, both horse and foot, and di- 
recting them to take four days' provision, he set out with 
them before dawn ; a party of eighty Numidian horse pre- 
ceded them in order to scour the country, and prevent in- 
formation of their approach from being conveyed to Taren- 
tuni. Philemenus was with him as his guide, and the march 
was arranged so as to reach the city by midnight. 

The day fixed on by the conspirators was one on which 
Livius was to be at a banquet at the place nanicd the Mu- 
seum, close by the market. It was late in the evening 
when tidings came of the Numidians being seen, and he 
merely directed a party of horse to go out early in the 
morning and drive them off; ^it night he returned home 
without any suspicion, went to bed, and fell asleep. The 
conspirators remained on the watch for the signal arranged 
with Hannibal, who, when he drew near to the gate which 
had been agreed on, in the east part of the city, was to 
kindle a fire on a certain spot, and when those within had re- 
plied by a similar signal, both fires were to be extinguislved. 
The sitjual was made and returned in due time; the con- 
spirators then rushed to the gaie, killed the guards, and 
admitted Hannibal, who, leaving his horse wit^iout, moved 
on with iiis infantry, and took pos.session of the market. 
Meantime Philemenus was gone round with a thousand 
Africans to the gate he was used to enter at. He had the 
carcass of a huge wild-boar prepared for the purpose, and 
giving a whistle as -usual, the wicket was opeaed. He him 



SUCCE^^SES OF HANNIBAL. 223 

sell and three others bore the carcass on a barrow, and 
while the guard was handling and admiring it, they killed 
him : they then let in thirty Africans who were behind 
them, and cutting the bars opened the gates and admitted 
all the rest, and they joined Hannibal at the market. He 
divided a body of two thousand Gauls into three parts, and 
sent them through the town, with orders to kill all the Ro- 
mans they met ; and the conspirators, who had gotten some 
Roman trumpets and learned how to sound them, stood at 
the theatre and blew, and as the soldiers hastened on all 
sides to the signal, they were met and slain. Livius at the 
first alarm had run down to the port, and getting into a boat 
passed over to the citadel. 

As soon as it was daylight Hannibal invited all the Ta- 
rentines to come without arms to the market. When they 
appeared he spoke to them kindly as their friend, and dis- 
missed them with directions to set a mark on their houses. 
He then gave orders to pillage all the houses not marked, 
as belonging to the Romans or their friends. 

As the citadel lay on a small peninsula, and was secured 
on the town side by a deep ditch and wall, there were no 
hopes of being able to take it. To secure the city, there- 
fore, Hannibal began to run a rampart parallel to that of 
the citadel ; the Romans attempted to impede the works, 
hut were driven back with great loss. The rampart was 
then completed, and a ditch also run between it and the 
town ; and Hannibal retired and encamped on the Galaesus, 
about five miles off. When all was finished, some works 
were carried on against the citadel ; but the Romans, hav- 
ing been reenforced from Metapontum, made a sally by night 
and destroyed them. Hannibal saw that unless the Taren- 
tines were masters of the sea, there was no chance of re- 
ducing the citadel. But their ships which were in the har- 
bor could not get out, as that fortress commanded the 
entrance; he therefore had them hauled along a .street 
which ran across the peninsula into the open sea on the 
south side. The fleet then anchored before the citadel ; 
atid Hannibal, leaving a garrison in the town, returned to 
winter in his former camp.^ 

* Livy says that his authorities differed as to the year of the revolt of 
Tarenlum, some placing^ it in iiSO, but the greater number, and nearest 
to the events, in 540. If this last be the true date, it must have been 
early in the spring ; yet Livy himself says Hannibal went into winter 
quarters immediately after it ; and Polybius (viii. 36, 13) says that he 



224 HISTORY OF ROME. 

In the beginning of May the Roman consuls and praetors 
set out for their respective provinces. The two consuls, 
Q,. Fulvius and Ap. Claudius, encamped at Boviahurn, in 
Samnhim, intending to lay siege to Capua. The Campa- 
nians, being prevented by their presence from cultivating 
their lands, sent to Hannibal, imploring him to supply them 
with corn before the Romans entered their country. He 
ordered Hanno to attend to this matter, and this general 
came and encamped near Beneventum ; and having collectec^ 
there a large supply of corn, sent word to the Campanians 
to come and fetch it. With their usual indolence and 
negligence, they came with little more than forty wagons, 
and Hanno, having rated them well for it, appointed another 
day. But the Beneventines now heard of it : they sent to 
inform the consuls; and Fulvius set out with his army, 
and entered Beneventum by night. The Campanians came 
this time with two thousand wagons and a great crowd of 
people; and Fulvius, hearing that Hanno was away to get 
corn, came before daylight and assailed the camp. As thi.s 
lay on a hill, it cost the Romans much labor and loss to 
reach it; and the consul having advised with his officers, 
ordered the call for retreat to be sounded ; but the soldiers 
heeded it not ; they rushed on with emulative ardor, car- 
ried the rampart, and made themselves masters of the camp 
and all it contained. The consuls shortly after, having sum- 
moned Gracchus from Lncaniato the defence of Beneventum, 
proceeded to lay siege to Capua. But Gracchus was drawn 
by the treachery of a Lucanian into an ambush laid for him 
by Mago, and he and all that were with him were slain. 

When the consuls entered Campania and began to lay it 
waste, the Campanians, aided by a body of two thousand 
horse whicli Hannibal had sent them, sallied forth and killed 
about fifteen hundred of the Romans. Hannibal himself 
soon appeared, and gave the consuls battle; but the en- 
gagement was broken off by the sudden appearance in the 
distance of the army latelv commanded by Gracchus, which 
each supposed to be coming to the aid of the other side. 
The consuls in the night divided their forces, Fulvius going 
toward Cumi-e, Claudius into Lucania. Hannibal pursued 
this last, who gave him the slip and returned to Capua. 
CInnce however threw a victory into the hands of the Pu- 

remainod there the rest of the winter. It seems therefore most mryh- 
»\Je that the true time was the autumn or beginning of the winterer rvSO 



TAKING OF SYRACUSE. 225 

nic general; for a centurion named M. Centenius having 
boasted to the senate of all the mischief he could do the 
enemy, from his knowledge of the country, if they would 
let him have five thousand men, they had the folly to give 
him eight thousand, half citizens, half allies, and so many 
volunteers joined him on the way as doubled his army. With 
this force he entered Lucania, where Hannibal now was. 
But it was a far different thing to lead a company, and to 
command an army opposed to such a general as Hannibal, 
who speedily brought him to an action ; and of his whole 
force not more than one thousand men escaped. Hannibal 
moved thence into Apulia, where the praetor Cn. Fulvius lay 
with an army of eighteen thousand men at the town of Her- 
donia. The Roman general was rash and unskilful, and his 
army completely demoralized by laxity of discipline ; they 
therefore yielded the able Carthaginian an easy victory, and 
but two thousand men escaped from the field. 



CHAPTER V. 

taring of syracuse. defeat ann death of the scipios. 

— Hannibal's march to rome. — surrender of capua. 

SCIPIO IN SPAIN. taking OF NEW CARTHAGE. AFFAIRS 

IN ITALY. RETAKING OF TARENTUM. DEFEAT OF HAS- 

DRUBAL IN SPAIN. DEATH OP MARCELLUS. MARCH OP 

HASDRUBAL. HIS DEFEAT ON THE METAURUS. 

While the war thus proceeded in Italy, Marcellus urged on 
the siege of Syracuse. Taking advantage of a festival of 
Diana, (Artemis,) which the Syracusans were wont to cele- 
brate with abundance of wine and revelry, he one night 
scaled the walls and made himself master «. f the Epipolse. 
He encamped between Tycha and Neapolis,* to the inhab- 
itants of which he granted their lives and dwellings, but 
both quarters were given up to plunder. The commandant 
at Euryalus surrendered that important post on condition 
of the garrison being allowed to reenter the town. Mar 

* Part of the Temenites. See History of Greece. 

cc 



226 HISTORY OF ROME. 

cellus then formed three camps in order to blockade Acra- 
dina, while a Roman fleet lay without to prevent succor? 
or provisions from being broug.it by sea. 

After a few days, Himiico and Hippocrates came to the 
relief of the town ; they encamped at the Great Harbor 
and it was arranged, that while they attacked the divisior 
under the legate T. Crispinus at the Olympiuni, Epicydes 
should make a sally from Acradina against Marcelius, and 
the Punic fleet in the Harbor get close in to shore,. to pre- 
vent any aid being sen* to Crispinus. The whole plan 
however miscarried, for they were repulsed on all sides. It 
being now the autumn, fevers, produced by the moisture of 
the soil, broke out in both armies • the Sicilians in the army 
of Hippocrates returned home to escape it ; but the Punic 
troops having no retreat all perished, and an)ong them their 
two generals. The Romans suflTered less, as they were in 
the city, and had the shelter of the houses. 

Bomilcar, who had run out of the Great Harbor after 
the capture of Epipolai, was now at Cape Pachynus with one 
hundred and thirty ships of war and seventy transports, but 
the easterly winds kept him from doubling it. Epicydes, 
fearing he might go back, gave the command at Acradina 
to the leaders of the mercenaries, and went to him in order 
to induce him to give battle to the Roman fleet, which was 
inferior to his in number. The two fleets were now lying 
one on each side of the cape ; and as soon as the wind ceased 
to blow from the east, Bomilcar stood out to sea in order to 
double it, but seeing the Roman ships in motion he lost 
courage, and sending word to the transports to go back to 
Africa, made all sail for Tarentnm Epicydes then, giving 
up Syracuse for lost, retired to Agrigentum. 

A surrender of Svr.acuso, on fivorable terms, was now 
near being effected. Some of the inhabitants, learning that 
Marcellus would consent to leave them in the enjoyment of 
their liberty and laws, under the dominion of Rome, fell on 
and slew tlie governors whom Epic^'des had left, and having 
called an assembly of the people, elected praetors, (strateffi,) 
some of whom were sent to treat with Marcellus. Matters 
were thus on the point of being accommodated, when 
the deserters in the town, persuading the mercenaries that 
their cause was the same with theirs, fell on and killed the 
praetors and several of the inhabitants, and then appointed 
six governors of their own, three for Acradina and throe 
for the Island. The mercenaries, however, soon saw that 



DEFEAT AND DEATH OF THE SCIPIOS. 227 

iheir case was very different from that of the deserters ; 
and one of the three commandants of Acradina, a Spaniard 
named Mericus, made a secret agreement to put the town 
into the hands of Marcellus. For this purpose he proposed 
that each commandant should take charge of a separate 
part of the town. This was agreed to, and the part as- 
signed to himself being the Island, from the fount of Are- 
thiisa to the mouth of the Greek Harbor, he one night 
admitted a party of Roman soldiers at the gate next to the 
fount. In the morning, at daybreak, Marcellus made a 
general attack on Acradina, and while all the efforts of the 
besieged were directed against him, troops were landed 
on the island, and, with little loss, they made themselves 
masters of it and of a part of Acradina. Marcellus then 
sounded a recall, lest the royal treasures should be pillaged 
in the confusion. 

The deserters who were in Acradina having made their 
escape the town surrendered unconditionally, and Mar- 
cellus, when he had secured the royal treasure for the 
state, gave the city up to pillage. During the pillaging a 
soldier entered the room where Archimedes was deeply en- 
gaged over his geometrical figures, and not knowing who 
he was, killed him. Marcellus, who was greatly grieved at 
this mishap, gave him an honorable sepulture. The nu- S \ 

merous pictures, statues, and other works of art, in which 
Syracuse abounded, were sent to Rome to adorn that cap- 
ital. Marcellus shortly after gave the Punic forces and 
their allies a great defeat on the river Himera. 

But equal success did not attend the Roman arms in 
Spain ; for, the Scipios having divided their forces, Publius, 
hearing that a Spanish prince named Indibilis was coming 
with seven thousand five hundred men to join the Punic 
army, set out to give him battle on the road. In the midst 
of the action the Numidian horse came up, and then the 
rest of the .Punic army; the Romans were cut to pieces, 
and Scipio himself slain. About a month after, a similar 
fate befell Cu. Scipio and his army. From the wrecks of 
the two armies and the garrisons a new one was formed ; 
the soldiers themselves chose a^knight, named L. Marcius, 
to be their general, and under his command they repelled 
an attack on their own camp, and afterwards stormed two 
Punic camps with great slaughter of the enemies. 

The siege of Capua was now (541) the chief object of 
interest in Italy. Fulvius and Claudius had shut in that 



228 HISTORY OF ROME. 

town completely by a double ditch and rampart ; famine 
pressed, and the difficulty of communicating with Hannibal 
was extreme. At length, on being informed of the condition 
of his allies, the Pbnic general came to their aid, and a com- 
bined attack from within and without was made on the Ro- 
man lines. It was, however, repulsed with great loss on the 
part of the assailants, and Hannibal saw that the only chance 
of saving Capua was to menace Rome, as the army would 
probably be recalled to its defence. Having, therefore, sent 
word to the people of Capua to hold out manfully, he col- 
lected boats, and put his army over the Vulturnus; then 
crossing the Liris, inarched rapidly along the Latin road 
by Ferentinum, Anagnia, Lavici, Tusculuin, and Gabii, and 
encamped within eight miles of the city. 

The news of Hannibal's march caused great alarm at 
Rome. It was at first proposed to recall all the troops to 
the defence of the city ; but at last it was thought sufficient 
for one of the proconsuls to leave Capua, and come with a 
part of their forces. As Claudius was confined by a wound, 
Fulvius i)roceeded with sixteen thousand men along the 
? Appian road. He entered Rome at the Capene gate, and 

being* joined in command with the consuls, marched his 
forces through the city, and encamped without the Colline 
gate. Hannibal, who now lay beyond the Anio, only three 
miles from the city, advanced with two thousand horse as 
near as the temple of Hercules, in order to view it. Fulvius 
ordered the Roman horse to charge, and the consuls at the 
same time directed a body of twelve hundred Numidian de- 
serters who were on the Aventine to come down to the 
Esquili.T. The people who were on the Capitol, seeing 
them, thought the Aventine was taken, and the consternation 
that prevailed is not to be described. 

Ne.xt day Hannibal offered battle, but just as the two ar- 
mies were drawn out there came on a vi9lent storm of rain 
and hail which separated them ; the very same thing occur- 
red the following day. As soon as they returne<f to their 
camps the sky cleared, and Hannibal, it is said, seeing the 
hand of heaven in it, resolved to retire. It is also said, that 
he was moved thereto by intelligence of troops having actu- 
ally left the city at this time for the army in iSpain, and of 
the very ground on which he was encamped being sold, and 
having brought its full value, — all which proved to him that 
Rome was not to be conquered.* He then, it is added^ in 

* If these are not the fictions of Roman vanity, they were men) 
rhodomontades or artifices to keep op the spirits of the people. 



SCIPIO IN SPAIN. 

dension Called for an auctioneer, and desired him to put up ■ 

and sell the bankers' shops round the Forum. He moved ! 

thence to the river Tutia, six miles from the city, then pil- 1 

laged the temple of Feronia near Capenum, passed rapidly ■ 

through the Sabine and Marsian countries,* and thence to ! 

the extremity of Bruttium., in the hopes of surprising Rhe- I 
gium. . j 

On the return of Fulvius to the camp before Capua, the \ 

Campanians, hopeless of relief, agreed to an unconditional J 

surrender. Twenty-eight of <^he principal senators having ' 

partaken of a splendid supper at the house of Vibius Vir- ' 

rius, the chief author of the revolt, took poison to escape | 

the vengeance of the Romans. Seventy of the remaining 1 

senators were put to death, others were imprisoned in vari- 1 

ous places, the rest of the people sold for slaves, the town ■ 

and its territory confiscated to the Roman state. I 

A part of the besieging army was immediately embarked | 

for Spain under C. Claudius Nero. Being joined by the I 

troops there, he advanced against Hasdrubal, whom been- i 

closed in a valley; but the Carthaginian, by pretending to ' 

treat, contrived to get his troops out of it by degrees, and | 

then bade defiance to the baffled Roman. \ 

Spain, where the chief resources of the enemy lay, was | 

now of equal importance with Italy in the eyes of the Ro- \ 

man people, and comitia were held for appointing a procon- \ 

sul to take the command of the army there. No candidates > 

presented themselves : the people were dejected ; when sud- | 

denly P. Scipio, the son of Publius who had fallen in Spain, | 
a young man of only four-and-twenty years of age, came 

forward and sought the command. It was voted to him ( 

unanimously ; but soon, when the people thought of his ; 

age, and of the ill-fortune of his family in Spain, they be- | 

gan to repent of their precipitation. Scipio tlien called an [ 

assembly, and spoke in such a manner on these points as \ 

completely reassured them, and changed their fears into 1 

confidence. \ 

We have already seen Scipio distinguish himself at the 

T.icinus, and after the battle of Cannae. His was destined I 

to be one of the greatest names in Roman story. To the \ 

advantages of nature he joined such arts as \were calculated \ 

to raise him in the eyes of the people. From the day on ; 
which he assumed the virile toga^ he never did any thing 

* According to the historian Coelius (Liv. xxvi. 11) this was Han \ 

nibal's route to, aol from Rome. { 

20 I 



230 HISTORY OF ROME. 

either public or private without first ascending the Capitol, 
entering the temple, and sitting there for some time alone. 
Hence an opinion spread among the vulgar that, like Alex- 
ander the Great, he was of divine origin, and same even 
talked of a huge serpent that used to be seen in his 
mother's chamber, and which always vanished when any 
one entered. These things Scipio never either affirmed or 
denied, and thus enjoyed the advantage of the popular be- 
lief As a man, a statesman, and a general, his deeds will 
I best display his character. 

Having received an additional force of ten thousand foot 
1 and one thousand horse, with M. Junius Silanus as propra;- 

' tor under him, Scipio sailed for Spain. He landed at Em- 

1 poriae, and having gone thence to Tarraco, held a meeting 

I of the deputies of the allies ; he then visited the troops in 

i their quarters, and bestowed great praises on them for their 

' gallant conduct. To the brave Marcius he showed the most 

marked favor. As it was now late in the year, he returned 
i to Tarraco for the winter. 

; In Greece, this year, M. Valerius L<Evinus formed a treaty 

of alliance with the .liDtolians against king Philip. 

While Lajvinus was absent in Greece, he was chosen con- 
sul with Marcellus for the ensuing year. The army was re- 
j duced to twenty-one legions, by discharging those who had 

I served a long time. On the proposal of Laevinus, when 

I pay was not to be had for the seamen, and private persorts 

j murnmred at being called on to supply rowers as before, 

j the senators set the example, in which they were followed 

j by all orders, of giving their plate and jewels for the service 

of the state; and an abundant supply was thus obtained. 
! Early in the spring (542) Scipio set out from Tarraco, 

! and crossed the Ebro at the head of an army of twenty- 

five thousand foot and two thousand five hundred horse. 
The fleet under C. LjElius, having arrived at the mouth of 
that river, sailed thence along the coast, Lselius alone know- 
ing its destination; and it entered the port of New Carthage 
j just aij the army appeared before the walls. Scipio had re- 

1 solved to open the campaign by the siege of this important 

[ town, where all the money, arms, and stores of the enemy 

I lay ; and, what whs of still more consequence, where the 

! hostages of the native princes were kept.* 

[ The town of New Carthage was thus situated. On the 

I 

\ * This siegt is related by PoLybius, lib. x. 



TAKING OF NEW CARTHAGE. ^1 

east coast of Spain a bay, somewhat more than five hundred 
paces wide, runs for about the same length into the land ; a 
small island at its mouth shelters it from every wind but 
the south-east. At the bottom of the bay an elevated pen- 
insula advances, on which the town was built. The sea is 
deep on the east and south side of it ; on the west, and 
partly on the north, it is so shallow as to resemble a marsh, 
varying in depth with the tide. An isthmus, two hundred 
and fifty paces long, led from the town to the main land. 

Scipio, having secured his camp in the rear, attempted to 
take the town by escalade on the land side, but the ladders 
proved too short, and the walls being vigorously defended, 
he sounded a retreat. After a little time he ordered those 
who had not been engaged to take the ladders and renew 
the attack. It was now midday, and the retiring sea, 
combined with a » rong wind from the north, had rendered 

he marsh quite shallow. Scipio, learning this circumstance, 
represented it as a visible interference of the gods, and 
ordered a party of five hundred men to take Neptune as 
their leader, and wade through tiie marsh to the town. 
They easily accomplished this task ; and as the wall on that 
side was low and without guards, they penetrated into the 
town, and rushing to the gate, on the side where the rest of 
the army was making its attack, forced it open. The wall 
was now scaled at all points ; the soldiers poured in and 
slaughtered all they met, till the citadel surrendered, when 
orders were given to cease from the carnage. 

Thus was New Carthage taken in one day. The quantity 
of naval and military stores and of the precious metals 
found in it was immense. The hostages were numerous; 
some accounts said three hundred, others seven hundred 
and twenty-five ; and Scipio, having learned from them to 
what states they belonged, sent to them to desire them to 
come and receive their hostages. The wife of Mandonius, 
the brother of Indibilis, who was one of them, then came 
and besought him to have a due regard for the hone r of 
the daughters of Indibilis and other noble maidens who 
were among the hostages, and the young hero gave them in 
charge to an officer of well-known honor and integrity. 

Among the captives was a maiden of distinguished beauty 
When led by the soldiers before the conqueror, he inquired 
who and whence she was ; and finding, among other things, 
that she was betrothed to a Celtiberian prince, named Al- 

ucius, he sent to summon her parents a\ d her lover. On 



(232 HISTORY OF ROME. 

their arrival he first spoke with Allucius, and assured Into 
that the maiden, while in his hands, had been treated with 
the same respect as il' she had been in her father's house 
In return, he asked liini to become the friend of the Romun 
people. The prince grasped his hand, and with tears as- 
sured him of his gratitude. The parents and relatives of 
the maiden were then called in, and finding that she was 
to be released without ransom, they pressed Scipio to receive 
as a gift the gold they had brought. He yielded to their 
instances; the gold was laid at his feet; he then, called 
Allucius, and desired him to take it as an addition to his 
bride's dower.* The grateful Spaniard on his return home 
extolled the magnanimity of Scipio to the skies, and having 
raised a body of one thousand four hundred horse came 
and joined him shortly after. Scipio sent Ltelius home with 
the prisoners and tidings of his success, and then led his 
troops back to Tarraco. 

The consul Marcellus had meantime recovered the town 
of Salapia in Apulia, and taken by storm two Samnite towns. 
But the proconsul Cn. Fulvius, venturing to give battle to 
Hannibal near Herdonia, sustained a total defeat. Himsel' 
and eleven tribunes, and seven thousand — or, according to 
some, thirteen thousand — men, fell in the action. Mar- 
cellus hastened and engaged Hannibal at Numistro in Lu- 
cania; the battle, which lasted all through the day, was 
indecisive ; Hannibal then retired by ni^ht into Apulia, 
whither Marcellus followed him, but nothing of moment 
occurred. 

An embassy came at this time from Syphax to form a 
friendship with the Roman people. It was received with 
great favor, and envoys bearing gifts sent back with it. 
Two ambassadors were also sent to Egypt to renew the 
friendship with the king of that country. 

The consuls of the following year (543) were Q,. Fabius 
Maxinms and Q,. Fulvius Flaccus. Fabius, being resolved to 

* This is told in a much loss romantic manner by Polybius. He says 
that some yountr Romans brought the maiden to Scipio. He thanked 
them, and said that nothing could be more agreeable to him if he 
were a private pers(m than such a gift, but that his office of general 
did not allow him to accent it. lie then sent for her father, and 
giving her to him desired liim to match her with whichever of the 
citizens he preferred. Polybius, who omits no occasion of extolling 
the Scipios, could hardly Imve known any thiiig of the Prince Allu- 
e'.pf. Indeed, in the latter case, the maiden must live been a hostage^ 
which lessens Scipios m.-rit. 



RETAKING OF TARENTUM ^33 

reduce Tarentum if possible, besought his colleague and Mar- 
cellus to keep Hannibal in occupation; and Marcellus, who 
deemed himself alone able to cope with that great general, 
gladly took the field. They came to an engagement near 
Canusium, which was terminated by night. Next day it was 
renewed, and the Romans were defeated with the loss of two 
thousand seven hundred men. Marcellus, having severely 
rebuked and punished his men, led them out again the fol- 
lowing day, and after a bloody conflict they remained victo- 
rious. The loss of the enemy is said to have been eight thou- 
sand slain and five elephants, that of the Romans three thou- 
.•sand slain and a great number wounded. Hannibal retired 
thence to Bruttium. 

Fabius, on coming to Tarentum, fixed his camp at the 
mouth of the harbor, and prepared to assail it by machines 
worked on ship-board, as Marcellus had done at Syracuse ; 
but treachery enabled him to take the town with less hazard. 
The garrison was composed of Bruttiaus, left there by Hanni- 
bal, and its commander was in love with the sister of a man 
in the army of Fabius. This man, with the consul's consent, 
went into the town as a deserter, and by means of his sister 
induced the Bruttian to betray it. On the appointed night 
the trumpets sounded from the ships, the citadel, and camp, 
as for a general assault; and Fabius, who had secretly gon-e 
round with a select body of troops to the east side, was ad- 
mitted over the wall by the Bruttians. The town was speed- 
ily won : the booty was immense ; but Fabius abstained from 
takmg the pictures and statues, which nearly equalled those 
of Syracuse in number and value. Hannibal, who was has- 
tening to its relief, on hearing that it was taken, said, " The 
Romans have their Hannibal. We have lost Tarentum in 
the same way that we gained it." 

Scipio, having spent the winter in forming alliances with 
the native princes, crossed the Ebro early in the spring of 
this year. Near the town of Baecula he found Hannibal's 
brother, Hasdrubal, strongly encamped on an eminence, with 
the river Tagus in his rear. But the valor of the Roman 
soldiers led by Scipio overcame all obstacles, and Hasdrubal 
was routed with the loss of eight thousand men .slain, and 
twelve thousand taken in his camp. Among these last was 
a youth, the nephew of Masinissa the Numidian, whom 
Scipio treated with great kindness, and sent safe to his uncle. 
In imitation of Hannibal's policy, he gave their liberty to all 

20* DD 



234 HISTORY OF ROME. 

the Spaniards, but sold the Africans for slaves. He then 
returned to Tarraco. 

The consuls of the ensuing year, (544,) Marcellus and T. 
duinctius Cri?pinus, were joined in command against Han- 
nibal. Crispiniis, having made an ineffectual effort to take 
Locri, proceeded to Apulia to join his colleague, and the two 
consuls encamped about three n)iles asunder, between Venusia 
and Baritia. Hannibal came from Bruttium, and took up a po- 
sition near them. There was an eminence covered with wood 
between his camp and those of the Romans, and expecting 
that the latter would seek to occupy it, he sent in the night 
some of his Numidians to lie in ambush on it. The general 
cry in the Roman camp was to secure this hill, lest Hatinibal 
should get possession of it ; and to comply with the wishes 
of their men the consuls themselves set out with a party of 
two hundred and twenty horse to explore it. When they had 
gone a little wav up the hill they were suddenly assailed on 
all sides by the Numidians, and Marcellus was killed ; Cris- 
pinus escaped badly wounded. Hainiibal instantly occupied 
the height, and Crispinus retired the following night and en- 
cam])ed in the mountains. The Punic general gave honor- 
able sepulture to the body of his rival ; but having gotten 
his rinjT, he resolved to derive what advantage he could from 
it, and he wrote in his name to the people of Salapia, by a de- 
serter, to say that he would come thither the following night. 
Crispinus, however, had prudently sent to all the towns to in- 
form them of his colleague's death, and to warn them against 
letters sealed with his ring. The attempt on Salapia, there- 
fore miscarried, and Hannibal returned to Bruttium, where 
he forced the Romans to raise the siege of Locri. 

While Hannibal was thus engaged, his brother Hasdrubal 
was on his march from Spain to join him. After the victories 
gained by Scipio, and the influence he had obtained over the 
minds of the natives, the Carthaginians began to consider 
their cause iu that country as nearly hopeless; and, as Han- 
nibal had long been urgent for succors, it was resolved that 
Hasdrubal should lead an army into Italy. He was prepar- 
ing to do so at the time when he sustained the defeat from 
Scipio above related ; but as he had before the battle placed 
his elephants and treasure in safety, he retired to the north 
coast of Spain, and there enlisted a large body of Celtibe- 
rians ; and as Scipio had sent troops to guard the eastern 
passage of the Pyrenees, he entered (Jaul at the west side, 



M^aCH OF HASDRUBAL. 235 

and directed his march through Aquitania for tlie Alps. He 
l»ad sent to raise troops in Liguria, and eight thousand Ligu- 
rians were ready to join him when he appeared in Italy. 
The Gauls of the Alps, grown familiar with the passage of 
strangers, offered no opposition ; the asperities of the road 
had been removed by his brother, and he descended into the 
plain of the Po without having suffered any losses ; but in- 
stead of passing on to join Hannibal, he consumed the time, 
which was of so much value, in besieging the strong colony 
of Placentia. 

The consuls elected for this year (545) were C. Claudius 
Nero and M. Livius Salinator ; the former was opposed to 
Hannibal, the latter advanced to meet Hasdrubal. Claudius, 
having selected forty thousand fo6t and two thousand five 
hundred horse out of the troops in the south, took his post at 
Venusia ; Hannibal collected his forces from their quarters, 
advanced to Grumentum in Lucania, whither Claudius also 
came ; and the two armies were encamped about a mile and a 
half asunder. An engagement, in which it is said that Han- 
nibal was defeated, was fought in the plain which separated 
the camps, after which Hannibal, as was his wont, decamped 
in the night. Claudius followed, and coming up with him 
at Venusia gave him a slight defeat. Hannibal went thence 
to Metapontum, then back again to Venusia, and on to Ca- 
nusium, still followed by Claudius. 

Meantime Hasdrubal, having given over the siege of Pla- 
centia, was advancing southwards. He wrote to his brother 
to desire him to meet him in Umbria; but his letters fell into 
the hands of Claudius, who, deeming the time to be come 
for venturing on something extraordinary, sent the letters to 
the senate, informing them of what he intended to do, and 
directing them how to provide for the safety of the city in 
case of any mishap. He then despatched orders to the peo- 
ple of the country through which he intended to pass to have 
provisions, horses, and beasts of burden prepared ; and se- 
lecting six thousand foot and one thousand horse, desired them 
to be ready at night for an attempt on the nearest Punic gar- 
rison. At night he led them in the direction of Picenum, and 
when at a sufficient distance, informed them that it was his 
intention to go and join his colleague. Every where, as they 
passed, the people came forth to congratjlate them and pray for 
their success; supplies poured in in abundance ; the soldiers 
marched day and night, taking barely the necessary repose. 

Claudius had sent on to inquire of is colleague whethei 



236 HISTOBY OF ROME. 

he would wish them to jom him by day or by night, and 
whether they should enter his camp, or encamp separately. 
Livius desired them to enter his camp in secret, and by 
night ; and he arranged that the officers should receive tiie 
officers, the men the men, of Nero's army iuto their tents, 
so that the camp need not be enlarged, and tlie enemy might 
be thus kept in ignorance of their arrival. As Livius was 
encamped near the colony of Sena, about half a mile from 
the Punic camp, Nero halted in the neighboring mountains 
till night came, and he then entered the consul's camp. A 
councU of war was held next day, at which the praetor L. 
Porcius, who had followed Hasdrubal along the hills, and who 
was now encamped near the consul, assisted. Most were for 
a delay of a few days to rftst Nero's men, but he himself was 
decidedly against this course, lest Hannibal, having learned 
how he had been deceived sliould be enabled to join his 
brother. It was therefore resolved to give battle at once. 

The suspicious of Hasdrubid were aroused when he saw 
the old shields of a part of the Roman soldiers, and marked 
that their horses were leaner than usuaJ, and the number of 
the men was increased. He sent some down to where the 
Romans used to water, to observe if any of them were sun- 
burnt as off a journey ; and others to go round their camp, 
and discover if it had been enlarged, and if the trumpet 
was blown twice or only once. They reported that it was 
blown twice in one camp, once in the other ; and though 
they had remarked no change in the size, the wary general 
became convinced that the other consul must be there, and 
he began to fear that his brother had sustained a decisive 
defeat; still, thinking his letters might have been intercept- 
ed, he resolved to decamp in the night and fall back into 
Gaul, and there wait till he had some sure tidings of Han- 
nibal.* He therefore set out early in tlie night ; but his 
guides made their escape, and he vainly sought a ford in the 
river Metaurus, which increased in depth as it approached 
the sea. In the morning the Roman army came up, and 
Hasdrubal could no longer decline an engagement. 

The Roman army consisted of 45,000 men. Livius led 
the left, Nero the right wing, Porcius the centre. Hasdru- 
bal's forces exceeded 00,000 men ; he placed his Spanish 
troops, himself at their head, on the right ; the Gauls, pro- 
tected by a hill, on the left; the Ligurians in the centre, 
with the elephants in their front. The conflict between 
Livius and Hasdrubal was severe. Claudius, finding th?! 



DEFEAT OF HASDRUBAL ON THE METAURUS. 237 

the hill prevented him from attacking the Gauls, took some 
cohorts round in the rear and fell on the left flank of the 
Spaniards and Ligurians, who, being thus assailed on all 
sides, gave way ; the Gauls were also attacked, and easily 
routed ; the elephants were mostly killed by their own dri- 
vers. Hasdrubal, who had performed all the parts of an 
able general, seeing the battle lost, spurred his horse, and 
rushing into the midst of a Roman cohort, died as became 
the son of Hamilcar and the brother of Hannibal. This 
victory nearly compensated for CannPB ; 56,000 men, we are 
told, lay dead; 5400 were taken : the loss of the victors was 
8000 men.* 

That very night Nero set out, and reached his camp oti 
the sixth day, bearing with him the head of Hasdrubal, 
which, with a refinement of barbarity, he caused to be flung 
to the guards of Hannibal's camp, and he sent some of his 
prisoners in with the intelligence. Hannibal, struck with 
both the public and private calamity, cried, " I see the doom 
of Carthage ; " and instantly removed to the extremity of 
Bruttium, being resolved to act merely on the defensive. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SUCCESSES OF SCIPIO IN SPAIN. MUTINY IN HIS ARMY. 

CARTHAGINIANS EXPELLED FROM SPAIN. SCIPIo's RE- 
TURN TO ROME. HIS PREPARATIONS FOR INVADING AFRI- 
CA. INVASION OF AFRICA. HORRIBLE DESTRUCTION OF 

A PUNIC ARMV. DEFEAT OF THE CARTHAGINIANS. AT- 
TACK ON THE ROMAN FLEET. DEATH OF SOPHONISBA. 

RETURN OF HANNIBAL. INTERVIEW OF HANNIBAL AND 

SCIPIO. BATTLE OF ZAMA. END OF THE WAR. 

The war in Italy may now be regarded as terminated ; in 
Greece also little of importance occurred; Spain alone at- 
tracts attention. In this country, Hasdrubal the son of Gisco, 
and Hanno and Mago sustained the Punic cause. Against 
these last two, who had combined their forces, Scipio sent hia 

* L vy, xxvii. 49. Polybius (xi. 'S) makes the slain on one side 
10,000, on the other 2000 men. 



/838 HISTORY OF ROME. 

legate Silanus, who defeated them and toois: Haimo prisoner 
he also sent his brother Lucius Scipio to lay siege to a 
strong town named Oringis, and after a stout defence it w as 
tai<en. 

The following year (546) Hasdrubal and Mago, having 
raised an army of fifty thousand foot and four thousand five 
hundred horse, took their position at a p<ace named Silpia 
in Bretica, and prepared to give the Romans battle. Scipio 
moved from Tarraco to Castulo, and thence to Baicula, near 
which he encamped. His army now amounted to forty-five 
thousand men. The Punic army came and encamped near 
him, and for several successive days they stood in array 
without venturing to engage. At letigth Scipio, having 
chanu'ed the disposition of his forces without tlie knowledge 
of the enemy, brought them to an engagement, and com- 
pletely routed them. Most of their Spanish troojis went 
over to the Romans, and Mago, decamping in the night, 
hastened away to Gades. The Romans pursued, and the 
sword and desertion reduced his army to nought. Scipio 
then returned to Tarraco, leaving Silanus in the vicinity of 
Gades. 

Mnsinissa took occasion at this time to have a secret 
interview with Silanus, in which he expressed his desire to 
be on friendly terms with the Romans. Scipio, as (he Punic 
power was now at an end in Spain, began to think of trans- 
ferring the war to Africa. He therefore sent Lajlius with 
presents to Syphax ; and, at the desire of this prince to hold 
a ])ersorial conference with him, he himself crossed over 
to Africa. Hasdrubal happened to enter the same port 
a little time before him, and the two hostile generals were 
placed on the same couch at the entertainment given them 
by the king. Having formed a treaty of alliance with Sy- 
plirjx, Scipio returned to New (Carthage. 

After the death of the two Scipios, the cities of Illitnrgis 
and Castulo had cone over to the enemy, and the people of 
the former had added to their defection the guilt of mur- 
dering the Romans who had sought refuge with them. The 
time was now come for taking the Ions-meditated ven- 
geance : Scipio sent L. Marcius with one third of the army 
against Castulo, while he himself sat down before Illiturgis 
with the remainder. The Illiturgians, knowing they had no 
mercy to look for, made a most obstinate defence ; but the 
African deserters in the Roman service, having secretly 
•scaled a part which, from its height, was left unguarded, the 



jrrcEssEs of scipio in spain. 239 

town was taken. Men, women, and children were slaugh- 
tered without mercy or distinction ; the town was burnt, and 
all traces of it effaced. The fate of Castulo was less severe, 
as a party there betrayed the town and the Punic garrison 
into the hands of the Romans. Marcius then crossed the 
BcBtis, and laid siege to a town named Astapa, whose inhab- 
itants lived mostly by plunder. Their town was not strong, 
and they knew that they had no favor to expect. They 
r-esolved to perish nobly ; and collecting in tiieir market all 
their valuable properly, they piled it up, and making their 
women and children sit on the pile, they heaped wood and 
fagots around them. They set fifty armed youths to guard 
it, charging them, when they saw the town on the point of 
being taken, to destroy all there with the sword and fire. 
They then opened the gates and rushed forth; they drove off 
the horse and light troops: the legions had to come out 
against them, and at length, overwhelmed by numbers, they 
all perished. The fifty young men then drew their swords, 
slaughtered the women and children, threw their bodies on 
the pile, set fire to it, and flung themselves into the flames. 
Such was the end of Astapa. 

Some time after, Scipio happened to fall sick, and the 
Spanish princes Indibilis and Mandonius immediately seized 
arms and wasted the lands of the Roman allies. A mutiny 
also broke out in the Roman camp at Sucro, (Xucar.) The 
men complained of being detained in Spain, and of their 
pay being withheld; and on hearing a false rumor of the 
death of Scipio, they drove away their officers and gave the 
command to two common soldiers. But when they learned 
he was still alive, their courage fell, and they consented, 
seeing they had no chance of being able to resist, to go to 
New Carthage, and submit themselves to their general, with 
whose leniency they were well acquainted. They entered the 
town at sunset, and saw all the other troops preparing to 
march that night against the Spaniards. This sight filled 
them with joy, as they thought they should now have their 
general in their power. The other troops marched out at 
the fourth watch of the night; but liiey had orders to halt 
outside the town, and all the gates were secured. 

In the morning Scipio mounted his tribunal in the market, 
and summoned the mutineers before him. They came pre- 
oared with fierce mien and insolent words, hoping to bully 
nim ; but when they saw his healthy looks, and found that the 
other troops had reentered the town and were now surround- 



240 HrSTORY OF tOME. 

)ng them, wh? e they were unarmed, their spirits sank. Scipio 
sat in silence till he heard that the ringleaders, who had been 
secured in the nig'H, were at hand and that all was ready. He 
then rose and addressed them, reproaching them with their 
mutiny, and concluded by offering pardon to all but their 
leaders. The soldiers behind clashed their swords on their 
shields; the crier's voice was heard proclaiming the names of 
the condemned ; they were dragged forth naked, thirty-five 
in number, bound to the stake, scourged and beheaded, their 
comrades in guilt not daring even to utter a groan. The 
mutineers were made to renew their military oath, and they 
then received their arrears of pay. 

When Scipio had reduced his troops to obedience, he took 
the field against Indibilis and Mandonius, and having given 
them a decisive defeat, granted them peace on tlieir giving 
a large sum of money for the pay of the Roman army. He 
then proceeded toward Gades to meet Masinissa, who was 
anxious to have a per-'onal conference with him. 

The Numidian prince had been, as we have seen, for 
sometime wavering in his faith to Carthage. It is said* 
that injured love was the motive that now decided him to 
revolt. He had been educated at Carthage, where Hasdrn- 
bal, the son of Gisco, pleased with his noble qualities, had 
promised him the hand of his daughter Sophonisba, the 
most lovely, accomplished, and highly endowed maiden of her 
time. He had attended his fiiture father-in-law to Spain, 
and shown himself worthy of the honor designed him. But 
Syphax was also an admirer of the fair Sophonisba, and the 
desire of withdrawing this powerful prince from his alliance 
with the Romans overcame all sense of justice and honor 
in the minds of the Carthaginian senate, and, as it would 
seem, of Hasdrubal himself, and Sophonisba was given to 
him as the condition of his becoming the ally of Carthage. 
Masinissa, stung by jealousy, resolved to join the Romans; 
and pretending to Mago that the horses were injured by the 
confinement in the island (Isla de Leon) in which Gades lay, 
he obtained his permission to pass over on a plundering ex- 
cursion to the main land. He here had an interview witn 
Scipio, and pledged himself to the cause of Rome. 

Orders now came from Carthage for Mago to collect all 
his troops and ships, and sail to the north of Italy, and rais- 
ing there an army of Ligurians and Gauls, to endeavor to 

* Appian, Pun. viii. 37. Zonaras, ix. 11. 



SClPia'S RETURN TO ROME 34>J 

loin his brother Hannibal. Money was sent him for thia 
purpose, and to this he added what was in the treasury and 
temples at Gades, and the forced contributions of the citizens 
In consequence of this, when, after the failure of a nocturna. 
attempt on New Carthage, he returned to Gades, he found 
the gates closed against him, and on his retiring, the city 
was surrendered to the Romans. As it was now the end 
of autumn, he took up his winter quarters in the les.ser of 
the Baleares, (Minorca.) 

Scipio, having thus in five years achieved the conquest of 
Spain, now returned to Rome. The senate gave him au- 
dience, according to custom, at the temple of Bellona, with- 
out the city, and he gave a full account of his exploits. 
He had some hopes of being allowed to triumph ; but as this 
honor had hitherto been restricted to those who were magis- 
trates, he did not urge his claim. At the ensuing comitia, 
he was unanimously chosen consul for the next year (547) 
with P. Licinius Crassus, who was at this time great 
pontiff. 

Aware of the feeble hold which the Carthaginians had on 
the affections of their African subjects and allies, and recol- 
lecting the ease with which Agathocles and Regulus had 
brought them to the brink of ruin, Scipio was resolved, if 
possible, to transfer the war to their own shores. He was 
therefore desirous of having Africa assigned for his province, 
and he made no secret of his intention of appealing to the 
people if refused by the senate. The latter body were highly 
offended; some were envious of Scipio, others really dubious 
of the policy of invading Africa while Hannibal was in Italy. 
Among these last was Q,. Fabius Maximus, who spoke at 
great length against Scipio's plan. Scipio replied ; d. Ful- 
vius then demanded of him if he would leave the decision 
of the provinces to the Fathers; Scipio's answer was ambig- 
uous ; Fulvius appealed to the tribunes, and they declared that 
they would intercede. Scipio then demanded a day to con- 
sult with his colleague, and it ended by the decision being 
left to the Fathers, and their assigning Bruttium to one 
consul and Sicily to the other, with pei mission la pass 
over to Africa if he deemed it for the advantage of the 
state. 

The senate, being thus obliged to give way, vented their 
spleen by refusing Scipio leave to levy troops, and by refus- 
ing also to be at the expense of fitting out the fleet he might 
require. He did not pre.ss them j he only asked to be al- 

21 EE 



242 I'ISTORY OF ROME. 

lowed 10 take voluivieers and free-will offerings. This coul(J 
not well be refused: the various peoples of Etraria then con- 
tributed the materials for building and equipping ships; they 
also gave corn and arms; the Umbrians, Sabines, and the 
Marsian League sent numerous volunteers; the Camertians a 
complete cohort fully armed. Forty-five days after the trees 
for the purpose had been felled, a fleet of tliirty ships, fully 
equipped, was afloat. Scipio then passed over to Sicily, 
where he regimented his volunteers, keeping three hundred 
youths, the flower of them, about him, unarmed and ignorant 
of their destination. He soon after selected three hundred 
young Sicilians of good family, and directed them to be with 
liim on a certain day, fully equipped to serve as cavalry. 
They came ; but the idea of service was death to these ef- 
feminate youths and to their parents and rolatives. Scipio 
then offereul to provide them substitutes if they did not wish 
to serve. 'Jlley gladly embraced his offer : he appointed the 
three hundred youths to take their place; the Sicilians had 
to supply them with horses and arms, and have them taught 
to ride; and thus Scipio acquired without any e.xpensea valu- 
able body of hors<». He then draughted the best soldiers from 
the legions there, especially those who had served under Mar- 
cellus, and went to Syracuse for the winter. La;lius passed 
with a part of the fleet over to Africa, and landing at Hippo 
Regius plundereil the adjacent country. He was here joined 
by Masinissa, who having been driven out of his paternal 
kingdou) by Sypliax, was lurking with a few horsemen about 
the Lesser Syrlis. La;lius then returned with his booty to 
Sicily. 

In the course of this summer Mago sailed from the Baleares, 
and landed with l'-J,0(IO foot and 2000 horse at Genua, on 
the const of Liguria; and when Lailius had appeared in Af- 
rica the Punic senate sient him a reenforcement of 0000 foot, 
SOO horse, seven elephants, and a large sum of money, with 
directions to lose no time in hiring Gauls and Ligurians, and 
to endeavor to effect a junction with Hannibal as soon as 
possible, and thus give the Romaris employment at home. 
In Spain, Indibilis and Mandonius excited some of the native 
peoples to arms against the Romans ; but they were defeated 
and obliged to sue for peace. In Greece, a peace was con 
eluded with the king of Macedonia. 

The consulate of Scipio having expired, his command, as 
was usual, was prolonged for the ensuing year, (548,) and 
the ejes of all mc i were turned to the fine army which h# 



INVASION OF AFRICA 343 

nad assembled for the conquest of Africa. Adthorities dif 
fer respecting the niiraber of his forces, but they could hardlj 
have been less than thirty-five thousand men, horse and foot 
They embarked, taking with them provisions for forty-five 
days; the transports sailed in the centre; on the right were 
twenty ships of war under Scipio himself and his brother 
Lucius, and an equal number on the left under Lajlius and 
M, Fortius Cato the qufestor; each transport carried two 
lights, each ship of war one, the general's ship three; the 
pilots were directed to steer for the Emporia on the Syrtes. 
The fleet left Lilybaeum at daybreak, and next morning it 
was off the Hermaic cape. Scipio's pilot proposed to land 
there, but he directed him to keep to the left. A fog however 
came on, and the wind fell ; during the night a contrary 
wind sprang up, and at dawn they found themselves off the 
Cape of Apollo, on the west side of the bay of Carthage, not 
far from Utica, and here they landed and encamped. 

The consternation was great in Carthage when it was known 
that the formidable Scipio was actually landed in Africa. 
Orders were sent to Hasdrubal, who was away collecting troops 
and elephants, to hasten to the defence of his country, and 
envoys were despatched to Syphax for a similar purpose. Has- 
drubal's son Hanno was directed to take a station with four 
thousand horse about fifteen miles from the Roman camp to 
protect the open country ; but Masinissa, who was now with 
Scipio, drew him to where the Roman horse stood covered 
by some hills, and nearly all his men were slain or taken. 
lie was himself made a prisoner, and afterwards exchanged 
for Masinissa's mother. Scipio and Masinissa now laid the 
country waste without opposition, and they set at liberty 
a, great number of Roman captives who were working as 
slaves in the fields. They laid siege to a large town named 
Lacha ; the scaling-ladders were placed, when the people sent, 
offering to surrender ; Scipio ordered the trumpet to sound 
the recall : the soldiers heeded it not, the town was stormed, 
and a general slaughter commenced. To punish his men 
Scipio deprived them of all their booty, and he put to death 
three of the most guilty tribunes. Hasdrubal, who was now 
at hand with an army of 20,000 foot, 7000 horse, 140 ele- 
phants, made an attack on the Romans, but was driven off 
with the loss of 5000 slain and 1800 prisoners. 

Scipio, wishing to have a strong town as a place of arms 
?,nd for winter quarters, now laid siege to Utica : he had 
brought a>l the necessary machines from Sicily ; but the Uti- 



^44 HISTORY CF ROME/ ''J 

cans defended themselves gallantly and after assailing the tuwn 
for forty days he was forced to give over the siege. lie with- 
drew, and fixed his winter camp on a rocky peninsula, which 
ran out into the sea, to the east of that town. Hasdruhal 
j encamped in the vicinity, as also did Svphax, the former with 

j :30,U()0 foot and ;J()UO horse, the latter with ,>U,(X)0 foot and 

• 10,000 horse, but they made no attempt on the Roman 

I camp. 

I During the winter Scipio entered into negotiations with 

i| Syphax, in hopes of detaching him from the Carthaginians,* 

I but the Numidian would not h6ar of revolt , he proposed 

J that the one party should evacuate Italy, the other Aliica, 

I and both remain as they were. Scipio at first would not 

listen to these terms; but when some of those whom he had 
( sent to Syphax told him how the huts in the Punic camp 

I were formed of wood and leaves, while those of the Numid- 

j ians were of reeds, or they lay on simple leaves, and many of 

J them without the camp, he conceived the horrible project of 

I setting fire to both the camps in the night, and tnassaciing 

tiio troops amidst the flames. He feigned therefore to hearken 
to the proposal of Syphax; messengers went constantly to and 
tVo, and even remained for days on each side; and Scipio took 
care to send with them some of his most intelligent soldiers, 
disguised as slaves, who were to observe the position and 
form of the camps. 
^ When the spring cjune, (ooQ,) Scipio, having gained all 

I the knowledge he required, launched his ships and put liis 

machines aboard as if to renew his attacks on Utica, and he 
fortified an eminence near the town which he had occupied 
before, and placed on it a body of two thonsand men, osten- 
sively to act against the town, but in reality to prevent an 
attempt on his canip bv the garrison during his absence. 
He then sent envoys to Syphax to know if the Carthaginians 
had made up their minds to agree to the terms arranged 
between them, and the envoys had orders not to return 
without a categorical answer. Syphax, now quite certain 
of the Roman's sincerity, sent to Hasdruhal, and receiving 
a perfectly satisfactory rrply, joyfully dismissed Scipio's 
envoys. But to his great mortification others came almost 
iirimediatelv, to sav that Scipio himself was well content to 
make peace on these terms, but that his council would not 
on any account accede to them. T us was all done by .Scipio 
in order to clear himself from the guilt of breach of truce, 

* Polvbius, xiv. 1 — 5. Livy, xxx. li — 6. 



HORRIBLE DESTRUCTION OF A PUNIC ARMY. 245 



in making an attack while negotiations for peace were j 
going on. 

Syphax and llasdrubal, little suspecting the atrocious j 

design of the Roman general, having consulted together, i 

agreed to offer him battle, at once. But Scipio about mid- '; 

day assembled his ablest and m(»st trusty tribunes, and '| 

having communicated to them his plan, (which had hitherto i 

been a most profound secret,) directed them, when the [ 

trumpets sounded as usual after supper for setting the guards, ' 
to lead their men out of the camp. He then sent for those 

who had acted as spies, and examined them as to the state ! 

of the enemies' camps in the presence of Masinissa. At ; 

night, when all was ready he set out, at the end of the first { 

watch, and reaching the hostile camps by the end of the third | 

watch, he divided his forces, giving one half of the soldiers ■ 

and all the Numidians to Lselius and Masinissa, with orders ' 

to attack the camp of Syphax, while he himself led the rest [ 

of the army against that of Hasdrubal. j' 

Laelius and Masinissa having divided their troops, the i; 

latter went and stationed his men at all the avenues of the 1 

camp, while the former set fire to it. The flames, which I 

spread rapidly, roused Syphax and his people from their \ 

sleep, and having no doubt that the fire was accidental, they | 

endeavored, naked as they were, to get out of the camp ; but | 

several were burnt to death, others trampled down in the | 

rush-out, and those who got out were cut to pieces by Mas- | 

itiissa's soldiers. Those in the other camp, when they saw | 

the flames, also took them to be accidental, and some has- | 

tened to give assistance, while the rest came and stood out- \ 

side of the camp gazing on the conflagration. .All were [ 

alike fallen on and slaughtered by the Romans, who at the I 

same time set fire to their camp. Here also the flames ( 

spread in all directions; in both camps men, horses, and 'i, 

beasts of burden were to be seen, some perishing in the ;/ 

flames, others rushing through them, and all over the plain [ 

naked, unarmed fugitives pursued and slaughtered by their I 

ruthless foes; of so many myriads * but about 20OO foot and | 
500 horse escaped, with Hasdrubal and Syphax. 

"Scipio," says Polybius, "performed many great and j 

glorious actions, but, in my opinion, this was the boldest ! 
and most glorious he ever achieved." Yet what was it in 

• Accc.'dinEr'toLiWi 40,000 men perished' by the ftamfea oc by thi^ 
21» 



246 MI'iTORY OF ROME 

reality but a tissue of treachery, duplicity, and cruelty ? By 
a pretended negotiation the suspicions of the enemv were 
lulled to rest, and an opportunity gained for spying out their 
camps, and ihei» they were secretly assailed and set fire to ut 
the hour when all in them were asleep. Such a treacherous 
and cowardly procedure may be worthy of a leader of pirates 
or bandits, but it was surely disgraceful, at the least, to the 
general of a great republic. ■ '''"i 

Hasdrubal tied first to a town in the vicinity, and thence 
to Carthage, where opinions were divided; some were for 
\ suing for peace, others for recalling Hannibal, others for 

] raising more troops, calling again on Syphax, and continuing 

i the war. This last opinion prevailed. Syphax, yielding to 

j the tears and entreaties of his lovely wife, and encouraged 

by the a|)pearance of a fine body of four thousand Celtiberjans 
who were just arrived, consented to make new levies, and in 
the space of thirty days a combined army of 30,000 men 
encamped on the Great Plain five days' march from Utica. 
j Scipio, leaving the siege of this town, advanced to engage 

them. After three days* skirmishing a general action com- 
I menced : the Roman army was drawn up with the Italian 

horse on the right, the Numidians on the left wing. The 
I Celtiberians were in the centre of the opposite army, the 

Carthaginians on the right, the Numidians on the left. The 
i iast two gave way at the first shock ; the Celtiberians fought 

{ nobly, and perished to the last nian. After the battle Scipio 

I held a council, and it was decided that t^ajlins and Masinisst. 

1 should pursue Syphax, while Scipio employed himself in 

j reducing the Punic towns, many of which readily surren- 

dered, for the heavy iMij)Ositions which had been laid on 
them during the war had made them lukewarm in their alle- 
giance. 

In Carthage it was now resolved to send to recall' Hanni- 
bal, to strengthen the defences of the city, and to send out a 
fleet to attack that of the Romans at Utica. Scipio mean- 
time advanced and occupied Tunis, a town within view of 
Carthage, at a distance of about fifteen miles. While here, 
he saw the Punic fleet putting to sea, and fearing for his own, 
he led his troops back to Utica. As his ships of war were 
j not in a condition for fighting, being prepared for battering 

1 the town-, he drew tliem lip Close to the' shore, p acing the 

j transports three and four deep outside of them, with their 

' ^asts and yards }9^d ?tor9P3 thepi, a«4>^fl tpgeiber and cov- 

i ered with planks ; and he set about one thousand men to 



ATTACK ON THE ROMAN FLEET 847 

defend them. Had the Caithaginians come up while all was 
in confusion, they might have done much injury, but they 
Joitered so that they did not appear till the second day, and 
with all their efforts they only succeeded in dragging away 
six of the transports. 

Lcelius and Masinissa reached Numidia on the fifteenth 
day, and the Massylians gladly received their native prince. 
But Syphax having collected another army came and gave 
them battle, and was again defeated, and having fallen from 
hiri horse, that was wounded, he was made prisoner. Mas- 
inissa then pressed on for Syphax's capital, named Cirta, 
which surrendered when assured of that prince's captivity. 
Here as he entered the palace he met Sophonisba, who 
falling at his feet implored him to put her to death rather 
than give her up to the Romans. The prince's love revived, 
and as the only means of saving her from the Romans he 
resolved to espouse her that very day. The wedding was 
celebrated before the arrival of Laelius, who was highly in- 
dignant at it, and was even going to drag her from him, but 
he conceded to the tears of the prince that the decision 
should rest with Scipio. 

When Syphax was brought before Scipio he threw the 
whole blame of his change of policy on Sophonisba, and 
probably out of jealousy, assured him that her influence over 
Masinissa would produce similar effects. This sank deep in 
the mind of the politic Roman ; and, when Masinissa arrived, 
he lectured him gravely on his conduct, and insisted on his 
giving up Sophonisba. The lover burst into tears, and 
prayed to be permitted, as far as w.is possible, to keep his 
promise to his bride; he then retired to his tent, and having 
given way to an agony of grief, called a trusty servant who 
kept the poison with which monarchs in those times were 
always provided, desired him to bear it to Sophonisba, and 
tell her, that unable to keep the first part of his promise he 
thus performed the second, and it was for her to act as 
became the daughter of Hasdrubal and the spouse of two 
kings. The servant hastened to Cirta. " I accept the nup- 
tial gift," said Sophonisba, "no ungrateful one, if a husband 
could give his wife nothing better. Tell him only this, that 
I should have died with more glory if I had not married on 
the eve of death." So saying she took the bowl and drained 
it.* Scipio, now relieved from his apprehensions,, sought to 

* Livy, and probably Polybius, says nothing of the previous love of 
Masinissa. According to Appian, as he approached Cirta, Sophonisba 



24S HISTORY OF ROME. 

console Masinissa he publicly gave him the title of ling, 
and, after the Roman custom, presented him with the regal 
insignia. Syphax was sent to Rome, and he died soon after 
at Tibur. The senate and people confirmed the honors 
bestowed l)y Scip o on Masinissa. 

Scipio now returned to Tunis, whither came an embassy 
from Car'hage suing for peace, and throwing all the blame 
of the war on Hannibal. The terms he proposed were the 
withdrawal of all their troops from Italy, Gaul, Spain, and 
the islands, their giving up all their ships of war but twenty, 
delivering 500,000 measures of wheat and 200,000 of barley, 
and paying a large sum of money. He gave them three days 
to consider of them ; at the end of that time a truce was 
made to enable them to send to Rome. 

Meantime Hannibal and Mago had both been recalled. 
The latter having been worsted in a severe-fought battle in 
Insubrian Gaul, and wounded in the thigh, was glad to leave 
Italy ; he embarked his troops ; but he died of his wound 
when off Sardinia, and several of his ships were taken by the 
Romans. Hannibal, it is said, groaned when he received 
the order to return ; and as he departed, looking back on 
the shores of Italy, where he had spent so many years, he 
cursed his own folly in not having marched for Rome after 
the victory at Cannae. This last circumstance proves that 
we have not here a true account, for Hannibal could not 
have blamed himself for acting right ; and as he must have 
been by this time perfectly sure that under the present cir- 
cumstances the conquest of Italy was become hopeless, his 
groans, if any, were not for his recall, but for the occasion 
of it. He landed his troops at Leptis. 

The Punic envoys received a dubious answer at Rome, 
and before they returned the truce had been broken ; for a 
number of ships laden with supplies from Sicily for the Ro- 
man army, being driven into the bay of Carthage, the Car- 
thaginians seized them ; and when Scipio sent envoys to 

eentti) trll him that she had been obliged to rtiarry Syphax. Masinissa 
left her at Cirta. Scipio very roughly ordered him to give her up, and 
not to attempt to deprive the Romans of a part of their booty. The 
prince then set out with some Romans as if to fetch her, and contriving 
to see her alone handed lier a bowl of poison, and telling her that she 
must drink it or b«>come a slave to the Romans, gave spurs to his horse 
and left her. She drank it: and .Masinissa having shown the Romans 
her dead body, buried her as a queen. See also Zonaras, ix. 13. At 
rJ! events, Scipio's conduct was that of the politician, not of the .nan 
of generous feelings. 



RETUUN OF HANNIBAL. 249 

complain, they narrowly escaped personal ill treatment, and 
as they returned their vessel was attacked within view of tiie 
Roman camp by a Punic ship of war, and most of the crew 
slain. Notwithstanding this breach of faith, Scipio dismissed 
in safety the Punic envoys when they reached his camp on 
their return from Rome. ; 

The war was resumed,* (550,) and the Carthaginians, con- 
scious of wrong, resolved to strain every nerve. Hannibal 
had now advanced to Adrumetum, whither numerous volun- 
teers repaired to him, and he engaged a large body of 
Numidian cavalry. Urged then by the pressing instances of 
the people of Carthage, he advanced to Zama, a town about 
five days' march to the west of that city, whence he sent three 
spies to learn where and how the Romans were encamped. 
These spies were taken and led before Scipio ; but, like 
Xer.ves,t he had them conducted all through his camp and 
then dismissed in safety. Struck by this conduct, which 
evinced such confidence in his own strength, Hannibal pro- 
posed a personal interview, in hopes, while his forces were 
still unimpaired, that he should be able to obtain better terms 
for his country. The Roman did not decline the interview, 
but said he would appoint the time for it to take place. He 
was joined next day by Masinissa with six thousand foot and 
four thousand horse ; and he advanced and encamped near a 
town named N<iragara, whence he sent to inform Hannibal 
that he was ready to confer with him. The Punic general 
came and encamped on a hill about four miles off; and next 
day each set out from his camp with a few horsemen, and 
then leaving their attendants at a little distance they met, an 
interpreter alone being present. Hannibal commenced by 
expressing his wish that the one people had never gone out 
of Africa, or the other out of Italy, — their natural domin- 
iojjs. He reminded Scipio of the instability of fortune, of 
which he was himself so notable an instance, and concluded 
by offering on the part of Carthage to cede Spain and Sicily, 
Sardinia, and all the other islands to the Romans. Scipio 
commenced by attempting to justify the conduct of the Ro- 
mans in entering Sicily and Spain as the defenders of their 
allies. He dwelt on the late breach of faith at the moment 
when the Roman senate and people had consented to a peace \ 

* We have the narrative of Polybius (xv, 3 — lO) hence to the end 
of the war. 

t Hstory of Greece, p. 107, 2d edit. 

F F 



250 HISTCRT OF ROME. 

and said that if tlie less advantageous terms now proposed 
were agreed to, it would be a ])reiTiiuni on bad faith. Victory 
or uncoaditioii;!l submission alone remained for Carthage. 
The conference thus terminated, and each general retired to 
prepare for battle. 

At dawn the next day the two armies were drawn out for 
the conflict which was to decide the fate of Carthage. 
Never were two more eminent generals opposed to each 
other ; Hannibal the greatest, not merely of his own, but, per- 
haps of any age, Scipio inferior only to Hannibal. In num- 
ber of troops the advantage was on the side of the former,* 
but they were mostly raw levies, and only those who had 
served in Italy could vie in steadiness and discipline with the 
troops led by the Roman. 

Scipio drew up his troops in the usual manner, but instead 
of placing the maniples of the Principes opposite the inter- 
vals of those of the Hastats, he set them directly behind 
them, thus leaving open passages through his lines for the 
elephants to run through. In these intervals he placed the 
Velites, or liglit troops, directing them to begin the action, 
and if oppressed by the elephants to retire through the in- 
tervnls to the rear, or if they could not do so to fall into the 
CTOss-ihtervals. The Italian cavalry under La;lius was sta- 
tioned on the left, Masinissa and his Numidians on the right 
wing. Hannibal placed his elephants (of which he had 
eighty) in front; behind them his Ligurian, Gallic, Balearic, 
and Moorish mercenaries, twelve thousand in number; after 
these the Africans and Carthagmians; and then, at the dis- 
tance of somewhat more than a furlong, the troops he had 
brought from Italy. + It was on these last that he placed his 
chief reliance; the mercenaries were put in front to weary 
the Romans, if with nothing else, with slaughtering them ; 
the Carthaginians in the middle, that they might be obliged, 
willing or not, to fight : the Punic horse were on the right, 
the Numidian on the left wing. 
>':'Each general having encouraged his men, the battle com- 

* Appian (viii. 40,41) gives the tnt^l of the Punic force 50,000 men, 
Mtat <j^ the Romarta 23^0 foot and 1500 horse, exclusive of the Nn- 
itiidians. 

t Li»y makes a Curious mistake here. Finding 5n liis Polybius 
Toi'c »; '/ruAi'uc (xoituc I'f^^ iavrov, he renders it by " aciem Italico- 
ritm mi'itum (BruUU pJerif/uf- eranl, ri ac necessitatr jtlurcs, qnam sua 
roluntiite, deccdentem ex Italia sequud) instnixit." It is manifest ftoin 
Polybius (XT. 11, 6— 13) that thejr wer« bi^ veteran trx^ops. ' .'|' . ' 

■f I 



BATTLE OF ZAMA. 251 

menced with the skirmishing of the Numidian horse. Han- 
nibal then ordered the elephants to advance ; but the Romans 
blew their horns and trumpets, and some of the animals, 
terrified at the clangor, ran to the left, where they threw 
their own horse into such confusion that they could not 
stand before that of Masinissa ; the rest rushed on the Ro- 
man Velites, where they did and received much injury : at 
length, maddened by the noise and their wounds, they ran 
part through the intervals of the Roman lines, part to the 
right, where, by the confusion they caused, they rendered 
easy the victory of Laelius over the Punic horse. 

The infantry on both sides now advanced ; the three lines 
of the Romans supporting each other, while the timid Car- 
thaginians let their front line go forward alone. These mer- 
cenaries fought bravely, and killed and wounded many of the 
Romans ; but at length they were forced to give way before 
the close steady orders of the Romans, and fall back on their 
second line; and enraged at the cowardice of the Africans, 
they treated them as enemies. The Carthaginians, thus as- 
sailed at the one tiuie by the Romans and by their own 
mercenaries, gathered courage from despair, and fought with 
desperation. They threw the Hastats into confusion ; the 
Principes then advanced against them ; the slaughter of them 
and their mercenaries was immense : Haiinibal would not 
allow the fugitives to mingle with his reserve, and they were 
obliged to scatter over the plain. 

The bodies and arms of the slain lay in such heaps that it 
was difficult for the Roman troops to move forward in regu- 
lar order over them. Scipio therefore, having sounded the 
recall for the Hastats, who were in pursuit of the flying foes, 
made them form beyond the heaps of slain; then increasing 
the depth of the Principes and Triarians on the wings, he 
advanced with them over the dead bodies, and on coming up 
With the Hastats led the whole force against Hannibal's re- 
serve. It was now that the battle might be said to commence 
in reality. The numbers were nearly equal,* their arms the 
same, their courage and discipline alike. Long was the 
contest doubtful ; at length fortune, or rather the destiny of 
Rome, favored the Romans. Laelius and Masinissa return- 
ing from the pursuit fell on the rear of Hannibal's troops, 
and thus assailed in front and rear they were forced to give 
• vi^y. "Whe loss of the Carthaginians in this ' battle was 

ml 1o '>T »l»olj?)iu8. Yetitcanhardljrbelrii*'. ''^'-'^ ""'S*' 



252 histohy of rome. 

20,000 slain, and nearly an equal number taken; that o he 
victors was from 1500 to 2000 men. Hannibal having, both 
before and after the battle, by the confession of Scipio him- 
self and tlie military men of all ages, done all that was in 
man to secure the victory, fled with a few horsemen to 
Adrujnctum, whence at the call of the government he pro- 
ceeded to Carthage, which he had not seen since he leit it 
six-and-thirty years before. He advised to sue for peace, as 
he declared himself to be beaten not merely in a battle but 
in the war, — meaning that the resources of Carthage were 
all exhausted. 

Scipio, having taken the enemy's camp, led his army back 
to Ulica, where finding a Roman fleet arrived, he sent La;li- 
us home with the news of his victory; and desiring his legate 
Octavius to lead the troops by land to Carthage, he sailed 
himself with the fleet for the port of that city. When he 
came near it, he met a ship adorned with olive-branches, on 
board of which were ten noble Carthaginians come to sue 
for peace. He desired them to meet him at Tunis, whither 
he repaired when he had taken a personal survey of the bay 
of Carthage. When the Punic envoys came, he held a 
council of war; all voices were at first for destroying Car- 
thage; but Scipio, aware of the length and difliculty of the 
siege, and also apprehensive of a successor coming out to rob 
hira of his glory, declared for peace, and hi.s oflicers readily 
acquiesced in his views. After reprehending the Cartha- 
ginians for their breach of faith, he offered peace on the 
following conditions. The Carthaginians to retain all they 
had possessed in Africa before the war; to make good the 
losses caused by their seizure of (he ships during the late 
truce; to give up all deserters and prisoners, and all their 
long ships and elephants but ten ; not to make war either in 
or out of Africa without the consent of the Romans ; to 
restore all his possessions to Masinissa ; to give three months' 
corn to the Roman army, and pay till an answer should come 
from Rome ; to pay 10,000 talents at the rate of two hundred 
a year ; and to give one hundred hostage^, between the ages 
of fourteen and thirty years, to be selected by the Roman 
general. 

When the deputies returned to Carthage with these terms, 
one of the senators, it is said, rose to object to them, but 
Hannibal went and dragged him down from the pulpit. An 
outcry being raised at this breach of decorum, Hannibal 
again stood up and excused hiipself on the score of his 



MAC'EDONIAN WARi ' 253 

ignorance, on account of his long absence from home. He 
then strongly urged to accept of peace on the terms pro- 
posed. His advice was followed ; the peace was confirmed 
by the Roman senate and people; and thus, after a duration 
of seventeen years, was terminated the second Punic war. 

Scipio having led home his victorious army entered Rome 
ill triumph. He derived from his conquest the title of Afri- 
canus, it is not known how conferred, and his was the first 
example of the kind known at Rome.* 



CHAPTER VH. 

MACEDONIAN WAR. FLIGHT OF HANNIBAL FROM CARTHAGE. 

ANTIOCHUS IN GREECE. INVASION OF ASIA AND DEFEAT 

OF ANTIOCHUS. DEATH OF HANNIBAL. LAST DAYS OP 

SCIPIO. CHARACTERS OF HANNIBAL AND SCIPIO. WAR 

WITH PERSEUS OF MACEDONIA. CONQUEST OF MACEDONIA. 

TRIUMPH OP ^MILIUS PAULUS. , , , 

The victory of Zama gave the Romans the dominion of the 
West; the ambitious senate then aspired to that of the East, 
and the king of Macedonia was selected as the first object 
of attack. The people, wearied out with service and con- 
tributions, were with some difficulty induced to give their 
consent ; and war was declared against Philip under the 
pretext of his having injured the allies of Rome, namely, the 
Athenians, and the kings of Egypt and Pergamus.t 

Philip after the late peace had been assiduous in augment- 
ing his fleet and army ; but instead of joining Hannibal 
when he was in Italy, he employed himself, in conjunction 
with Antiochus king of Syria, in seizing the islands and the 
towns on the coast of the ^gean, which were under the 
protection of Egypt, whose king was now a minor. This 
engaged him in hostilities with the king of Pergamus and 
the Rhodians. A Roman army, imder the consul SulpiciuS; 
passed over to Greece, (552;) the ^tolians declared against 

* Livy, XXX. 45. See above, p. 85 

i For this war and the following events se»j the History ol Greece 
22 



254' HiBTOKY OF ROfi^t 

Philip, and gradually the Bojotiaus and Achaeans were in- 
duced to i'ollow their example. Philip made a gallant 
resistance against this formidable confederacy; but the con- 
sul T. Q,uinctius Flamininus gave hitn at lengUi (555) a 
complete defeat at Cynoscephalai in Thessaly, and he was 
forced to sue for peace, which, however, he obtained on 
much easier terms than might have been expected, as the 
Romans were on the eve of a war with the king of Syria. 
The peace with Philip was followed by the celebrated proC'» 
lamation at the Isthmian Games of the independence of 
those states of Greece which had been under the Macedonian 
dominion; for the Romans well knew that this was the in- 
fallible way to establish their own supremacy, as the Greeks 
would be sure never to unite for the common good of their 
country. . • ; «• / ii - 

After an interval of* u' few' yeaH, tn6 long-expected war 
with Antiochus the Great of Syria broke out. The inrime- 
diate occasion of it was the discontent of the ^toIi<ihs,* \Vho 
being rrtortiilly offehded with the Romans sent to invite him 
into Greece. He had been for three years making prepara- 
tiohs for the war, arid he hftd now at his service the grefitest 
general of the age, if he had krtown liovv to make use of him 
For Hannibal, having been appointed one of the suffetes at 
Carthage, and finding the power of the jii4ges enormous in 
cQn^eqiience Of their holdiilg their office fot life, had' a law 
passed reducing it'tb one year. This naturally raised him a 
host of enemies, whose number was augrhented by his finan- 
cial reforms; fbr finding that the public revenues had been 
diverted into the c^ifferfe (A' the ni.igistrates and per.sons of 
influence, while the people were directly taxed to pnv the 
tribute to the Romans, he instituted an inquiry, and proved 
that the ordinary revenues of the state were abilddhntly 
sufficient for all pnrpo.ses. Those who felt their ir'i^omcs 
thus reduced sought to rouse the enmity of the Romans 
against Hannibal, whom they charged with a secret, cor- 
respondence with Antiochns ; and though Scipio strongly 
urged the indignity of the Roman senate becoming the 
instrument of a faction in Carthage, hatred of Hannibal pre- 
vailed, and three senators were sent to Carthage, osteiisivcly 
to settle some disputes between the Carthaginians and Masi- 
nissa. Hannibal, who knew their real object, left the city 
secretly in the night, and getting on board a ship sailed to 
Tyre. He thence went to Antiocl', and finding that Antio- 



FLIGHT OF HANNIBAL FKOM CARTHAGE. 255 

shu6 was at Ephesus, ha proceeded to that city, where he 
met with a most flattering reception from the monarch, (o57.) 

Hannibal, true to his maxim that the Romans were onlv 
to be conquered in Italy, proposed to the king to let him 
have a good fleet and ten thousand men, with which he would 
pass over to Africa, when he hoped to be able to induce the 
Carthaginians to take arms again ; and if he did not succeed, 
he would land somewhere in Italy. He would have the king 
meanwhile to pass with a large army over to Greece, and to 
remain there ready to invade Italy, if necessary, Antiochus 
at first assented to this plan of the war; but he afterwards 
lent an ear to the suggestions of Thoas the ^tolian, who 
was jealous of the great Carthaginian, and gave it up. He 
himself passed over at length (560) to Greece with a small 
army of ten thousand men ; but instead of acting at once 
with vigor, he loitered in Eubosa, where he espoused a 
beautiful maiden, wasted his time in petty negotiations in 
Thessaly and the adjoining country, by which he highly 
offended king Philip, whom it was his first duty to conciliate, 
and thus gave the consul Acilius Glabrio time to land his 
army and enter Thessaly. Antiochus hastened from Eubcea 
to defend the pass of Thermopylae against him; but he was 
totally defeated, and forced to fly to Asia, (561.) 

Antiochus flattered himself at first that the Romans would 
not follow him into Asia; but Hannibal soon proved to him 
that such an expectation was a vain one, and that he must 
prepare for war. At Rome the invasion of Asia was at once 
resolved on. The two new consuls, C. Lselius and L. Scipio 
(5G2) were both equally anxious to have the conducting of 
this war; the senate were mostly in favor of Laelius, an 
officer of skill and experience, while L. Scipio was a man 
of very moderate abilities. But Scipio Africanus offering, 
if his brother was appointed, to go as his legate, Greece was 
assigned to him as his province without any further hesita- 
tion. The Scipios then, having raised what troops were 
requisite, among which 5000 of those who had served under 
Africanus came as volunteers, passed over to Epirus with a 
force of about 13,000 mei>. In Thessaly, Acilius delivered 
up to them two legions which he had under his command, 
and being supplied with provisions and every thing else they 
required they marched through Macedonia and Thrace for 
the Hellespont. A Roman fleet was in the J3gean, which, 
united with those of Eumenes of Pergamus and the Rhodi- 
ans, proved an overmatch for that of Antiochus, even though 



25G .::.'/ I- tr HISTORY OF ROME. ' ' THni.Tl 

commanded by Hannibal. When the Scipios reached the 
Hellespont, they found every thing prepared for the passage 
by Eiimenes. They crossed vithout any opposition ; and as 
this was the time for moving the Ancilia at Rome, P. Scipio, 
who was one of the Salii, caused the army to make a halt 
of a few days on that account. 

While they remained here, an envoy came fiom Antiochus 
proposing peace, on condition of his giving up all claim to 
the Grecian cities in Asia and paying one half of the ex- 
penses of the war. The Scipios insisted on his paying all 
the expenses of the war, as he had been the cause of it, and 
evacuating Asia on this side'of Mount Taurus. The envoy 
then applied privately to P. Scipio, telling him that the king 
would release without ransom his son, who had fallen lately 
into his hands, and give him a large (juantity of gold and 
every honor he could bestow, if through his means he could 
obtain more equitable terms. Scipio expressed his gratitude, 
as a private person, to the king for the offer to release his 
son ; and, as a friend, advised him to accept any terms he 
could get, as his case was hopeless. The envoy retired ; 
the Romans advanced to Ilium, where the consul ascended 
and offered sacrifice to Minerva, to the great joy of the 
Tlienses, who asserted themselves to be the progenitors of the 
Romans. They thence advanced to the head of the river 
Caicus. Antiochus, who was at Thyatira, hearing that P. 
Scipio was lying sick at Elnea, sent his son to him, and 
received in return his thanks, and his advice not to engage 
till he had rejoined the army. As in case of defeat his only 
hopes lay in P. Scipio, he took his counsel, and retiring to 
the foot of Mount Sipylus formed a strong camp near Mag- 
nesia. 

The consul advanced, and encamped about four miles off; 
and as the king seemed not inclined to fight, and the Roman 
soldiers were full of contempt for the enemy, and clamorous 
for action, it was resolved, if he did not accept the proffered 
battle, to storm his camp. But Antiochus, fearing that the 
spirit of his men would sink if he declined fighting, led them 
out when he saw the Romans in array. 

The Roman army, consisting of four legions, each of .5400 
men, was drawn up in the usual manner, its left resting on a 
river ; 8000 Achc-ean and Pergamene foot were placed on the 
right, and beyond them the horse, about 3000 in number; 
sixteen African elephants were stationed in the rear. The 
army of Antiochus consisted of G2,000 foot, 12,000 ho»se, 



DEFEAT OF ANTIOCHUS. 251 

and fifty-four elephants. His phalanx of 16,000 men was 

drawn up in ten divisions, each of fifty men in rank and 

thirty-two in file, with two elephants in ench of the intervals. 

On the left and right of the phalanx were placed the cavalry, 

the light troops and the remainder of the elephants, the | 

scythed chariots, and ilrab archers, mounted on dromedaries. 

When the armies were arrayed there came on a fog, 
with a light kind of rain, which relaxed the bow-strings, 
slings, and dart-thongs of the numerous light troops of the 
king, and the darkness caused confusion in his long and 
various line. Eumenes also, by a proper use of the light 
troops, frightened the horses of the scythed chariots, and drove 
them off the field. The Roman horse then charged that of 
the enemy and put it to flight; the confusion of the left wing 
extended to the phalangites, who, by their own men rushing 
from the left among them, were prevented from using their 
long s:ariss<s, and were easily broken and slaughtered by the 
Romans, who now also knew from experience how to deal 
with the elephants. Antiochus, who commanded in person 
on the right, drove the four turms or troops of horse opposed 
to him, and a part of the foot, back to their camp; but M. 
^milius, who commanded there, rallied them. Eumenes' 
brother. Attains, came from the right with some horse; the 
king turned and fled ; the rout became general ; the slaughter, 
as usual, enormous : the camp was taken and pillaged. The 
loss of the Syrians is stated at 53,000 slain, 1400 taken ; 
that of the Romans and their ally Eumenes at only 350 men ! 

All the cities of the coast sent in their submission to the con- 
sul, who advanced to Sardes. Antiochus was at this time at 
Apamea : when he learned that P. Scipio, who had not been 
in the battle, was arrived, he sent envoys to treat of peace 
on any terms. The Romans had already arranged the con- 
ditions of peace, and P. Scipio announced them as follows : 
Antiochus should abstain from Europe, and give up all Asia 
this side of Taurus; pay 15,000 EuboVc talents for the expenses 
of the war, 500 down, 1500 when the senate and people rati- 
fied the peace, the remainder in twelve years, at 1000 talents 
a year; give Eumenes 400 talents and a quantity of corn ; 
give twenty hostages; and, above all, deliver up Hanni- 
bal, Thoas the ^Etolian, and three other Greeks. The king's 
envoys went direct to Rome, whither also went Eumenes in 
person, and embassies from Rhodes and other places; the 
consul put his troops in winter quarters at Magnesia, Trai- 
ls, and Ephesus. 

22* G G 



258 HISTORY OF ROUE. 

At Rome the peace was confirmed with Antiochus. The 
jrreater part of the ceded territory was granted to Eumenes, 
Lycia and part of Caria to the Rhodians, (whose usually 
prudent aristocracy committed a great error in seeking tliis 
aggrandizement of their dominion;) and such towns as had 
taken part with the Romans were freed from tribute. L. 
Scipio triumphed on his return to Rome, and assumed the 
surname of Asiaticus, to be in this respect on an equality 
with liis illustrious brother. 

Cn. Maniius Vulso succeeded Scipio in Asia, (563,) and as 
the Roman consuls now began to regard it as discreditable 
and unprofitable to pass their year without war, he looked 
round him for an enemy from whom he might derive fame 
and wealth. He fixed on the Gallo-Grecians, as the descend- 
ants of those Gauls were called who had passed over into 
Asia in the time of Fyrrhus, and won a territory for them- 
selves, named from them in after-times Galatia. lie stormed 
their fortified camp on Mount Olympus in Mysia, gave them 
a great defeat on the plains of Ancyra, and forced them to 
sue for peace. The booty gained, the produce of their plun- 
der for many years, was immense. Maidius then led his army 
back to the coast for the winter. The next year (504) ten 
commissioners came out to ratify the peace with Aniiochus ; 
they added some more conditions, such as the surrender of 
his elephants : the peace was then sworn to, and the Romans 
evacuated Asia. 

Hannibal, when he found that the Romans demanded him, 
retired to Crete; not thinking himself, however, safe in that 
island, he left it soon after and repaired to the court of Pru- 
sias, king of Bithynia, who felt flattered by the presence of 
so great a man. But the vengeance of Rome did not sleep, 
and no less a person thaiiT. Flamintnus was sent (;>()9) to de- 
mand his death or his surrender. The mean-spirited Prusias, 
immediately after a conlerence with the Roman envoy, sent 
soldiers to seize his iilus'trious guest. Hannibal, who it is 
said had, in expectation of troachrry, made seven passages, 
open and secret, from his house, attempted to escape by the 
most private one; but finding it guarded, he bad recourse 
to the poison which he always tarried about him. Having 
vented imprecations on Prusias for his breach of hospitality, 
he drank the poison and expired, in the sixty-fifth year of 
his age. 

It is said that Scipio Africa nus died in the same year 
with his illustrious rival, an instance a.so of the mutabilitr 




a 



^^i^ 



LAST DATS OF SCIPIO. 259 

of fortune, for the conqueror of Carthage breathed his last 
in exile! In the year 559 he had had a specimen of the 
instability of popular favor; for while at the consular elec- 
tions he and all the Cornelian gens exerted their influence in 
favor of his cousin P. Cornelius Scipio, the son of CntEus, who 
had been killed in Spain, — and who was himself of so exem- 
plary a character, that when the statue of the Idasan Mother 
(Cybele) was brought to Rome, it was committed to his 
charge, as being the best man in the city, — they were forced 
to yield to that of the vain-glorious T. Quinctius Flaminiims, 
who sued for his brother, the profligate L. duinctius. But, 
as the historian observes, the glory of Flamininus was fresh- 
er ; he had triumphed that very year; whereas Africanus iiad 
been now ten years in the public view, and since his victory 
over Hannibal he had been consul a second time, and cen- 
sor, — very sufficient reasons for the decline of his favor with 
the unstable people. 

The year after the conclusion of the peace with Antiochus, 
(566,) the Q.. Petillii, tribunes of the people, at the instigation, 
it is said, of Cato, cited Scipio Africanus before the tribes, to 
answer various charges on old and new grounds, of which 
the chief was that of having taken bribes from Antiochus, j 

and not having accounted for the spoil. Scipio was attended j 

to the Forum by an immense concourse of people; he dis- > 

dained to notice the charges against him ; in a long speech he 
enumerated the various actions he had performed, and taking i 

a book from his bosom, " Tn this," said he, " is an account of [ 

all you want to know." '' Read it," said the tribunes, " and ' 

let it then be deposited in the treasury." *' No," said Scipio, li 

" I will not offer myself such an insult ; " and he tore tiie book | 

before their faces.* ) 

The night came on ; the cause was deferred till the next i 

day : at dawn the tribunes took their seat on the Rostra; the ] 

accused, on being cited, came before it, attended by a crowd ! 

of his friends and clients. " This day, ye tribunes and Q,ui- ^ 

rites," said he, " I defeated Hannibal in Africa. As, there- 
fore, it should be free from strife and litigation, 1 will go to ; 
the Capitol and give thanks to Jupiter and the other gods who 
inspired me on this and other days to do good service to the 
state. Let whoso will, come with me and pray the gods I 
*hat ye may always have leaders like unto me." He ascended ' 
•he Capitol ; all followed him, and the tribunes were left sit- 

* Gellius, iv. 18. 



260 HISTORY OF HOME. 

ting alone. He then went round to all the other temples, stiil 
followed by the people; and this last day of his glory nearly 
equalled that of his triumph for conquered Africa- His 
cause was put off for some days longer ; but in the inter- 
val, disgusted with the prospect of contests with the tribunes, 
which his proud spirit could ill brook, he retired toLiternum 
I in Campania. On his not appearing, the tribunes spoke of 

I sending and dragiring him before the tribunal ; but their 

I colleagues interposed, especially Ti, Sempronius Gracchus, 

I from whom it was least expected, as he was at enmity with 

the Scipios. The senate thanked Gracchus for his noble 
I conduct,* the matter dropped, and Scipio spent the remain- 

der of his days at Liternum. He was buried there, it is said, 
\ at his own desire, that his ungrateful country might not even 

I possess his ashes. 

I The actions of the two great men who were now removed 

[ from the scene sufficiently declare their characters. As a 

^ general, Hannibal is almost without an equal, not a single 

I military error can be charged on him, and the address with 

\ which he managed to keep an army composed of such dis- 

J cordant elements as his in obedience, even when obliged to 

'■ act on the defensive, is astonishing. The charges of perfidy, 

'; cruelty, and such like, made against him by the Roman 

I writers, are quite unfounded, and are belied by facts. No- 

i where does Hannibal's character appear so great as when, 

I after the defeat at Zama, he, with unbroken s|)irit, applied 

f his great mind to the reform of political abuses and the 

I restoration of the finances, in the hopes of once more rais- 

[ ing his country to independence. Here he shone the true 

patriot. 

The character of his rival has come down to us under the 

j garb of panegyric; but even after making all due deductions, 

I much remains to be admired. His military talents were 

doubtless considerable; of his civil virtues we hear but little, 

and we cannot there>fore judge of him accurately as a states- 

f man. Though a high aristocrat, we have, however, seen 

i that he would not hesitate to lower the authority of the 

! senate by appealing to the people in the gratification of his 

ambition; and we certainly cannot approve of the conduct 

of the public man who disdained to produce his accounts 

i * For this, and for liis similar conduct to L. Scipio, tlie family gave 

I' l)im in marriage Cornelia, the daughter of AfricAnus. The two cele- 

J Hrated Gracchi were their sons. 

1 
i 



WAR WITH PERSEUS 261 t 

when demanded Of his vaunted magnanimity and gener- 
osity we have already had occasion to speak, and not m very ' 
exalted terms. Still, Rome has but one name in her annals 
to place in comparison with Africanus ; that name, Julius 
Caesar, is a greater than his, perhaps than any other. ' 

To return to our narrative In the period which had i 

elapsed since the peace with Carthage, there had beeu ;■ 

annual occupation for the Roman arms in Cisalpine Gaul, ' 

Liguria, and Spain. The Gauls, whose inaction all the time f 

Hannibal was in Italy seems hard to account for, resumed ; 
arms in the year .551, at the instigation of one Hasdrubal, 

who had remained behind from the army of Mago; they took r 

the colony of Placentia, and met several consular and pra^to- f 

rian armies in the field, and, after sustaining many great | 
defeats, were completely reduced : the Ligurians, owing to 

their mountains, made a longer resistance, but they also ; 

were brought under the yoke of Rome. In Spain the various I 

portions of its warlike population, ill brooking the dominion j 

of strangers, rose continually in arms, but failed before the ^ 

discipline of the Roman legions and the skill of their com- | 

mandgrs. The celebrated M. Porcius Cato when consul | 

(557) acquired great fame by his conduct in this country. | 

Philip of Macedonia, who with all his vices was an able | 

prince, had long been making preparations for a renewed | 

war with Rome, which he saw to be inevitable. He died | 

(573) before matters came to an extremity. His son and | 

successor, Perseus * was a man of a very different character ; I 

for, while he was free from his father's love of wine and ^ 

women, he did not possess his redeeming qualities, and was | 

deeply infected by a mean spirit of avarice. It was reserved | 

for him to make the final trial of strength with the Romans. ^ 

Eumenes of Pergamus went himself to Rome, to represent { 

how formidable he was become, and the necessity of crush- f 

ing him; the envoys of Perseus tried in vain to justify him i 

in the eyes of the jealous senate; war was declared (580) ,' 

against him on the usual pretext of his injuring the allies of i 

Rome, and the conduct of it was committed to P. Licinius ■; 

Crassus, one of the consuls for the ensuing year. \ 

The Macedonian army amounted to thirty-nine thousand ! 

foot, one half of whom were phalangites, and four thousand I 

horse, the largest that Macedonia had sent to the field since | 

the time of Alexander the Great. Perseus entered Thessaly i 

at the head of this army, and at the same time the Roman ' 

• By the Latin writers hfl is always named Perses. I 



262 HISTORY OF KOME. 

legions entered it from Epirus. An engagement of cavalry 
took place not far from the Peneus, in which the advantage 
was decidedly on the side of the king. In another encounter 
success was on that of the Romans; after which Perseus led 
his troops home for the winter, and Licinius quartered his 
in Thessaly and Bteotiu. 

Notiiing deserving of note occurred in the following year. 
In the spring of SS^T the consul Q,. Marcius Philippus lea 
his army over the Cambunian mountains into Macedonia, 
I and Perseus, instead of occupying the passes in the rear and 

cutting off his supplies from Thessaly, cowardly retired 
j before him, and allowed him to ravage all the south of Mace- 

I doiiia. Marcius returned to Thessaly for the winter, and in 

I the spring (584) the new consul, L. iEmilius Paulus, a man 

I of high consideration, of great talent, and who had in a 

! former consulate gained much fame in Spain, came out to 

f take the command. 

i Meantime the wretched avarice of Perseus was putting an 

I enil to every chance he had of success. Eumenes had 

; offered, for the sum of 1500 talents, to abstain from taking 

f part in the war, and to endeavor to negotiate a peace for 

I him : Perseus gladly embraced the offer, and was ready 

} enough to arrange about the hostages which Eumenes agreed 

I to give; but he hesitated to part with the money till he had 

3 had the value for it, and he proposed that it should be de- 

I posited in the temple at Samothrace till the war was ended. 

j As Samothrace belonged to Perseus, Eumenes saw he was 

'j not to be trusted, and he broke off the negotiation. Again, 

\ a body of Gauls of 10,000 hor.se, and an equal number of 

' foot, from beyond the Ister, to whom he had promised large 

I pay, were now at hand ; Perseus sought to circumvent them 

I and save his money, and the offended barbarians ravaged 

Thrace and returned home. It is the opinion of the histo- 
rian, that if he had kept his word with these (lauls, and sent 
them into Thessaly, the situation of the Roman army, placed 
thus between two armies, might have been very perilous. 
Lastly, he agreed to give Gentius, king of Illyria, 300 
talents if he went to war with the Romans : he sent ten of 
them at once, and directed those who bore the remainder to 
go very slowly ; meantime his ambassador kept urging Gen- 
tiu», who, to please him, seized two Roman envoys who 
arrived just then, and imprisoned them. Perseus thinking 
him now fully committed with the Romans by this act, sent 
to recall the rest of his money. 

;i i^r'Jiiw nili-vl 'Jill t.^' 



CONQ.LEST OF MACEDONIA. 263 

Paulus letl his army without delay into Macedonia, and in 
the neighborhood of Pydna he forced the crafty Perseus to 
come to an engagement. The victory was speedy and de- 
cisive on the side of the Romans; the Macedonian horse 
fled, the king setting the example, and the phalanx thus left 
exposed was cut to pieces. Perseus fled with his treasures 
to Amphipolis, and thence to the sacred isle of Samothrace. 
Ail Macedonia submitted to the consul, who then advanced 
to Amphipolis after Perseus, who in vain sent letters suing 
for favor. 

Meantime the prastor Cn. Octavius was come with his 
fleet to Samothrace. He sought ineffectually to induce 
Perseus to surrender, and then so wrought on the people of 
the island, that the unhappy prince, considering himself no 
longer safe, resolved to try to escape to Cotys, king of 
Thrace, his only remaining ally. A Cretan ship-master 
undertook to convey him away secretly ; provisions, and as 
much money as could be carried thither unobserved, were 
pi^t pn board his bark in the evening, and at midnight the 
king left the temple secretly and proceeded to the appointed 
spot. But no bark was there ; the Cretan, false as any of 
his countrymen, had set sail far Crete as soon as it was dark. 
Perseus, having wandered about the shore till near daylight, 
slunk back and concealed himself in a corner of the temple. 
He was soon obliged to surrender to Octavius, by whom he 
was conveyed to the consul. Macedonia was, by the direc- 
tion of the senate, divided into four republics, between 
which there was to be neither intermarriage nor purchase of 
i(pmovable property, [conniibium or commcrciiun ;) each was 
to defray the expenses of its own government, and pay to 
Rome one half of the tribute it had paid to the kings; the 
silver and gold mines were not to be wrought, no ship-timber 
w^s )Lo be felled, no troops to be kept except on the fron- 
tiers; all who had held any office, civil or military, under 
Perseus, were ordered to quit Macedonia and go and live in 
Italy, lest if they remained at home they shoiild raise distur- 
bances.. In Greece, the lovers of their country were put to 
death or removed to Italy, under pretext of their having 
favored the cause of Perseus, and the administration of 
affairs was placed in (he hands of the tools of Rome. 

Paulus on his return to Rome celebrated his triumph with 
great magnificence. His soldiers, because he had main- 
tained rigid discipline and had given them less of the booty 
than hey had expected, and instigated by Ser. Sulpicius, 



"Xi HISTORY OF KOME. 

Galba, one of their tribunes, a personal enemy to Paulus, 
had tried to prevent it; but the eloquence of M. Servilius 
and others prevailed. Perseus and his children, examples 
of the mutability of fortune, preceded the car of the victor. 
After the triumph, Perseus was confined at Alba in the 
Marsian land, where he died a few years after. 

Octavius was allowed to celebrate a naval triumph ; and 
the praetor L. Anicius Gallus, who had in thirty days reduced 
lllyria and made Gentius and all his family captives, also 
triumphed for that country. 



CHAPTER VIII.* 

AFFAIRS OF CARTHAGE. THIRD PUNIC WAR. DESCRIPTION 

OF CARTHAOE. ILL SUCCESS OF THE ROMANS. SCtPIO 

MADE CONSUX. HE SAVES MANCINUS. RESTORES DISCI- 
PLINE IN THE ARMY. ATTACK ON CARTHAGE. ATTEMPT 

TO CLOSE THE HARBOR. CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION OP 

CARTHAGE. REDUCTION OF MACEDONIA AND GREECE TO 

PROVINCES. 

After the conclusion of the Hannibalian war, the Car- 
thaginians seemed disposed to remain at peace ; but the 
ambition of their neighbor, Masinissa, whose life, to thelr- 
nii.sfortune, was extended to beyond ninety years, would not 
allow them to rest. He was continually encroaching on 
their territory and seizing their subject towns. The Roman 
senate, when appealed to as the common superior, sent out 
commissioners, who almost invariably decided in favor of 
Masinissa, and he gradually extended his dominion from the 
ocean inlands tf> the Syrtes. 

On one of these occasions M. Porcius Cato was one of 
those sent out; and when he saw the fertility of the Cartha- 
ginian territory and its high state of culture, and the strength, 
wealth, and population of the city, he became apprehensive 
of its yet endangering the power of Rome; his vanity also, 
of which he had a large share, was wounded, because the 

* Henceforth Livy fa'ls us, as we have only the epitomes of his r» 
maininor books. Our principal authority for this chapter is Appian 
Puiica. 



AFFAIRS OF CARTHAGE. 265 

Carthaginians, who were manifestly in the right, would not 
acquiesce at once in the decision of himself and his col- 
leagues ; and he returned to Rome full of bitterness against 
them. Henceforth he concluded all his speeches in the 
senate with these words, " I also think that Carthage should 
be destroyed."* On the other side P. Scipio Nasica, either 
from a regard to justice, or, as it is said, persuaded that the 
only mode of saving Rome from the corruption to which she 
was tending, was to keep up a formidable rival to her, strenu- 
ously opposed this course. The majority, however, inclined 
to the opinion of Cato; it was resolved to lay hold on the 
first plausible pretext for declaring war, and to those who 
were so disposed a pretext was not long wanting. 

At Carthage there were three parties ; the Roman, the 
Numidian, and the popular party. This last, which, with 
all its faults, alone was patriotic, drove out of the city about 
forty of the principal of the Numidian party, and made the 
people swear never to readmit them or listen to any propo- 
sals for their return. The exiles repaired to Masinissa, who 
sent his sons Micipsa and Gulussa to Carthage on their be- 
half. But Carthalo, a leader of the popular party, shut the 
gates against them, and Hamilcar, the other popular leader, 
fell on Gulussa as he was coming again, and killed some of 
those who attended him. This gave occasion to a war ; a 
battle was fought between Masinissa and the Punic troops 
led by Hasdrubal, which lasted from morning to nicrht 
without being completely decided. But Masinissa, havinor 
inclosed the Punic army on a hill, starved them into a surr 
render; and Gulussa, as they were departing unarmed, fell 
on and slaughtered them all. The Carthaginians lost no 
time in sending to Rome to justify themselves, having previ- 
ously passed sentence of death on Hasdrubal, Carthalo, and 
the other authors of the war. The senate, however, would 
accept no excuse ; and, after various efforts on the part of 
the Carthaginians to avert it, war was proclaimed against 
them, (603,) and the conduct of it committed to the consuls 
L. Marcius Censorinus and M. Manilius Nepos, with secret 
orders not to desist from it till Carthage was destroyed. 
Their army is said to have consisted of 80,000 foot and 4000 
horse, which had been previously prepared for this war. 

* Pint. Cato Major, 26, 27. Cato one day in the senate house let 
fall from his toga some fine African figs, and when the senators ad- 
niiied them he said, " The cpuntrj that produces these is but three 
days' sail from Rome." ' 'i' ' • ■^"- • li ■•;!' ;.. . , ■;,•;; j^ " 

23 HH 



266 lusroRT of home. 

Tlie Carthaginians learned almost at the same moment the 
fleclaration of war and the sailing of the Roman army. They 
saw themselves without ships, (for they had been prohibited 
to biiUd any,) without an ally, (even Utica, not eight miles 
from their city, having joined the Romans,) without merce- 
naries, or even supplies o.f corn, and the flower of their 
youth had been lately cut off by Masinissa. They again sent 
an embassy to Rome, to make a formal surrender of their 
city. The senate replied that if, within thirty days, they 
sent three hundred children of the noblest families as hos- 
tages to the consuls in Sicily, and did whatever they com- 
manded them, they should be allowed to be free and gov- 
erned by their own laws, and retain all the territory they 
|X)ssessed in Africa. At the same time secret orders were 
sent to the consuls to abide by their original instructions. 

The Carthaginians became somewhat suspicious at no 
mention of their city having been made by the senate. They 
however resolved to obey, and leave no pretext for attacking 
them; the hostages accordingly were sent to Lilybccum, 
amidst the tears and lamentations of their parents and rela- 
tives. The consuls straightway transmitted them to Rome, 
and then told the Carthaginians that they would settle the 
remaining matters at Utica, to which place they lost no time 
in passing over ; and when the Punic envoys came to learn 
their will, they said that, as the Carthaginians had declared 
their wish and resolution to live at peace, they could have no 
need for arms and weapons; they therefore required them 
to deliver up all that they had. This mandntc also was 
obeyed ; two hundred thousand sets of armor, with weap- 
ons of all kinds in proportion, were brought on wagons 
into the Ronian camp, accompanied by the priests, the sen- 
ators, and the chief persons of the city. Censorinus then, 
having praised their diligence and ready obedience, announ- 
ced to them the further will of the senate, which was that 
they should quit Carthage, which the Romans intended to 
level, and build another town in any part of their territory 
they pleased, but not within less than ten miles of the .sea.* 
The moment they heard this ruthless command they abaii- 
doned themselves to every extravagance of grief and despair; 
they rolled themselves on the ground, they tore their garments 
and their hair, they beat their breasts and faces, they called 
on the gods, they abused the Roitians for their treachery and 

* It well became the R itnans after this to talk of Punica fides. 



THIRD PUNIC WAR. 267 

deceit. When they recovered from their paioxysm, tliey spoke 
again, requesting to be allowed to send an embassy to Rome, 
The consul said this would be to no purpose, for the will of 
the senate must be carried into effect. They then departed, 
with the melancholy forebodings of the reception they might 
meet with at home, and some of them ran away on the road, 
fearing to face the enraged populace. Censorinus forthwith 
sent twenty ships to cast anchor before Carthage. 

The people, who were anxiously waiting their return, 
when they saw their downcast, melancholy looks, gave way 
to despair, and lamented aloud. The envoys passed on in 
silence to the senate-house, and there made known the inex- 
orable resolve of Rome. When the senators heard it, they 
groaned and wept; the people without joined in their lamen- 
tations, then giving way to rage they rushed in and tore to 
pieces the principal advisers of the delivery of the hostages 
and arms ; and they stoned the ambassadors and dragged them 
about the city ; they then fell on and abused in various ways 
such Italians as happened to be still there. The senate that 
very day resolved on war; they proclaimed liberty to the 
slaves, they chose Hasdrubal, whom they had condemned to 
death, and who was at a place called Nepheris at the head of a 
force of twenty thousand men, general for the exterior, and 
another Hasdrubal, the grandson of Masinissa, for the city; 
and having again vainly applied to the consuls for a truce 
that they might send envoys to Rome, they prepared vigor- 
ously for defence, resolved to endure the last rather than 
abandon their city. The temples and other sacred places 
were turned into workshops, men and women wrought day 
and night in the manufacture of arms, and the women cut 
od" their long hair that it might be twisted into bow-strings. 
The consuls meantime, though urged by Masinissa, did not 
advance against the city, either through dislike of the un- 
pleasant task, or because they thought that they could take it 
whenever they pleased. At length they led their troops to 
the attack of the town. 

The city of Carthage lay on a peninsula at the bottom of 
a large bay; at its neck, which was nearly three miles in 
width, stood the citadel, Byrsa, on a rock whose summit was 
occupied by the temple of Esmun, (iEsculapius ;) from the 
neck on the east ran a narrow belt or tongue of land, 
between the lake of Tunis and the sea ; at a little distance in- 
lands extended a rocky ridge, through which narrow passes 
had been hewn. The harbor was on the east side of the 



268 HISTORl OF ROME 

peninsula ; it was double, cou'jisting of an outer and an innci 
one, and its mouth, which was seventy feet wide, was se- 
cured with iron chains : the outer harbor was surrounded 
by a quay for the landing of goods. The inner one, naniea 
theCothon,* was for the ships of war; its only entrance was 
through the outer one, and it was defended by a double 
wall ; in its centre was an elevated island on which stood the 
admiral's house, whence there was a view out over the open 
sea. The Cothon was able to contain two hundred and 
twenty ships, and was provided with all the requisite maga- 
zines. A single wall environed the whole city ; that of Byr- 
sa was triple, each wall being 30 ells high, exclusive of the 
battlements, and at intervals of two hundred feet were tow- 
ers four stories high. A double row of vaults ran round 
each wall, the lower one containing stalls for 300 elephants 
and 4000 horses, with granaries for their fodder ; the upper, 
barracks for 20,000 foot and 4000 horse. Three streets led 
from Byrsa to the market, which was near the Cothon, which 
harbor gave name to this quarter of the town. That part 
of the town which lay to the west and north was named 
Megara ; t it was more thinly inhabited, and full of gardens 
divided by walls and hedges. The city was in compass 
twenty-three miles, and is said to have contained at this time 
700,000 inhabitants. 

The consuls divided their forces; Censorinus attacked 
from his ships the wall where it was weakest, at the angle of 
the isthmus : Manilius attempted to fill the ditch and carry 
the outer works of the great wall. They reckoned on no re- 
sistance ; but their expectations were deceived, and they were 
forced to retire. Censorinus then constructed two large bat- 
tering rams, with which he threw down a part of the wall 
near the l)elt ; the Carthaginians partly rebuilt it during the 
night, and next day they drove out with loss such of the Ro- 
mans as had entered by the breach. They had a!.so in the night 
made a sally, and burnt the engines of the besiegers. It be- 
ing now the dog days, and Censorinus, finding the situation of 
his camp, close to a lake of standing water, unwholesome, re- 
moved to the sea shore. The Carthaginians then, watching 
when the wind blew strong from the sea on the Roman sta- 
tion, used to fill small vessels with combustibles, to which 

* This was a general name for an artificial harbor, probably from its 
resemblance to the xm^'tvi, a kind of drinkin^-vessel. 

f This is ]rDbab!y a Greek corruption of Magaria or Magalia, ten'.s 
OT dtedliiLgs, ;3nnocted with the Hebrew wia^iir, 'dwelling.' 



ILL SUCCESS OF THE ROMANS. 

they set fire, and spreading their sails let the wind drive them 
on the Roman ships, many of which were thus destroyed. 

Censoriiius having gone to Rome for the elections, the 
Carthaginians became more daring, and they ventured a noc- 
turnal attack on the camp of Munilius, in which they would 
have succeeded but for the presence of mind of Scipio, one 
of the tribunes, who led out the horse at the rear of the camp, 
and fell on them unexpectedly. A second nocturnal attack 
was frustrated by the same Scipio, who was now the life and 
soul of the army. Manilius then, contrary to the advice of 
Scipio, led his troops to Nepheris against Hasdrubal ; but he 
was forced to retire with loss, and four entire cohorts woula 
have been cut off but for the valor and skill of Scipio. 
Shortly after, when commissioners came out from Rome to 
inquire into the causes of the want of success, Manilius and 
his officers laying aside all jealousy, bore testimony to the 
merits of Scipio ; the affection of the army for him was also 
manifest ; of all which the commissioners informed the sen- 
ate and people on their return. Masinissa dying at this time, 
left the regulation of his kingdom to Scipio, who divided 
the regal office among the three legitimate sons of the de- 
ceased monarch ; giving the capital and the chief dignity to 
Micipsa, the eldest, the management of the foreign relations 
to Gulussa, and the administration of justice to Mastanabal. 
Scipio also induced Himilco Famajas, a Punic commander, 
who had hitherto done the Romans much mischief, to desert 
to them with two thousand two hundred horse. 

In the spring (604) the new consul L. Calpurnius Piso 
came out to take the command of the army, and the prsEtor 
L. Hostilius Mancinus that of the fleet. They attacked the 
town of Clupea by sea and land, but were repulsed ; and 
Calpurnius then spent the whole summer to no purpose in 
the siege of Hippagreta, a strong town between Carthage and 
Utica. The Carthaginians, elevated by their unexpected good 
fortune, were now masters of the country ; they insulted the 
Romans, and endeavored to detach the Numidians. Hasdru- 
bal, proud of his successes over Manilius, aspired to the com- 
mand of the city : he accused the other Hasdrubal of having 
intelligence with his uncle Gulussr , who was in the Roman 
camp ; and when this last, on being charged with it in the sen- 
ate, hesitated from surprise, the senators fell on and killed 
him with the seats ; and his rival thus gained his object. 

The elections now came on at Rome; Scipio was there 
as a candidate for the aedileship; all eyes were turned on 

OQ * 



270 HISTORY OF ROME. 

him, his friends doubtless were not idle, and the letters from 
the soldiers in Africa represented him as the only man able 
to take Carthage. The tribes therefore resolved to make 
him consul, though he was not of the proper age.* The 
presiding consul opposed in vain; he was elected, and the 
people further assumed the power of assigning him Africa 
for his province. 

This celebrated man was son to ^Emilius Paulus, the 
c()ri(|ueror of Macedonia. He had been adopted by Scipio 
the son of Africanus; the Greek historian Polybius and the 
phil()SO|)her Panaitius were his instructors and friends ; and 
he had already distinguished himself as a soldier both in 
S[)ain and Africa. 

The very evening that Scipio arrived at Utica (605) he 
had again an opportunity of saving a part of the Roman army ; 
for Mancinus, a vain, rash man, having brought the fleet close 
to Cartilage, and observing a part of the wall over the cliffs 
left unguarded, landed some of his men, who mounted to the 
wall. The Carthaginians opened a gate and came to attack 
them, the Romans drove them back and entered the town ; 
Mancinus landed more men, and as it was now evening he 
sent off to Utica, requiring provisions and a reenforcement 
to be sent without delay, or else they would never be able 
to keep their position. Scipio, who arrived that evening, 
received about midnight the letters of Mancinus; he ordered 
the soldiers he had brought with him and the serviceable 
Uticaiis to get on board at once, and he set forth in the last 
watcli, directing hi^ men to stand erect on the decks and let 
themselves be seen ; he also released a prisoner, and sent 
him to tell at Carthage that Scipio was coming. Mancinus 
meantime was hard pressed by the enemies, who attacked 
him at riawn; lie placed five hundred men who had armor, 
around the remainder (three thousand men) who had none;, 
but tins availed tiiem not; they were on the point of being 
forced down the cliffs when Scipio appeared. The Cartha- 
ginians, who expected him, fell back a little, tind he lost no 
time in taking off Mancinus and his companions in peril. 

On his taking the command, finding extreme laxity of 
aiscipline and disorder in the army, in consequence of the 
negligence of Pi.'^o, Scipio called an assembly, and having 
upbraided the soldiers with their conduct, declared his reso- 

" The lawful age for the consulate at this time was tbrtr-three years, 
•nd Scipio was only thirty -eight. 



ATTACK ON CARTHAGE. 271 

(ution of maintaining strict discipline; he ordered all suttlers, 
camp-followers, and other useless and pernicious people to 
quit the camp, which he now moved to within a little distance 
of Carthage. The Carthaginians also formed a camp about 
half a mile from their walls, which Hasdrubal entered at the 
head of 6000 foot and 1000 horse, all seasoned troops. 

When Scipio thought the discipline of his men sufficiently 
revived, he resolved to attempt a night-attack on the Megara ; 
but being perceived by tho defenders, the Romans could not 
scale the walls. Scipio then observing a turret (probably a 
garden one) which belonged to some private person, and 
was close to the wall, and of the same height with it, made 
some of his men ascend it. These drove down with their 
missiles those on the walls opposite them, and then laying 
planks and boards across got on the wall, and jumping down 
opened a gate to admit Scipio, who entered with four thou- 
sand men. The Punic soldiers fled to the Byrsa, thinking 
that the rest of the town was taken, and those in the camp 
hearing the tumult ran thither also ; but Scipio, finding the 
Megara full of gardens, with trees and hedges and ditches 
filled with water, and therefore unsafe for an invader, with- 
drew his men and went back to his camp. In the morning 
Hasdrubal, to satiate his rage, took what Roman prisoners 
he had, and placing them on the walls in sight of the Roman 
camp, mutilated them in a most horrible manner, and then 
flung them down from the lofty battlements. When the sen- 
ate blamed him for it, he put some of them to death, and he 
made himself in effect the tyrant of the city. 

Scipio, having taken and burnt the deserted camp of the 
enemy, formed a camp within a dart's cast of their wall, run- 
ning from sea to sea across the isthmus, and strongly for- 
tified on all sides. By this means he cut them off from the 
land; and as the only way in which provisions could now be 
brought into the city was by sea, when vessels, taking advan- 
tage of winds that drove off the Roman ships, ran into the 
harbor, he resolved to stop up its mouth by a rnole. He 
commenced from the belt, forming the mole of great breadth 
and with huge stones. The besieged at first mocked at the 
efforts of the Romans ; but when they saw how rapidly the 
work advanced they became alarmed, and instantly set about 
digging another passage out of the port into the open sea; 
they at the same time built ships out of the old materials; 
and they wrought so constantly and so secretly, that the Ro- 
mans at length saw all their phns f'istrated, a new entrance 



272 HISTORY OF ROME. 

opened to the harbor, and a fleet of fifty ships of war and a 
great number of smaller vessels issue from it. Had their 
evil destiny now allowed the Carthaginians to take advantage 
of their consternation and fall at once on their fleet, which 
was utterly unprepared, they might have destroyed it; but 
they contented themselves with a bravado, and then returned 
to port. On the third day the two fleets engaged from morn 
till eve with various success. The small vessels of the enemy 
annoyed the Romans very much in the action ; but in the 
retreat they got ahead of their own ships, and blocking up 
the mouth of the harbor, obliged them to range themselves 
along a quay which had been made without the walls for the 
landing of goods, whither the Roman ships followed them 
and did them much mischief During the night they got 
into port, biit in the morning Scipio resolved to try to effect 
a lodgement on the quay which was so close to (he port. He 
assailed the works that were on it with rams, and threw 
down a pnrt of them ; but in the night the Carthaginians 
came, some swimming, some wading through the water, hav- 
ing combustibles with them, to which they set fire when near 
the machines, and thus burnt them. They then repaired the 
works; but Scipio finally succeeded in fixing a corps of four 
thousand men on the quay. 

During the winter Scipio took by storm the Punic camp 
before Nepheris, and that town surrendered after a siege of 
twenty-two days. As it was from Nepheris that Carthage 
almost entirely received its supplies, they now failed, and 
famine was severely felt. 

When the spring came (606) Scipio made a vigorous at- 
tack on the port of Cothon. Hasdrubal during the night set 
fire to the square side of it, expecting the attack to be made 
in the same place in the morninfj : but La-lius secretly entered 
the round part* on the other side of the port, and the atten- 
tion of the enemv being wholly directed to the square part, 
he easily made himself master of it. Scipio then advanced 
to the market, where he kept his men under arms during the 
night. In the morning he proceeded to attack the Brrsa, 
whither most of the people had fled for refuge. Three 
streets of houses, six stories high, led to this citadel from the 
market ; the Romans, as they attempted to penetrate them, 
finding themselves assailed by missiles from the roofs, burst 

* It would appear from this that the wall on one side of the Cothon 
was rectangular, circular on the other. 



CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE. 273 

into the first houses, and mounting to the roofs, proceeded 
along them, slaying and flinging down the defenders; others 
meantime forced their way along the streets ; weapons flew 
in all directions; the groans of the wounded and dying, the 
shrieks of women and children, the shouts of the victors, ' I 

filled the air. At length the troops emerged before the Byrsa, ! 

and then Scipio gave orders to fire the town behind them. 
Old men, women, and children, driven by the flames from 
their hiding-places, became their victims ; every form of | 

horror and misery displayed itself During six days devasta- | 

tion spread around ; on the seventh a deputation from the | 

Byrsa, bearing supplicatory wreaths from the temple of 
xEsculapius, came to Scipio offering a surrender, on condi- 
tion of their lives being spared. These terms were granted 
to all except the deserters; they came out fifty thousand in | 

number, men and women ; the deserters, of whom there were \ 

nine hundred, retired with Hasdrubnl to the ^sculapium, i 

which being on a lofty, precipitous site, they easily defended 
till they were overcome by fatigue, want of rest, and hunger. 
They then retired into the temple, where Hasdrubal stole | 

away from them and became a suppliant to Scipio. The 
Roman general made him sit at his feet in their sight; they 
reviled and abused him as a coward and traitor, and then 
setting fire to the temple all perished in the flames. It is 
said that the wife of Hasdrubal, whom with her two children 
he had left in the temple, advanced arrayed in her best gar- 
ments in front of Scipio while the temple was burning, and 
cried out, " I blame not thee, O Roman, who hast warred 
against an enemy, but that Hasdrubal, a traitor to me, his 
children, his country and her temples, whom may the gods 
of Carthage and thou with them punish ! " Then turning to 
Hasdrubal, "O wretched, faithless, and most cowardly of 
men, these flames will consume me and my children; but 
what a triumph wilt thou adorn, thou, the general of mighty 
Carthage, and what punishment wilt thou not undergo from 
him before whom thou art sitting ! " So saying, she slew 
her children, and cast them and herself into the flames.* 

It is also said, that when Scipio surveyed the ruin of this 
mighty city, which had stood for seven hundred years, had 
abounded in wealth, had spread her commerce far and wide, 



■..'..>£ 



* Thia must be a fable. Why would Hasdrtibal's wife rather perish 
with Roman deserters than be saved with her husband and her fel- 
low-citizens .' 

II 



274 HISTCRY OP ROME. 

had reduced so many countries and peoples, and made Ro?ne 
tremble for her existence, he could not refrain from tears, 
and he repeated these lines of Homer : 

" The day will come when sacred Troy will fall, 
And Tnam, and strong-speared Priam's people."* 

When Polybius, who was present, asked what he meant, he 
owned that he had his country in view, for which he feared 
the vicissitudes of all things human. 

Scipio allowed his soldiers to plunder the town for a cer- 
tain number of days, with the reservation of the gold, the 
silver, and the ornaments of the temples ; and he sent to 
Sicily, desiring those towns from whom the Carthaginians 
had taken any of these last, to send to receive them. He 
despatched his swiftest ship to Rome with the account of 
the capture of Carthage, where the tidings produced the 
most iHjbounded joy. Ten commissioners were sent out 
forthwith to join with Scipio in regulating the affairs of Africa. 
What remained of Carthage was levelled, and heavy curses 
pronounced on any one who should attempt to rebuild it; 
all the towns which had adhered faithfully to it were treated 
in a similar manner; those whicli had joined Rome, partic- 
ularly Utica, were rewarded with increase of territory. Africa 
was reduced to a province, a land and poll-tax imposed, and 
a pr.-ctor was sent out every year from Rome to govern it. 
Scipio triumphed on his return, (OGG,) and he was henceforth 
named Africanus. 

In the first year of the war against Carthage (603) a man 
named Andriscus, who pretended to be a son of king Per- 
seus, assumed the name of Philip, and induced the Mace- 
donians to acknowledge him as their king. He invaded 
Thessaly, but was defeated by Scipio Na.sica, and the Achrc- 
ans. Scipio's successor, the prrstor P. Juvcntius Thalma, 
brought more troops with him from Italy, (G04,) but he lost 
the greater part of tlicm and his own life in attempting to 
penetrate into Macedonia, and Andriscus reentered Thes- . 
saly ; Q.. Ca^cilius Metellus, however, drove him out of it^ 
defeated him iu Macedonia, and alterwards in Thrace, by 
one of whose princes he was given up to the Romans 

'"Enntrai i^uun, Ttxar nor' fiXdiXi] "IXinc To/, 

Kal JT/jtatio:, y.u'i Xai>; ithiiitXlof TlQiuunio. II. vi. 448. 
In like wMinner Mohammed II., when he entered the palace of the 
CtEsars in Constantinople after the capture of that town, repeated a 
passage of Ferdousi, the Homer of Persia, to a similar effect. 



AFFAIRS OF SPAIN. BT5 

Another impostor then appeared, who called himself Alexan- 
der; but Metellus forced him to seek refuge in D;irdania 
Metellus triumphed, (606,) and received the title of Mace- 
donicus, and Macedonia was made a province. 

Urged by their evil genius the Achaean League now (606) 
ventured to measure their strength with Rome; but one army 
was defeated by Metellus, and another by the consul L. 
Mummius. Corinth was taken and bur.nt; Thebes and 
Chalcis were razed; and Greece, under the name of Achaia, 
was reduced to a province. Mummius took the title of 
Achaicus, and triumphed, (607,) displaying on this occasion 
a vast number of the finest pictures and statues, the plunder 
of Corinth. 



CHAPTER IX.* 

\FFAIRS OP SPAIN. WAR WITH THE LUSITANIANS. 

TREACHERY OF LUCULI US. VIRIATHIAN WAR. MURDER 

OP VIRIATHUS. NUMANTINE WAR. CAPTURE OP NU- 

MANTIA. SERVILE WAR IN SICILY. FOREIGN RELA- 
TIONS OF ROME. GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCES. 

THE PUBLICANS. ROMAN SUPERSTITION. ROMAN LfT- 

ERATURE. 

The hardy tribes of Spain alone now offered resistance to 
the Roman arms. We will therefore cast a glance at the 
affairs of that country since the time of the Hannibaiian war. 

After the departure of Africanus, (547,) Indibilis and 
Mandonius excited their people to war, but they were defeated 
by the Romans ; the former was slain, and the latter given 
up by his own people. In 555 a new war broke out, in 
which the proconsul C. Sempronius Tuditanus was defeated 
and slain. The praetor Q,. Minucitis gained some advantages 
in 557, bat it still was found expedient to assign Spain as 
the province of M. Porcius Cato, one of the consuls of this 
year. Cato, soon after his arrival, defeated a large army 
of the natives, and he then had recourse to the following 
stratagem. When deputations came to him from the several 

• Appiar 'fl Iberica is the principal authority for this chapter. 



276 HISTORY OF ROMR. 

owns, he as' usual demanded hostages, and sent sealed letters 
to each, directing^ them, under pain of slavery in case of 
delay, to throw down their walls. These letters he took care 
should all arrive on the same day; there wn^ consequently 
no time for deliberation ; each thought itself alone interested, 
his commands were every where obeyed, and the whole coun- 
try thus reduced to tranquillity. Cato then put the silver and 
iron mines on an advantageous footing for the state, and he 
triumphed on his return the following year. Spain was now 
divided into two provinces, named Citerior and Ulterior with 
respect to the river Ebro 

The restless temper of the natives,' ahd the' ambition and 
cupidity of the Roman generals, would not however allow 
of permanent tranquillity, and hardly a year passed without 
fighting. Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, when priPtor in Spain, 
(372,) arranged the relations between the Romans and the 
native population in a manner which gained him general 
applause. By one of his regulations, the Spaniards were 
hound not to build any more towns' when therefore the Cel- 
tiberians of Segeda increased the compass of their walls, and 
reinoved the people of the smaller towns to it, the senate 
sent to forbid tliem, and as they did not comply with the de- 
mands made on them, the consul Q,. Fulvius Nobilior led an 
army against them, (.599:) but the advantage in the campaign 
was on the side of the Celtiberians. The consul of thenext 
year, (6(30^) M. Claudius Marcellus, 'wlien the senate had 
refused the Celtiberians peace, attacked and reduced, them 
to submission. His successor, L. Licinius Luculhis, (601,) 
though the country was tranquil, would not be balked of his 
hopes of fame and booty. He crossed the Tagns, and, With- 
out any pretext, entering the Vnccsean territory, laid siege 
(0 the town of Cauca, (Coca;) and the people thus wantonly 
attacked were obliged to ^ive hostages and one hundred 
talents of money, hnd to send their horse to servie with him. 
He then required them to receiv^e a garrison ; and ori their 
consenting, he put two thousand of his best troops into the 
town, with directions to occupy the walls. When they had 
done so, he led in the rest of his army, and gave the signal 
for a general massacre of the male population, and of twenty 
thousand souls but a few escaped : he then plundered th« 
town. ' After this vile piece of treachery he advnnced through 
a! country which the inhabitants had purposely laid waste 
and sat down before a town named Tntercatia ; whence, aftei 
the army had suffered severely from hardship^ wantof nece* 



. LUSfTA^UAN WAR. ^S^ 

saries, and the incessant attacks of the enemy, he was glad, 
through the mediation of his legate Scipio, (the future con- 
queror of Carthage,) — for the people would not trust him- 
self, —to retire, on receiving hostages, a certain numher 
of cattle, find ten thousand c'oaks (sagcB) for his soldiers. 
Gold and silver, which he chiefly coveted, they had not to 
give. He then went to winter in Turditania. The historian 
remarks that he never was brought to trial at home for thus 
warring on his own account. 

Meantime the I^usitanians, one of the independent tribes 
of the peninsula, had ravaged the lands of the subjects of 
Rome, and;defeated the praetors, M' Manilius and L. Calpur- 
nius Piso, and the quaestor C. Terentius Varro. They after- 
wards defeated L. Mummius, the future conqueror of Greece, 
who hdA taken the command. The Lusitanians south of the 
Tagus now shared iii the war; a part of their forces crossed 
over to ravage Africa, while another part besieged a town 
named Ocila; but Mummius fell on them and routed them 
with great slaughter, by which he gained the glory of a 
triumph. . His stJGcessor, M. Atilius Serranus, reduced a part 
of them to submission ; but when he went into winter quar- 
ters, they rose again and laid siege to some of the subject 
towns, Ser. Sulpicius Galba, the successor of Atilius, 
coming to the relief of one of these towns, was defeated, with 
the loss of seven thousand men, and was forced to fly. 

This was at the time LucuUus was in Spain ; and in the 
spring (602) he apd Galba simultaneously attacked the Lusi- 
tanians, the former in the south, the latter in the north. 
LucuUus, having fallen on and cut to pieces those who were 
returning from Africa, entered Lusitania and laid a part of it 
waste. Galba invaded the country on the north ; and when 
some of the tribes sent embassies to him, proposing to renew 
*he peace made with Atilius which they had broken, he 
received them, kindly, affecting to pity them, laying the whole 
blame of their predatory habits on the poverty of their soil, 
and offering to give them, as his friends, abundance of fertile 
land. The simple people gladly embraced the offer, and 
leaving their mountains came down to the plains which he 
pointed out to them. These were in three several places; 
and he directed each portion of them to remain there till he 
came to regulate them. Then coming to the first, he desired 
them as friends to put away their arms ; when they had done 
so, he raised a rampart and ditch about them, (their future 
town as it were,) and sending in a party of soldiers armed 
24 



1276 HISTORY OF ROME. 

with swords massacred nil who were in it. He did the same 
at the other two places, and but a few escaped being the 
victims of this detestable piece of treachery.* 

About ten thousand of those who had escaped from Lu- 
cullus and Galba assembled the next year (603) and invaded 
Turditania. The pra:tor C. Vetilius marched against them, 
and succeeded in driving them into a position where, to all 
appearance, they must either perish by hunger or face the 
Roman sword. They sent to sue for lands, offering to be- 
come Roman subjects. Vetilius consented to their request ; 
but Viriathus, one of those who had escaped from Galba, 
reminding them of Roman treachery, bade them beware, and 
pledged himself to extricate them if they would be guided by 
him. They chose him general on the spot ; he drew them 
up in line of battle, directing them to scatter when they saw 
him mount his horse, and make as best they could for the 
town of Tribula. All was done accordingly ; Viriathus re- 
mained at the head of one thousand horse. Vetilius feared 
to divide his troops to pursue the fugitives ; Viriathus kept 
the Romans occupied the whole of that day and the next, 
aud then by ways with which he was well acquainted 
rejoined his men at Tribula. This stratagem gained him 
great fame among his countrymen, and his arrhy was speedily 
augmented. When Vetilius soon after came against Tri- 
bula, the Lusitanian laid an ambush, and slew the praetor 
himself and nearly half his army. 

By his accurate knowledge of the country, by his military 
skill and fertility in resources, and by possessing the confi- 
dence and affections of the native tribes, Viriathus succeeded 
during five years in baffling or defeating all the Roman 
generals sent against him. 

At length ((il)7) the senate, Carthage and Greece being 
now reduced, resolved to prosecute with vigoi the Lusita- 
nian war, which had assumed a formidable appearance. It 
was therefore committed to the consul Q,. Fabius Maximus 
i£milianus, the son of iiCmilius Paulus, and brother of the 
conqueror of Carthage. As the troops which he brought 
i>ut were mostly composed of raw recruits, he avoided giving 
battle for a long time ; at length he engaged and defeated 

* Galba was pmspcuted for this *brtdAct by the tribune L. Scribo- 
nsus, aided by M. Porcius V'ato, now in his 95th joar. He escaped by 
appealing to the compassion of the people, producing \ua young chil- 
dren to move their pity Cruelty and meanness ofXien gJ together 
^Cic. Orat. i. 53.) . 



VIRIATHI.VN WAR. 279 

Viriathus, and took two Lusitanian towns. Viriathus how- 
ever succeeded in gaining over to his side the greater part of 
the Celtiberian tribes, and he still harassed incessantly the 
Roman subjects. In 610 the consul Q,. Fabius Maximus 
Servilianus, tiie adoptive brother of ^mihanus, came out, 
bringing with him eighteen thousand foot and one thousand 
six hundred horse. He sent to Micipsa, of Numidia for 
elephants, and when they arrived he advanced .igainst Viria- 
thus, and defeated him ; but the Lusitanian, seeing the Ro- 
mans scattered in the pursuit, turned back, and having killed 
three thousand, drove the rest into their camp, which he 
would have stormed but that night came on. By making 
attacks in the night or during the heat of the day, he so 
worried and harassed the Roman army that he at length 
forced them to retreat to the town of Itucca, whither he 
pursued them ; but want of supplies and loss of men obliged 
him to return to Lusitania. Servilianus then again invaded 
that country; but as he was besieging a place named Eri- 
sane, Viriathus, who had entered the town by night, headed 
a sally in the morning, drove off those who were digging 
the trench, attacked the rest of the army, and chased it into 
a position whence there was no escape. The Lusitanian 
used his advantage nobly and moderately ; he proposed a 
peace, on the terms of his being recognized as a friend of 
Rome, and all those whom he commanded being secured in 
the possession of their territory. The consul gladly accept- 
ed these terms, peace was concluded, and the senate and 
people of Rome confirmed it. 

But Cn. Servilius Caepio, the broth»,r and successor of 
Servilianus, (611,) was by no means pleased at losing his 
chance of fame and plunder. He wrote home describing 
the peace as highly disgraceful to Rome. The senate gave 
him leave to harass and provoke Viriathus in secret ; but 
this did not content him, and on his repeated instances he 
received permission to make war openly. He came up 
Avith the army of Viriathus, far inferior in number, in Car- 
petania. The Lusitanian, not venturing to engage him, 
drew up his horse on an eminence, and sent off the rest of 
his troops by a deep glen ; and when he thcught them in 
safety he rode after them, in the presence of Cajpio, with 
such speed as to baffle pursuit. Some time after, however, 
he sent three of his friends to propose a peace : but the un- 
worthy Roman, by gifts and promises, prevailed on them 
lo engage to assassinate their chief. It was Viriathus' cus* 



280 HISTORY OF ROME. 

tcm to sleep in his armor, but his officers hnd free access 
to his tent at uU liours. The traitors took advantage of tliis, 
and going in just as he had fallen asleep, killed him with 
one blow, they then fled to Cicpio to claim their reward, 
and he sent them to Kome to claim it there. 

The Lusitanians deeply mourned their valiant, able, and 
noble-minded leader, and celebrated his obsequies with all 
the pomp and magnificence in use among them. They ap- 
pointed a chief named Tantalus to take his place ; but 
Viriathus was not to be replaced, and they were obliged to 
submit to Caepio, give up their arms, and take the land he 
assigned them. 

The war which Viriathus had kindled in Citerior Spain 
now drew the attention of the Romans. The chief seat of 
this war was the city of Numantia, which lay in the present 
Old Castile. It was built on a steep hill of moderate height, 
being accessible only on one side; the river Durius (Douro) 
and another stream ran by it, and it was surrounded by 
woods. It contained, it is said, only eight thousand fighting 
men, but these were all *irst-rate soldiers, both horse and 
foot. Fulvius Nobilior, iu the year 599, had first wantonly 
attacked Numantia ; Marcellus and Lucullus also turned 
their arms and arts against the Numantiiies, who therefore 
readily entered into an alliance with the Lusitanian hero. 
In the year 612, Q. Pompeius, (the fiist consul of his name,) 
having received from his predecessor L. Metellus Macedo- 
nicus,* a well-disciplined army of thirty thousand foot and 
two thousand horse, laid siege to Numantia ; but he met 
with nothing but disgrace and defeat ; his army was at- 
tacked by disease, and he was forced to dispers^e it through 
the towns for the winter. Wishing to end the war before 
his successor should come out in the spring, he entered 
into secret negotiations with the Numantines, who were 
extremely desirous of peace, and at his suggestion they 
sent an embassy to him. In public he demanded uncon- 
ditional eubmissiou, as alone worthy of Rome; in private 
he declared he would be satisfied if they gave hostages and 

* This was one of the best men Rome ever produced. As he was 
besieping' in ' this war the town of Nertobriga, the people, to punish 
one oi tlieir citizens who h.id gone over to the Romans, exposed hit) 
children to the batterinij rams. Tlie father cried out not to heed 
them, but the generous Metellus gave up the siege, sooner than in- 
inrr them. The fame of this humane act caused many towns to snf 
•onder Flor ii. 17. Val. iV«*s. v. 1,5 



NUMANTINS WAR 281 

thirty taleats in money, and delivered up the prisoners and 
deserters. They agreed, and all was concluded except the 
payment of a part of the money, when M. Popillius Laenas 
catne out to take the command. Pompeius then turned 
round and denied having made any convention with them ; 
they appealed to his own officers who were present. Popil- 
lius sent them to Rome, and the senate having heard them 
and Pompeius, sent orders to Popillius to prosecute the war. 
He accordingly commenced operations against Numantia, 
but he was utterly defeated by its gallant defenders. 

In 615, the consul C. Hostilius Mancinus appeared before 
Numantia, but in every encounter he was worsted ; and on 
a false report of the approach of the Cantabrians and Vac- 
cajans to relieve the town, he fled in the night, and took; 
refuge in the old camp left by Nobilior : here he was sur- 
rounded by the Numantines, and no chance appearing of 
escape, he sent to propose a peace. The Numantines would 
only treat with his quaestor Ti. Semprouius Gracchus, the 
son of him who had regulated the state of Spain, and Grac- 
chus succeeded in concktding an honorable peace, and thus 
saving a Roman army of twenty thousand men. But at 
Rome this treaty caused high displeasure ; some were for 
giving up to the enemy all concerned in it, as had been 
done at the Caudine Forks ; but the influence of Gracchus' 
friends prevailed, and it was thought sufficient to deliver up 
the general. Mancinus, who offered himself a voluntary 
victim,' was taken by his successor P. Furius, and handed 
over naked and in bonds to the Numantines; but, like Pon- 
tius, they refused to receive him. 

During this time Mancinus' colleague, M. ^Emilius Lepi- 
dus, not to be idle, made war of himself on the Vaccaeans, 
under the pretext of their having supplied provisions to the- 
Numantines, and he laid siege to their chief town Paliantia. 
The senate, loath to engage in a new war at this time, sent 
out to stop him; but he wrote to say that he knew tiie reav 
state of things better than they, and that all Spain would 
rise if the Romans showed any symptoms of fear. He then 
went on with the war ; but his hopes of glory and booty 
were foully disappointed : after a great loss of men and 
beasts he was obliged to raise the siege and fly in the night, 
leaving his sick and wounded behind him. The people of 
Rome deprived him of his office, and fined him heavily. It 
ifl not quite certain that such would have been the case if 
24* J J 



282 HISTORY OF ROME. 

he had been victorious. The consul Q. Calpuriiius Piso 
(617) did not venture to engage the Numantines, contenting 
himself with plundering the lands of Pailantia. 

It was now become evident that the Numantine war de- 
manded Rome's ablest general ; the people therefore resolved 
to raise Scipio Africanus a second time to the consulate for 
this purpose, ((>I8,) the law forbidding any one to be consul 
a second time being suspended in his favor. As there were 
so many troops already in Spain, no legions were raised, but 
the name of Scipio brought together about four thoMs:ind 
volunteers ; and giving the charge of them to his .brother 
Fabius Maximus, he passed over himself at once to Spain. 
Here he found the army in such a state of demoralization, 
that nothing could be undertaken till its discipline was re- 
stored. He forthwith gave orders for all sutlers, harlots 
diviners and priests, (for ill success had as usual produced 
superstition,) to quit the camp. He directed all the need- 
less wagfms and beasts of burden to be sold ; forbade the 
soldierti to have any cooking utensils but a spit and a brass 
pot, or to use any food but plain roast and boiled meat, or 
to have more than one drinking-cup ; he also obliged them 
to sleep on the ground, himself setting them the example. 
By various regulations of this kind, he got the troops into 
good order, and having .seasoned them by marches and coun- 
termarches, making thetn dig trenches and fill them up 
again, raise walls and throw them down, he led them into 
the Vacc:ran territory, whence the Numantines dreVv their 
chief supplies, and laid it waste, atid then took up his 
winter (piarlers in that of Numantia. While here he was 
joined by Jugurtha, the nephew of Micipsa king of Nu- 
midia, with twelve elephants and a body of horse and light 
troops. 

In the spring (61()) Scipio formed two camps in the vi- 
cinity of Numantia under himself and his brother. His plan 
being to starve the town, he refused all offers of battle ; he 
divided his army into different portions, and raised ramparts 
and towers round the town, except where it was washed by 
the Durius ; and to prevent provisions or intelligence being 
conveyed in by boats or by divers, he placed guards on the 
river above and below, and from these stations he let long 
beams of timber, armed with swords and darts and fastened 
by ropes to the shore, float along the streani, which being 
very rapid kept whirling them round and round, so that 



KUMANTiNE WAR. 

nothing could pass. The works round the town were six 
miles in circuit, those of the town being three miles ; and 
tiie besieging army counted sixty thousand men. 

The Numantines made several gallant but fruitless at- 
tacks on the Roman works. Hunger began to be felt, and 
all communication with their friends was cut off. A man 
named Retogenes, we are told, having engaged live of bis 
friends to join in the attempt, they went one dark night, 
each with his horse and a servant, up to the Roman works, 
with a ladder made for the purpose. Having ascended, they 
fell on and slew the guards on each side, and then getting 
up their horses,* they sent back their servants, and mounted 
aiid rode to solicit the Druacians to aid their kinsmen of 
Numantia; but their terror of the Romans was too great to 
allow them. The Numantines then went to a town named 
Lutia : here the young men were for giving aid, but the 
eldbrs sent secretly to inform Scipio. It was the eighth hour 
when the word came; he collected what troops he wanted, 
and though the distance was'forty miles he reached Lutia 
by dawn. He demanded the principal of the youth ; he was 
told they were gone away ; he threatened to plunder the 
town if they were not produced ; they were theli brought, 
to the number of four hundred ; he cut off their hands, left 
the town, and at dawn next day reentered his camp. 

The Numantines hopeless of relief, now sent five depu- 
ties, offering to surrender if they could obtain moderate 
terms. The unfeeling Roman would grant no conditions: 
the Numantines would not yet surrender at discretion. But 
the famine grew sorer every day ; they ate leather and otlier 
nauseous substances, and even, it is said, began to feed on 
human flesh. They seiit once more to Scipio ; he desired 
them to give up their arms on that day, and repair on the 
next to a certain place. They asked a respite of one day, 
and in that time their leading men put an end to themselves. 
On the third day a miserable remnant came forth ; Scipio 
selected fifty to adorn his triumph, the rest he sold fof 
slaves; f he then levelled the town, and divided its territory 
among its neighbors. He triumphed on his return, and 
was named Numanticus. liittle, however, on this occasion 
was the real glory of Scipio or of Rome. An army of sixty 

* If this story be true, the ladder must have been broad and boarded, 
so that the horses could walk up it. 

t According to Florus and Orosius, all the Numantints put un end 
to themselves, after burning their arms, goods, and houses. 



284 HISTORy QF aOME. 

thousaud men starved out one of four ihcusqnd, to whom 
they. would give no op])ortunity of fighting: a people who 
had generously granted life and liberty to twenty thousand 
Romans, were attacked, in breach of a solemn treaty, and 
destroyed, because they maintained tlieir liberty. 

In tlie year <)14 the consul D. Junius Brutus had entered 
Lusitania, and having subdued the country soutli of the 
Duriiis, he crossed that river and advanced to the Minius, 
(Miuho,) which he also passed, (OIG:) he made war suc- 
cessfully on the Callaeci, who dwelt to the north of it, and 
obtained the title of Callaicus. 

The year after the capture of Numautia the consul P. Ru- 
pilius terminated a war wliich had beengoiitg on for pome 
years in Sicily. It had thus originated.* 

In this fertile i.sland, the wealthy natives, and the Roman 
speculators who had made purchases in it, were in posses- 
sion of large tracts of land. As the cheapest mode of cul- 
tivating them, they bought whole droves of slaves at the 
various slave-marts, whom they branded and placed on their 
estates. These men, who seem to have been mo.stly Asiatics, 
were treated with great cruelty, and so stinted in food that 
they used to go out in gangs, (it is added, with their mas- 
ters' permission,) and rob on the highways, and even attack 
and plunder the villages; and the influence of their masters 
was so great at Rome that the prmtors did not venture to 
suppress this disorder. The slaves thus got union and a 
kind of discipline : they learned their own strength, and 
begnn to form plots. 

Among the slaves was a Syrian named Eunus, who af- 
fected to be inspired by the Syrian goddess : by various 
juggling tricks he attained great repute among his fellows, 
and he publicly declared himself destined to be a king. A 
wealthy Sicilian named Damophilus, who resided at Knua, 
treated his slaves with remarkable rigor, and his wife 
equalled him in cruelty ; their wretched slaves ther-efore 
formed a plot to murder them ; but they proviouely re.soIved 
to consult the prophet. Eunus promised them success; 
they placed him at their head, and to the number of four 
hundred entered Enna, wliere they were joined by their 
fellow^kves, and comnutted excesses of all kinds. Damo- 
philus and his wife were seized and brought before their 
tribunal ; as he was pleading for his life 'two <)f the slaves 

" Diodorus, xxxlv. Florus, iii. 19. 



BOJIAN GOVERNMENT. 285 

fell on and slew him; his wife was given up to her female 
slaves, lyho, when they had tortured her, cast her down a 
precipice ; but their daughter, wlio had always been kind 
and humane to the slaves, was treated with the utmost con- 
sideration, and sent, under the escort of some whose honor 
and fidelity could be relied on, to her relations at Catana.* 

Eunus now assumed royalty. In three days he had an 
army of six thousand men, armed with axes, scythes, spits, 
etc. ; it gradually increased to beyond ten thousand ; he 
defeated the troops of the prretor P. Manilius, (610) ; and 
the same fate befell P. Lentulus the following year. A Ci- 
lician slave named Cleon, in imitation of Eunus, put himself 
at the head of another body of slaves, and plundered Agri- 
gentum and its territory. It was expected that these leaders 
would turn their arms against each other ; but, on the con- 
trary, Cleon placed himself under the command of Euni^is, 
and their forces at length, it is said, increased to 200,000 
men. 

The prtEtor L. Plautius Hypsceus was defeated by the 
rebels, (618,) and the consul C Fulvius Flaccus met with 
little success ; the next cdnsul, L. Calpurnius Piso, defeated 
them before Messana, and his successor, P. Rupilius, (620,) 
ended the war, their strongholds, Tauromenium and Enna, 
being betrayed to him : numbers of the rebels were slain in 
battle or crucified ; Cleon fell fighting like a hero ; Eunus 
was made a prisoner, and' lie expired in a dungeon at Mur- 
S^titii. ' Tyofl oii'i .virioll U-, K.jTiq hue lumiro : 
^ .'. - -.'l :■: :A:.n ^. -. !: .,. ., ■,,, 



We will conclude this Part by a few observations on the 
foreign policy and government of the Romans at this time, 
and the state of their literature. 

It vvas always Rome's policy to form alliances, if possible, 
with the neighbors, or natural enemies as they are called, of 
any state with which she was at war. We thus find that in 
479 a Roman embassy appeared at Alexandria in Egypt, 
and concluded an alliance with Ptolemfelis Philadelphus, the 
object of which was a joint war against Pyrrhus, who was 
now become formidable ; but the death of that prince the 
follpwing year made the treaty of no effect. The feeble 

* What was Scipio's boasted virtue to this ? 



286 HISTORY OF ROME. 

successors of the Egyptian king continued to regard the 
Romans as tiieir protectors, and the year 5SG offers a re- 
njarkable instance of the Roman influence. Antiochus 
Epi[)hanes had invaded Egypt; Rome was applied to ; an 
embassy, headed by M. Popillins Lsenas, came out. Antio- 
chus offered his hand to Popillius, who declined it, till the 
king should have read the letter of the senate, ordering him 
out of Effvpt. Having perused it, he said he would advise 
with his friends. Popillius, dravting a circle round him with 
a wand, desired him not to leave it till he had given him a 
reply. The king then said that he would obey the senate, 
and the haughty envoy at length condescended to give ,t)ipi 
his hand. , , 

The kings of Pergamus and Bithynia were the obedie^V 
slaves of the Roman senate, who employed them against tlie, 
kings of Macedonia and Syria; and as, lion-like, Rome 
always gave her jackals a share of the prey, their dominions 
were augmented by her victories. The meanness of Prusias 
of Bithynia was un|)aralleled ; he styled himself the freed- 
man of the Romans, and would go out to meet their ambas- 
sadors with a shaven head and the freednian's cap, {pi.lfu,^,) 
ns beiiifT just emancipated. Attains III. of Pergamus, dying 
(619) without issue, left his kingdom to the Roman people.* 

Such i>ortions of their conquests as they did not leave with 
their rightful owners, or give away, the Romans reduced to 
provinces, which were governed by those who had borne the 
oflices of consul and pra'tor at Rome. The power of the^p, 
Roni;in governors was nearly as despotic as that of the 
Turkish pashas, and they but too often plundered the un- 
hnp|)v |)rovinrials in a dreadful manner ; the conduct of the 
infinious Verres, as detailed by Cicero in his pleadings 
against him, though an extreme case, will show to what 
lengths robbery and extortion might be, and sometimes were,, 
carried by Roman praetors and proconsuls. What aug^ 
nientcd the evil was, that the office of governor was annual, 
and cacli governor was attended by a cohort of officers, 
friends, and dependents, who had to make (ht:{r fortjjues 
also, so that (though the command was sometimes prolonged,) 
the j)roviiices had every year to expect a new swarm of 
blo(t<lsuckers to feed on them. T;iese governments were, in 
fact, the chief objects of ambition apiong the Roman nobilitj^ 

* Milhrld'ites. in his letter to Arsaces, (Sallust, Fragm.) says thai 
the will was a forgery. 



ROMAN GOVERNMENT. 287 

Who iooked forward to them as the sources of wealth and 
fame ; for besides robbing those whora they were sent to 
protect, it was easy for them to pick, a quarrel with some 
neighboring tribe or nation, slaughter a few thousands of 
them, and thence acquire plunder, and, on their return home, 
the honor of a triumph. The only remedy the provincials 
had, when oppressed, was a prosecution for extortion, {rcrum 
re])tlundarum,) which they always found some one at Rome 
ready to undertake ; but this was in general but poor satis- 
faction, and the dread of it often caused the robbery to be 
the *grrater, as the plunderers had to get the means of bribing 
their judges and advocates; thus Verres, who had pillaged 
Sicily for three years, declared that he would be content if 
he could keep the plunder of but one year.* 

Another great source of misery to the subjects was the 
Roman custom of iarming out all the revenues of the state. 
There was a large body of capitalists at Rome, chieHy con- 
sisting of the equestrian order, divided into companies, who 
took all the government contracts, farmed all the revenues, 
and lent their money on high interest at Rome, on exorbi- 
tant interest in the provinces. They were named Publicans, 
{Ptiblicdni,) as farming the public revenues: their wealth 
gave them such influence at Rome that they could dispose 
of political power as they pleased; and between exorbitant 
interest for their money (we find most respectable men 
charging 48 per cent.) and excessive tolls and customs, they 
ground down, and alienated and exasperated the minds of, 
the provincials. Even in the year 585 the senate, when 
regulating Macedonia, declared that the gold and silver 
mines should not be wrought, or the domain-lands let, be- 
cause it could not be done without the publicans, " and 
where there is a publican," said they, " the public right is 
vain, or the liberty of the allies is nought. "f 

In the internal condition of the Roman state at this period 
we have to observe the absence of all civil commotions, the 

** Another evil were the Free Legations. When a man of rank had 
any private business to transact in the provinces, he applied tn the 
senate for a free legation, as it was called, that is, to be appointed a 
supernumerary or unattached legate (as we may term it) to the gov- 
ernor of the provmce. He was thus invested with a public character, 
and entitled to make demands on the subjects for lodging, &c. at free 
coat : and (his was easily converted it* •) a means of plunder ana 
extortion. 

t Liv. xlv. 18. 



288 HISTORY OP ROME 

foreign wars which prevailed all through t giving ample 
employment for all orders of the people; but the lower or- 
ders, by constant service abroad, gradually lost the character 
of the simple rustic plebeian in that of the soldier; and the 
generals, to gain the votes of the troops at elections, acquired 
the pernicious habit of seeking to win their favor by gifts 
and by the relaxation of discipline ; whence in the later wars 
of this time we find the Roman arms unfortunate, till a 
Scipio or an yEtnilius Paulus comes to restore discipline. 

The superstition of the Romans at this time is also de- 
serving of notice. Every year, as regular as the election of 
magistrates, is the expiation of prodigies, such as temples, 
wtiUs, and gates being struck with lightning, showers of 
stones, milk, or blood, oxen or babes in the womb speaking, 
lambs yeaned with two heads, cocks turned into hens, and 
vire vrrm, mice gnawing gold, etc. etc.; to obviate the ill 
effects of which, victims were slain and supplications offered 
to the gods by orders of the senate ; partly, it is probable, 
merely in compliance with the popular superstition, in part 
also from their sharing in it. 

Rome at this time began to form the literature which has 
come down to us ; but unfortunately, instead of being na- 
tional and original, it was imitative and borrowed, consistiiiir 
chiefly of translations from the Greek. In the year after the 
end of the first Punic war, (512,) L. Livius Andronicus, an 
Italian Greek by birth, represented his first piny at Rome. 
His pieces were taken from the Greek ; tmd he also trans- 
lated the Odyssey out of that language into Latin. Cn. 
Nfpvins, a native of Campania, also made plays from the 
Greek,* and he wrote an original poem on the first Punic 
war, in which he had himself borne arms. These poets used 
the Latin measures in their ver.se ; but Q. Ennius, from 
Rudiae in Calabria, who is usually called the Father of Ro. 
man poetry, was the first who introduced the Greek metres 
into the Latin language. His works were numerous trage- 
dies and comedies, (from the Greek,) satires, and .lis cele- 
brated Annals, or poetic history of Rome, in hexameters, the 
loss of which, (at least of the early books) is to be lamented. 
M. Accius Plautus, an Umbrian, and Ctecilius Statius, an 

• A translation of the Greek poem, the Cypria, is also ascrjbed to 
him ; but it would seem witliout reason, as the frajrments of it are 
hsxameters. The name of the real author is said to have been Lsevius 



ROMAN LITERATURE. 2S9 

Insubrian Gaul, composed numerous comedies, iVeely imi- 
tated from the Greek. M. Pacuvius of Brundisium, the 
nephew of Ennius, made tragedies from the Greek ; L. 
Afranius was regarded as the Menander of Rome ; and 
P. Terentius, (Terence,) a Carthaginian by birth, gave some 
beautil'ul translations of the comedies of Menander and 
Apollodorus. None of these poets but Plautus and Terence 
have reached us, except in fragments ; the former amuses us 
with his humor, and gives us occasional views of Roman 
manners, while we are charmed with the graceful elegancft 
of the latter. It is remarkable that not one of these pctla 
was a Roman. In fact Rome has nevier produced a poet. 

Q,. Fabius Pictor, L. Cincius Alinieiitus, A. Postuniius 
Albinus, M. Porcius Cato, and Cassius Ilemina wrote his- 
tories (the first three in Greek) in a brief, dry, unattractive 
stylfe. Cincius also wrote on constitutional antiquities, and 
seems to have been a man of research ; and a work of Cato's 
on husbandry has come down to us, which we could we 1 

spare for his i^)rigines, or early history of Italy. 

or _ .. 



THE 



HISTORY OF ROME. 



PART IV.* 



THE REPUBLIC. 

rONQUEST OF THE EAST, AND DOWNFALL 

OF THE CONSTITUTION. 



CHAPTER It 

STATE OF THINGS AT ROME. TIHERIi;S DtACCIIl'S : - HIS 

TRIIJUNATE ANO LAWS : HIS DEATH. DEATH OF SCIPIO 

AFRICANUS. (All's GRACCHl!S : HIS TRIUUNATES AND 

laws: HIS DEATH. — THE GRACCHI, AND THEIR MEAS- 
URES. INSOLENCE AND CRUELTY OF THE OLIGARCHS. — 

CONQUESTS IN ASIA AND GAUL. 

Hitherto we have seen the Romans, in consecjuence of 
their admirable civil and military institution?, advancing 
from conquest to conquest, till no power remained able to 
contend with them for the mastery ; and, thougii ilieir con- 
duct was far from according with justice and the rigid rule 
of right, the wisdom and energy of their measures must 

■" Tliere is no cnnsecutivp history of tiiis period but the epitome of 
Livy and those of KutropiMs and others, and llie atrrcoable skotcli ot 
the ingenious but prejudiced Velii-ius. Appian's Civil Wars gives 
the internal liistor}' ; and from the year (W;? we have the cnnliiiuous 
narrative of Dion Cassius. Tlie works of Cicero also furnish many 
particulars, and there are Lives of all the great men of this period by 
Plutarch. 

t Appian, B. C. i. 1—27. Velleius, ii. 1—7. Plut.. T ). and 0. 
Gracchus 



STATE OF THINGS AT ROME. 29l 

eommand our applause. Internal tranquillity had also pre- i 

vailed during this pericxl of glory, and all orders in the state ! 

had acted togetlier in harmony. The scene now changes. j 

Henceforth the foreign wars become of comparatively little \ 

account, Vthile internal commotions succeed one another \ 

almost without intermission; liberty is lost in the unhal- ] 

lowed contests, and anarchy brings forth its legitimate oli- I 

spring, despotism. The progress to this consummation we j 
will now endeavor to trace. 

The political state of Rome at this time was -such as is I 

most unfavorable to tiie maintenance of liberty. The j 

people, who had the power of bestowing all the great and \ 

lucrative offices in tlie state were poor, while a portion of :; 

the nobility were immensely rich. There were thus an oli- j 

garchy and a democracy together in the state, and unless ! 

this condition of things could be changed there must be an \ 

end of the constitution, \ 

We have above shown one of the modes in which the | 

Roman nobles acquired wealth, namely, by the oppression : 

of the provinces. They had also been large purchasers of - 

land in the sales of its domain made by the state; and as, j 

on account of the constant wars in which Rome had been j 

engaged since she had made the conquest of Italy, the vast \ 

tracks of public land which had been acquired remained ' 

mostly unassigned, they were occupied by the men of wealth. 1 

Had they, in conformity with the Licinian law, employed \ 

free laborers on these lands the evil had been less ; but I 

the victories of the Roman people had filled the market \ 

with slaves, and the great landholders, finding that the | 

work of slaves would come cheaper than that of freemen, f 

who were moreover always liable to be draughted for the \ 

army, purchased large numbers of them, who(n they kept in ( 

workhouses {crgastula) badly fed and hardly treated, and { 

forced to labor in fetters on their lands. These men were \ 

not, like the negroes, an inferior race; they were Gauls, • 

Spaniards, Ligurians, Asiatics, and other intelligent or \ 

energetic portions of the human family. They had known [ 
the blessings of freedom, and, as the late events in Sicily 

had shown, they might endanger the state by a revolt. | 

On the other hand, the frugal independent yeomanry, 

which in the good times had formed the pride and the j 
strength of Rome, was greatly diminished, and at the same 
time was debased and corrupted. Engaged in .listant ser- 
vice they were kept for years away from their farms, ant' 



293' ■'' HISTORY OF ROME. 

iVequeritly on liis return the soldier found that his familj 
had been driven from their cottage by some wealthy neigh- 
bor who coveted their spot oi' land, and justice could not 
always be obtained against him. Or, having lost all relish 
for a life of frugal and laborious industry, they were easily 
induced to sell their little patrimony for wliat they could 
get, and then settled at Home, living as they could, and 
Belling their votes, or else they adopted a military life alto- 
gether. 

This state of things caused great apprehension to the 
prudent and patriotic, who could discern no remedy but a 
return to the provisions of the Licinian law; and Lcelius, 
the friend of the conqueror of Carthage, had in his tribu- 
nate coiilentplatcd some measure of this kind, but he de- 
! sisted when he saw the opposition which the nobility were 

prepared to give, and hence it is said he acquired his title 
of Sapiens, i. e. icisc or prudent. Some time after, (f»19,) 
Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, who had been quaestor to Man- 
cinu.s at Numantia, b<!ing made tribune of the people, re- 
solved to attempt to remedy the evils of his country by 
enforcing the agrarian law of Licinius Stoln. 

Tib. Gracchus was the son of that Tib. Gracchus of 
whom we have already spoken ; his mother Cornelia was 
I the daughter of the great Africanus. This admirable woman 

I had devoted herself to the education of Tiberius and his 

i younger brother Cains, anxiously desiring that they should 

I be the first n)f;n of their time in virtue and in ability. Nor 

i were her labors fruitless; of Tiberius it is said, by one 

who condemned his measures, that " he was (' the present 
enterprise set off" his head') most pure in life, most :\bun- 
dant in genius, most iipright in purpose; in fine, adorned 
with as many virtues as human nature, perfected by careful 
culture, is capable of"* lie was married to the daughter 
of App. Claudius, and his sister was the wife of Scipio 
Africanus. 

As is usual, various causes were assigned for the conduct 

of Tib. Gracchus. Some said that he was excited by two 

[ Greek philosophers;! others, by Cornelin, who reproached 

him that people 'called her the mother-in-law of Scipio in 

stead of the mother of the Gracchi ; others, by jealousy of 'a 

. • . (I '■ 

* Veil. Pat. ii. 2. Cicero also, thoug'h he always condemns the 
conduct of Tiberiua in llie strongest terms, calls liis " revolt from tlia 
senate" his only faoll. (Dp Ha^nsp. Rcsp. 19.) 

t Diophanes of Mylilenc, and Ulosius of Cumce in Campania. 



TIBERIUS GRACCHUS. 293 I 

voung man of his own age, his rival in eloquence ; others, 

by anger and fear at the conduct of the senate on the oc- | 
casion of the Numantine treaty.* But by far the most 

probable cause is that given by his brother Caius, who said 1 

that as he passed through Etriiria, on his way to Numantia, I 

lie was struck with the deserted look of the country iit j 

consequence of the large estates, and observing that all j 

those who were cultivating them were slaves, he began to ; 

reflect on a remedy. After his return to Rome he com- ! 

muiiicated his views to his father-in-law App. Claudius, fo \ 

P. Mucins SciEvola, the great jurisconsult, and to P. Liciii- i 

ius Crassus, the chief pontiff — men not to be suspected of | 

demagogy — and other eminent persons, all of whom agreed ; 

with him in sentiment. Encouraged by their opinions, and | 
further invited by anonymous writings on the walls and 

public monuments calling on him to resume the public land ! 

for the poor, he brought forward a bill prohibiting any one f, 

from holding more than five hundred jugers of public land |- 

himself, and half that quantity for each of his sons; and j 

directing triumvirs to be appointed annually for dividing j 

the surplus lands among the poor citizens, who were more- ;, 

over not to be permitted to sell their allotments. t 

The wealthy exclaimed against this law as a crying in- S 

justice: they had, they said, inherited this property from j 

their fathers, or fairly purchased it : they had received it | 

in dowry with their wives, and given it in dowry with their | 

daughters; they had laid out their money on it in build- | 

ings and plantations ; they had borrowed or lent money \ 

on it; the tombs of the fathers of many were on these [ 

estates, so long had they been in their families. On the | 

other hand, the poor complained of the state of misery to 'i 

which they had been reduced ; they enumerated the cam- f 

paigns in which these lands had been acquired by the | 

blood of their fathers; they upbraided the rich with their { 

want of feeling and patriotism in preferring faithless barba- '. 

rian slaves to free citizens and brave soldiers. The people I 

of the colonies, municipal towns, t and others who had \ 

any concern in this land, flocked to Rome as the time for | 

putting the law to the vote drew nigh, and, as they saw [ 

reason to hope or fear from it, sided with one party or tsie i 

other. i 

i: 

• Cicero, Bint. 27; De Harusp. Resp. 20. Veil. Pat. ii. 2. | 

t These were the Latin and Italian towns. (Niebuhr, ii. 52,tu>«e.; j 

25* I 



994 HISTORY OF ROM£. 

Qrucchus himself, excited by the magnitude and antici|>a' 
ted good of lu3 object, and warmed by oj)]X)sition, exerted aU 
the powers of his eloquence in hi;^ liarangues from the Rostra, 
The beasts of the field in Italy, he said, had their holes and 
dens to lie in, while those who fought and died for it partooK 
of its light and air, but of nought else, wandering about house- 
less and h()n»eless with their wives and cliildren. It was a 
mockery of the generals to call on their men in battle to fight 
for their altars and the tombs of their fathers, for of so many 
Romans not one had a fanjily altar or tomb ; they fought and 
died for the wealth and luxury of others ; they were called the 
lords of the world, while they had not a sod of their own. He 
asked the wealthy if slaves were better, braver, or more 
faithful than freemen : he showed them that, by thus diminish- 
ing the free population, they were running the risk not only 
of not making the further conquests to which they aspired, 
but of losing to the public enemies the lands they already 
possessed. He finally told them that if they cheerfully 
yielded up what they held beyond the limits specified in 
his law, they should have the remainder in absolute prop 
erty, and he gave an adequate renmneration for the money 
they had laid out on what they surrendered. He then de- 
sired the clerk to read out the bill. 

But the rich, fearing to make any opposition in their 
own persons, hrul engaged Octavius, one of the tribunes, 
on their side, and he interposed his veto. The clerk there- 
[ fore stopped reading. Gracchus then put the matter off 

1 till the next market-day; but with no better success, for 

I Octavius again interposed. Gracchus appointed another 

day, and judging that Octavius' opposition proceeded from 
his being a holder of public land, he offered to make good 
out of his own fortune any loss he might sustain. Finding 
him obstinate, he suspended by his intercession the func- 
tions of all the magistrates till his bill should have passed, 
and he placed his seal on the temple of Saturn, that the 
qii.-Estors might take nothing into or out of it.* The 
wealthy now assumed the garb of mourners; they at the 
same time laid plots for the life of Gracchas, whc aware 
of them went constantly armed with a dagger, taking care 
to let it be seen. 

Another assembly-day came : the people were preparing 

* As this was the treasury, this was what «tc oav cbU sti-ypinv tht 
miplits. '•.ihul -'tit 

■k '■• 



TRIBUNATE AND LAWS OF TIBERIUS GRACC1IU3 295 

.0 vote, vvhen Octavius again interposed ; they lost patience, 
and were about to have recourse to violence ; but Manliu? 
and Fulvius, two consulars, witii tears implored Gracchus 
to leave the matter to the senate. He snatched up his bill 
and ran with it into the senate-house ; but here the party of 
the rich was too strong for him : he came out again, and in 
sight of the people besought Octavius to give up his op- 
position ; and vvhen he could not prevail he declared that 
the public weal must not be endangered by their disputes, 
and that one or other of them must be deprived of his 
office. lie then desired Octavius to put the question of Ms 
deposition to the vote, and on his refusal he said that he 
would i)ropose that of Octavius. The assembly was then 
dismissed. 

Next day he proposed the question ; the first or prceroga- 
tive tribe having voted for it, he conjured Octavius to change, 
but in vain. When seventeen tribes had voted, he again 
implored him ; Octavius, who was naturally of a mild, mod- 
erate temper, hesitated and was silent ; but on looking at 
the rich, false shame overcame him, and he persisted : the 
eighteenth tribe then voted, and he ceased to be a tribune. 
Gracchus ordered one of his officers, a freedman, to pull 
him downt the people rushed to seize him, the rich to 
defend him, and he escaped with some difficulty. Q,. Mumi- 
mius was forthwith chosen in his place. 

Gracchus now carried his laws without opposition ; he 
himself, his young brother Caius, and App. Claudius his 
father-in-law, were appointed triumvirs for dividing the landsl 
The senate, at the instigation of P. Scipio Nasica, an exten- 
sive holder of public land, had the meanness and folly to 
insult Gracchus by refusing him a tent, (a thing always given 
to triumvirs,) and by assigning him only 4 J asses a day far 
his expenses. 

Just at this time Eudemus, of Pergamus, arrived with the 
will of king Attalus. Gracchus immediately proposed that 
the royal treasures should be brought to Rome, and divided 
among those to whom land should be assigned, to enable 
them to purchase cattle and farming implements. He furtlier 
maintained that it was for the people, not the senate, to 
regulate the dominions of the deceased monarch. This 
galled the senate, and Pompeius rose and asserted that being 
Grace!/::?' neighbor he knew that Eudemus had given him, 
as the future king of Rome, the diadem and purple robe of 
Attalusv Q. Metellus reproached him with letting the poorer 



296 HISTORY OF ROME. 'V fM!r!T 

citizeiis light him home at night, whereas, when his fathei 
was censor, people used to put out their lights as he was 
going home, lest he should know that they kept late hours 
Others said other things; but what most injured Gracchus 
even with his own party, was the deposition of Octavius. 
Being aware of this, he entered into a public justification of 
his conduct on that occasion ; but his arguments, though 
Lugenious, are not convincing.* 

The nobility made no secret of their intention to take 
vengeance on Gracchus when he became again a private 
man, aud his friends saw no safety for him but in being re- 
elected. To secure the people he declarec his intention of 
shortening the period of military service, and to give an 
appeal, in civil suits, from the judges to the people. He 
also (perhaps to gain the knights) proposed to add an equal 
number from the equestrian order to the panel of judges, 
who had been hitherto exclusively senators. 

When the day of election came, the party of Gracchus was 
much more feeble than usual, for his chief supporters being 
countryfolk were away getting in the harvest, and they did 
not attend to his summons. He therefore threw himself on 
the people of the town, and though the strength of his ene- 
mies lay in that quarter the first two tribes voted in his favor. 
The rich then interrupted the proceedings, exclaiming that 
the same man could not be twice tribune ; a dispute arose 
among the tribunes, and Gracchus put off the election till 
the next day.t Though inviolate by his office he put on 
mourning, and during the rest of the day he went leading 
his jou^g son about with him, and commending him to the 
care of the people, as he despaired of life for hin»self. The 
people attended him home, assuring him he might rely on 
tjrem, and many of them kept watch at his house during the 
night. 

In the morning the friends of Gracchus, having early occu- 
pied the Capitol, where the election waa to be held, sent to 
summon him. Various unfavorable omens, it is said, oc- 
curred as he was leaving home, but his friend Blo^^ius, the 
philosopher, bade him despise them. He went up : the elec- 
tion commenced ; the rich men and their party began to 
di^tfirb It ; Gracchus made the sign which he had arranged 

* ^lutarch gives the heads of his speech. Cicero (Laws, 1.1. 10) im- 
putes tlic nun of Gracch\is to his deposition of iiis colleague. 
■ * Appian, i. \4. Plutarch says thai it was the friends of iracchui 
who began to quarrel when thtj found thi tle^^tion goinf igainst hinv 



3UNATE AND LAWS OF TIBERIUS GRACCHUS. 297 

trith hed friends during the night, for recurring to force : his 
party &S Uched the staves from the officers and broke them 
up, andi&irding their gowns about them fell on the rich men 
and drov'a them off the ground witli wounds and bruises. 
The tribdnes fled : the priests closed tlie doors of the tem- 
ple ; some ran here, some there, crying that Gracchus was 
deposing the other tribunes ; others said that he was making 
himself perpetual tribune without any election at all. 
■ The senate meantime was sitting in the temple of Faith. 
When Gracchue moved his hand to his head to give the sig- 
nal, some ran down crying that he was demanding a diadem 
of the people. Scipio Nasica called on the consul Mucius 
ScaBvola to do his duty and save the republic ; but he mildly 
replied that he would not use force or ^)ut any one to death 
without a trial; that if Gracchus made the people pass any 
illegal measure, they were not bound by it. Nasica sprang 
up, and cried, " Since the consul is false to the state, let all 
who will aid the laws follow me." Then, regardless of his 
dignity as chief pontiff, and setting the retention of the pub- 
lic laud, of which h& held so large a portion, before all things, 
he threw the skirt of his gown over his head as a signal to 
his party, and began to ascend the Capitol. A number of 
senators, knights, and others, wrapping their gowns round 
their arms, followed him ; the crowd gave way through 
respect ; they snatched the staves from the Gracchians, broke 
up^lje forms and benches, and laid about with them on all 
sides. Some of the Gracchians were precipitated down the 
sleep ;3ides of the hill; about three hundred were slain, and 
among them Gracchus himself, at the door of the temple, by 
the statues of the kings; or, according to another account, 
by a blow of a piece of a seat from Salureius, one of his 
colleagues, as he was running down the cliviis of the hill. 
In the night the bodies of all the slain were flung into the 
'Tiber, that of Gracchus included, which his murderers re- 
fused to the entreaties of his brother. Some of his friends 
were driven into exile ; others, among whom v, as Diophanes, 
were put to death. Blosius, when taken before the consuls, 
declared that he had done every thing in obedieiice to Grac- 
chus. "What," said La;lius, " if he had ordered you to 
burn the Capitol?" Blosius said that Gracchus would have 
given no such order ; but when pressed he answered that he 
would have obeyed it, as it must in such case have been for 
the public good. Strange to say, Jie was set at liberty! 
Thus, for the first time for centuri?s, was blood shed in 

LL 



298 HISTORY OF ROME. fRU 

civil contpst in Rome, — a prelude to the atrotis iS 'vv.ioh 
were soon to be ot' every-day occurrence. To nai ^'eternal 
disgiace of the Roman aristocracy, and to thei# ^ rn ulti- 
mate ruin, their avarice first caused civil discord ;/f'nd their 
contempt of law, divine and human, sprinkled the femple of 
Jupiter Optiinus IMaximus with the sacred blood of a tribune, 
and taught the Roman people to despise the majesty of office 
and the sanctity of religion. 

The senate pronounced the death of Gracchus and his 
friends to be an act of justice ; * but the people were so irfi 
bitterrd airainst Nasica that he deemed it advisable to gd 
out of their sight; and though his ofFice of chief pontiff 
bound liim not to leave Italy, he obtained from the senate a 
free hi^dtion to Asia/ where, after wandering about for some 
time, he died at Pergamus. 

Scipio Africanus was at Numantia at this time, and it is 
said that when he heard of the death of Tib. Gracchus, he 
cried out in the words of Homer, 

' Thus perish all who venture on such deeds It 

And when, after his returri, (021,) the tribune Carbo demand- 
ed of him before the people what he thought of the death of 
Tib. Gracchus, he replied that he was justly slain if he had 
a design of seizing on the government. At this the assembly 
groaned and hooted' at him, but he said, "How should I, who 
so oft have heard undismayed the shouts of armed encnries, 
be mov(!d bv those of you to whom Italy is but a stepdame ? " | 
The agrarian law also caused Scipio to sink in the popular 
favor; for M. Fulvius Flaccus and C. Papirius Carbo, who 
were made triuilivirs in the place of Tib. Gracchus and of 
App. Claudius, (who was dead,) finding that those who held 
the public land did not give in an account of it, invited inform- 
ers to come f(;rward. Immediately there sprang up a raitk 
crop of legal suits; for those Italians to whom the senate had 
re-orranted their lands, and those who had purchased, were 
required to produce their title deeds ; but some had been lost, 
others were ambiguous, and time and one cause or another had 

* Cieero (Plane. 30. Pro Domo, 54) says that Mucius applauded and 
defended tlic deed of Nasica. This hardly accords with his approval 
of Gracchun' project. ' i i 

t ' £1: artuXuiro r.ai uiiio?, « T»? VordtOra y» ^»tbel 'Od.*!. 45li<' 
X Meaning that they were rhostly freedtnen, ri6t ginonie Rrtiiiaii cit 
•tens. 



DEATH OF SCIPIO AFRICANUS. 209 

produced such coufusion and uncertainty in the various pos- 
Bessions, that the encroachments of the rich could not be 
ascertained with any exactness, so tliat no man was sure of 
his property.* 

In this state of things the Italians applied to Scipio Africa- 
nus, under whom so many of them had served, to advocate 
their cause. Not venturing openly, on account of the people, 
to impugn the agrarian law, he contented himself with repre- 
senting that it was not right that those who were to divide the 
lands should be the judges of what was public or not. As 
this seemed reasonable, the consul C. Sempronius Tudita- 
nus (623) was appointed to act as judge ; but not liking the 
office he marched with an army into Illyria, under the pretext 
of some disturbance there. The whole matter came to a 
stop : the people were enraged with Scipio, and his ene- 
mies gave out that it was his design to abrogate the law by 
force. One evening Scipio went home from the senate in per- 
fect health, attended by the senators and a large concourse of 
the Latins and the allies. He got ready a table in order to 
write in the night what he intended to say to the people next 
day. In the morning he was found dead in his bed, but with- 
out any wound. Of the nature and cause of his death there 
were various opinions, some said it was natural.t others that he 
put an end to himself; others, that his wife Sempronia, the sis- 
ter of the Gracchi, (for whom he had little affection on account 
of her ugliness and her sterility,) and it was even added with 
the aid of her mother Cornelia, strangled him, that he might 
not abrogate the law of Gracchus.| His slaves, it is also said, 
declared that some strangers who were introduced at the rear 
of the house had strangled him : the triumvirs Carbo and 
Fulvius are expressly named as the assassins.^ Those who 
know how virulent and how little scrupulous of means par- 
ties were in ancient limes, will probably feel disposed to sus- 
pect that he was murdered, and it is needless to say by what 
party. At all events no judicial inquiry was made, and the 
conqueror of Carthage had only a private funeral. |1 

' The effect of the writ quo warranto in the reign of Edward I. was 
similar. 

t Which Velleius says was the more general account. 

t Appian, i. yo. Cicero, Somn. Scip. 2. Liv, Epit. 59. Cicero'sal- 
lusion may be to C. Gracchus, who was suspected. Plut. C. Grac. 10. 

§ Cicero, ad Divers, ix. 21 ; Ad Quint ii. 3. ; Dp Np :. Deor. ii. 5. iii. 
32. Plut. as above. 

11 Pliny, H. N. x. 43, 60. 



300 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Scipio Africanus is one of the most accomplishec' t^fo 
ters in Roman story. As a general he was brave and skilful 
and though he had not the opportunities of displayinn milit* 
ry talents of the highest order, success attended all his opera 
tionSj and he cannot be charged with any errors. He was oi 
a noble, generous spirit in all his dealings, and in money mat- 
ters he acted with a liberality that was thought surprising in a 
Roman. Scipio was moreover an accomplished scholar ; he 
was the pupil of Polybiusand Panajtius, and the patron of the 
elegant poet Terence, who is said to have been indebted to hiu> 
and his friend Lailius for many of the graces of his dramas. 

For seven years (OI9-02G) after the death of Tib. Grac 
chus, his brother Caius seems to have abstained from public 
affairs. In ()20 he was appointed quicstor to the consul L. 
Aurelius Orestes, who was going out to take the comjiiand in 
Sardinia. This appointment gave much joy to the nobility, 
who ha<l been greatly troubled by the chxjuence which he bad 
lately displayed in the defence of one of his friends, and af 
the favor shown him by the people. Cicero* assures us thai 
on this occasioi. Gracchus had a dream, in which his brother 
appeared to him and said, that, linger as he might, he must die 
the same death that ht had died. The conduct of Gracchus 
during his qurestorship was deserving of every praise. 

The next year, to the mortification of the senate, M. Ful- 
vius Flaccus was chosen one of the consuls. Aware of the 
impolicy of alienating the Italians by putting them in appre- 
hension for their lands, Fulvius proposed to conciliate ajid 
compensate them by granting them the Roman civic franchise, 
and he prepared a law to that effect. The senators admon- 
ished and entreated him to no purpose ; he persisted in bis 
measure : but just then the Massilians having sent to implore 
aid against the Salluvian Gauls, Fulvius was induced to take 
the command of the army sent to their relief; and his victo- 
ries in this and the following year gained him the honor of a 
triumph, (C29.) 

The Latins and the Italians, who had gladly consented to 
accept the boon of citizenship in lieu of the disputed lands, 
were highly provoked at their disappointment, and many of 
their states began to think of appealing to arms. The peo- 
ple of FrcgelljE did actually revolt, but they veerc betrayed 
by Numitorius Pul.us, one of their chiefs, to the prajtor L. 
Opimius, who was j ent with an army against them. Opunius 

• l)e Div. i. 2G. 



CAIUS GRACCHUS. 301 

razed the town, and this severity deterred the people Of the 
other towns from rebellion. r:// 

Aurelius had now been two years in Sardinia, and the semM' 
fltej though they changed the troops, continued him in his corii*if 
inand, thinking that Gracchus would not quit his general, but "^ 
Gracchus, seeing their object, became indignant, and sailed 
at once for Rome, (628.) His enemies exclaimed, that hia 
friends were offended at such unusual conduct ; but he defend- 
ed himself before the censors, and proved that he was justi- 
fied in acting as he had done. The nobles then charged 
him with having excited the Fregellians to their revolt, but he 
easily cleared himself He then offered himself as a candi- 
date for the office of tribune, and on the day of election such 
multitudes of citizens flocked to Rome, from all parts of 
Italy that the Forum could not contain them, and numbers 
gave their votes from the house-tops. 

Soon after he had entered on his office, (629,) he brought 
forward two laws, one declaring any person who had been de- 
prived of one office by the people incapable of holding any 
other; a second making it penal for a magistrate to try any 
person capitally without the consent of the people.* The 
first was directed against the deposed tribune Octavius ; but 
he gave up this bill on the entreaty of Cornelia, to whom Oc- 
tavius was related : the other was levelled at P. Popillius L<e- 
nas, who was praetor when Tib. Gracchus was murdered ; 
Popillius, fearing to stand a trial, left Italy. Gracchus then 
had the following laws passed. 1. A renewal of his broth- 
er's agrarian law. 2. One forbidding the enlistment of any 
one under seventeen years of age. 3. One for clothing the 
soldiers without making any deduction from their pay on that 
account. 4. One for making roads through Italy. 5. One 
for selling corn to the citizens every month out of the public 
granaries at |- As {semisse et triente) the modius, or peck,t 
for which purpose he directed the revenues of Attains' king- 
dom to be let by the censors.^: 

Such were the measures of Gracchus in his first tribunate. 
The law for making roads was eminently useful, and he de- 
voted much of his attention to them. They were straight'; i 
and level, with bridges where requisite, and milestones placed ' 
all along them. His frumentary law was a poor-law of the 
worst kind ; it drained the treasury, and drew to Rome an 
idle, turbulent population. It is very difficult to believe that 

• Cicero, Rabiriua, 4. t Lir Epit. 60. | Cic. Verres, iii. & 

26 



302 HISTORY OF ROME. 

his 'motives in passing it could have been pure; it was after- 
wards repealed with the full consent of the people.* Grac- 
chus also gained favor with the provincials this year by the 
following act. The proconsul Q,. Fabius having sent from 
Spain a large quantity of corn extorted from the provincials, 
a sfinatus-consult was made on the motion of Gracchns, 
ordering the corn to be sold and the price returned to the 
Spaniards, and reprimanding Fabius for his conduct. 

By a law lately passed the people had been empowered to 
reelect any tri[)une who had not had time to complete a 
measure which he had brought forward ; accordingly Grac- 
chus was chosen one of the tribunes for the next year also, 
(GUO.) On this occasion he gave a strong proof of his 
influence over the people. He said to. them one day that 
he had a favor to ask, but he would not complain if they 
refused him ; and while all were wondering what it miorht 
be, and if he wanted them to make him consul as well as 
trJbune, he brought forward C. Fannius Strabo, and recom- 
mended him for the consulate. His object was to keep out 
L. Opimius, a determined oligarch ; and he succeeded, .for 
Fannius was chosen with Cn. Domitius. '■ n- i 

Gracchus' first law was one taking the judicial power from 
the senate, who had enjoyed it from the time of the kings, 
and giving it to the knights. As the senatorial judges hnd 
of late shown scandalous partiality in the cases of some 
governors of provinces, the senate was ashamed to make any 
opposition, and the law passed. It is said that when pro- 
posing this law from the Rostra, instead of facing the Co- 
rnitium as had hitherto been the custom, he turned to the 
Forum, t thereby intimating that the power of the state was 
in the people; and he continued thisjjractice. It is also 
said that when the law had passed, he cried out that he had 
destroyed the senate. Yet he at the same time proposed 
and carried a law directing that the senate should every year 
before the elections decide what provinces should be consu- 
lar and what prsetdrian, and that with respect to the former 
no tribune should have the power of interceding. Gracchus 
next proposed a law for communicating the civic franchise 
fo the Latins and the Italians, and extending Italy to the 

• Tie. Hrut. (RJ. 

f He was not the first t6!do so; in C07 C. Licinius Crassus, when 
propoiiinir a law for giving^ the choice of members of the sacred colleget 
to the people, had faced the Forum. (Cicero, Laelius, 25.) 



TRIBUNATES AND LAWS OF CAIUS GRACCHUS. 305 

Alps. It does not appear that this law passed, and it is 
likely that it injured him with the people, to gratify whom 
he proposed sending colonists to Capua and Tarentum. 

The senate had gained the consul Fannius to their side ; 
but not deeming this enough, they adopted a new system of 
tactics; they directed M. Livius Drusus, one of the tribunes, 
a man of birth, wealth, and eloquence, and entirely devoted 
to them, to endeavor to outbid Gracchus for popularity. 
Drusus therefore proposed that twelve colonies of three 
thousand persons each should be founded, that the rent im- 
posed by the Sempronian law* on the lands which were, or 
were to be, divided should be remitted, and decemvirs be 
appointed for div:3ing them. He also brought in a bill ex- 
tending immunity from flogging in the army to the Latins. 
These bills were readily passed by the people, and Drilsus 
now rivalled Gracchus in popularity; and as he declared 
that he was acting entirely with the approbation of the 
senate, who gave a cheerful assent to all his measures, that 
body also rose in the popular favor. Drusus had a further 
advantage over Gracchus in that he abstained from handling 
the public money, and he appointed others, not himself, to 
lead his colonies. 

Gracchus was absent at this time. The tribune Rubrius 
had selected as the site of a colony the spot where Carthage 
had stood, and which Scipio had devoted to be a waste for- 
ever, and Gracchus and his friend Fulvius Flaccus had been 
sent to lay out the colony, which was to be named Junonia.t 
Various unpropitious signs, we are told, appeared ; a violent 
wind shook and broke the first standard, swept the sacrifices 
off the altar and carried them beyond the bounds, and wolves 
(the sacred animals of the sire of the founder of Rome) 
plucked up the boundary-marks and bore them awayf 
Gracchus however persisted, and after remaining there 
seventy days he Returned to Italy to collect his colonists. 
Finding his influence on the wane, he moved down from the 
Palatine, on which he resided, to the neighborhood of the 
Forum, where the lower sort of people mostly dwelt, to prove 

* That is, of Tib. Gracchus. L?i,ws, were alw^ays called after the 
gentile nari > of their propQsfir ; 'th;us Sulla's wefe the Cornelian, 
Cassar'e, theiJulian laws. 

i After Juno, or Aslarte,.the patron-deity of Garthaj^e. (Virg. ^n. i.) 

i Appian says it was after the return of Gracchus that the prodig3' 

of the wolves (the only one he mentions) occurred, and that he and 

Fu.vitis said it was an invention of the senate, who wanted a pretext 

&r doing away vv^ith the colony. 



304 HISTORY OF ROME. 

his devotion to them. But his nieasure of setting the Italians 
on a level with them was too unpalatable to be digested by 
the populace of Rome, who, as is always the case, were as 
fond of monopoly, as jealous of their privileges, and as heed- 
less of justice in maintaining them, as any oligarchs whatever. 
When he proposed anew the granting the franchise to the 
allies, the consul Fniinius, at the desire of the senate, issued 
an order forbidding any who were not qualified to vote to be 
in the city, or within five miles of it, on the day of voting, 
Gracchus, on the other hand, gave public notice to the 
Italians that he would protect thehi if they staid. He 
however did not, for he looked calmly on while one of his' 
own Italian friends was seized and dragged away' by th^;^ 
lictors, probably feeling that he could not now rely on the 
people, in his anxiety to gain whom he had also offended his 
own colleagues. P'or on the occasion of a combat of oladi- 
ators to be given in the Fornm, they had erected scaffolds 
around it in order to let the seats ; Gracchus desired them 
to pull them down, that the poor might see the sport without 
payment. As they took no heed of him, he waited till the 
night before the show, when collecting a body of workmen 
he demolished the scaffolds and left the place clear foi* the 
populace, by whom this paltry piece of demagogy was of 
course highly applauded. 

The time of elections now came on, and Gracchus stood 
a third time for the tribunate; but he failed, some said 
through the injustice of his colleagues, who made a false , 
return of the votes, but more probably through the ill-will 
of the people at liis wanting to extend the franchise ; a,nd 
moreover the senate succeeded in having L. Opimius, a man 
on whom they could rely, raised to the consulate. They^ 
deemed that they might now endeavor to abrogate the laws 
of Gracchus, and the first attempt was to be made on that of 
the African colony. Gracchus at first bore their proceedings 
patiently; at length, urged by Fulvius and his other friends,, 
he resolved to collect his adherents and oppose force to force. 
On the day of voting on the law, both parties early occupied 
the Capitol; the consul, as usual, offered sacrifice; and as 
one of his lictors, named Aj>tillius, was carrying away the 
entrails, he cried to those about Fulvius, " Make way, ye 
bad citizens, for the good ! " they instantly fell mi him and 
despatched him with their writing-styles.* Gracchus waa 

• PliitarcK. ' Appiaii relates this event somewhat differently. 



DEATH OF CAIUS GRACCHUS. 305 

sorely grieved at this violent deed ; but to Opimiiis it was a 
matter of exultation, and he called on the people to avenge 
it. A shower of rain, however, came on and dispersed the 
assembly. Opimius then* called the senate together, and, 
while they were deliberating, the body of Antillius was 
brought, with loud lamentations, through the Forum to the 
senate-house by those to whom Opimius had given it in 
charge : he, however, pretended ignorance. The senators 
went out to look at it; some exclaimed at the heinousness 
of the deed, others could not help reflecting how different- 
had been the treatment of the body of Tib. Gracchus and of 
this common lictor by the oligarchs. A decree however was 
passed that the consuls should see that the state suffered no 
injury. t Opimius then directed the senators to arm them- 
selves, and ordered the knights to appear next morning early, 
each with two armed slaves. Fulvius on his side also pre- 
pared for battle. It is said that Gracchus, as he was leaving 
the Forum, stopped before his father's statue, and having 
gazed on it a long time in silence, groaned and shed tears. 
The people kept watch during the night at his house and at 
that of Fulvius; at the former in silence and anxiety, at the 
latter with drinking and revelry, Fulvius himself setting the 
example. 

In the morning Opimius, having occupied the Capitol with 
armed men, assembled the senate in the temple of Castor. 
Summonses to appear before the senate and defend themselves 
were sent to Gracchus and Fulvius ; but, instead of obeying, 
they resolved to occupy the Aventine. Fulvius having armed 
his adherents with the Gallic spoils with which he had adorn- 
ed his house after his triumph, moved toward the Aventine, 
calling the slaves in vain to liberty. Gracchus went in 
his toga, with no weapon but a small dagger. They posted 
themselves at the temple of Diana ; and, at the desire of Grac- 
chus, Fulvius sent his younger son to the senate to propose an 
accommodation. They were dfsired to lay down their arms 
and to come and say what they would, or to send no more 
proposals. Gracchus, it is said, was for compliance, but Ful- 
vius and the others would not yield. The youth, however, 
was sent down again ; and then Opimius, who thirsted for civil 

* Plutarch says, next morning ; but it is not likely that there could 
have been such delay. Appian makes the death of Gracchus take 
place the following day, 

t " Dent operaiii consules ne quid respublica detriraenti capiat," \va« 
tlie form of the decree. It invested them with dictatorial power 
26 * MM 



306 HISTORY OF ROME. 

l)Iood, seized him as beinjr no longer protected by his oflice, 
and putting himself at the head of his armed men advanced 
to the attack. The Gracchians fled without making any re- 
sistance. Fulvius took refuge in a deserted bath, whence he 
was dragged out and put to death with his eldest son. Grac- 
chus, retiring into the ten)ple, attempted to put an end to him- 
self: but two of his friends took the weapon from him and forced 
him to fly. As he was going, it is said, he knelt down, and, 
.stretching forth his hands, prayed to the goddess that the 
Roman people might be slave? forever, as a reward for their 
ingratitude and treachery to him, — a prayer destined to be 
accomplished ! His pursuers pressiug on him at the Sublici- 
an bridge, his two friends, to facilitate his escape, stood and 
maintained it against them till they were both slain. Grac- 
chus ill vain prayed for some one to supply him with a horse; 
then, finding escape hopeless, he turned, with a faithful slave 
who accompanied him, into the grove of the goddess Furina, 
where he ordered his slave to despatch him : the slave obey- 
ed, and then slew himself over his body. The heads of 
Gracchus and Fulvius were cut off and brought to Opimius, 
who had promised their weight in gold for them ; and 
the person who brought the former is said to have previously 
taken out the brain and filled it with lead. Their bodies and 
those of their adherents, to the number of three thousand,* 
were flung into the Tiber, their properties confiscated, their 
wives forbidden to put on mourning, and Licinia, the wife of 
Gracchus, was even deprived of her dower, contrary to the 
opinion of Mucins Sca;vola. Opimius, by way of clemency, 
gave the young Fulvius, whom he had cast into prison, the 
choice of the mode of his death, though what his crime was 
it is not easy to see. To crown all, having purified the city 
by order of the senate, Opimius built a temple to Concord 1 

Plutarch compares the Gracchi with the last two kings of 
Sparta; and the parallel between Agis and Tiberius is cer- 
tainly just. Both were actuated by the purest motives ; both 
attempted to remedy an incurable evil ; both were murdered 
by the covetous oligarchs. But Agis committed no illegal 
act, while the deposition of O^tavius plainly violated the con- 
stitution. The comparison of C. Gracchus with Cleomenes is 
less just ; the Roman was the better man, though, but for his 

" Orosius, (v. 12,) who wrote from Li vy, says that only 2-JO were slain 
on the Avcntine, but that Opimius afterwards put to death more tlian 
3000 prrsons, without trial, who were mostly innocent. 



THE GRACCHI AND THKIR MEASURES. 307 

/aw increasing the power of the senate, we might say that 
he was a demagogue, like Pericles, who cared not what evil 
he introduced provided he extended his own influence. In 
talent, Caius was beyond his brother ; his eloquence was of 
the highest order ; and if, as we incline to believe, his views 
were pure, he also may claim to be ranked among Rome's 
most illustrious patriots. 

With respect to the great measure of the Gracchi, the re- 
sumption of the public land, its legality is not to be questioned ; 
and the objects proposed, the relief of the people and increase 
of the free population, were most laudable. But a hundred 
and fifty years had elapsed since the conquest of Italy, during 
which there had been few or no assignments of land ; and 
such dangers are apt to arise from disturbing long possession, 
even though not strictly legal in its origin, that it is doubtful 
if in any case good could have resulted from the measure. As 
it was, the evil was beyond cure , the Republic was verging 
to its fall, and no human skill could avail to save it. Still our 
applause is due to those who did not despair of it, and who 
manfully attempted to stem the torrent of vice and corrup- 
tion. 

Whatever may have been the faults of the Gracchi and 
their friends, the nobility have little claim on our sympathy ; 
for they used their victory with the greatest insolence and cru- 
elty. When they had glutted their vengeance, they began to 
think of their interest ; a law was passed allowing those who 
had received lands under the Sempronian law, to sell them, 
and the rich soon had tliem again by purchase, or under (hat 
pretext. Sp. Thorius, a tribune, then (645) directed thnt no 
more land should be divided ; that those who held it should 
keep it, on payment of a quit-rent, to be annually distributed 
among the people, — a measure which, though it might re- 
lieve the poor, had no-effect on the increase of the free pop- 
ulation, the great object of Tib, Gracchus. This, however 
was not pleasing to the oligarchs : so another tribune, to grat- 
ify them, did away with the quit-rents altogether ; and thue 
ended all the hopes of the people. 

It is remarkable that, at the time the Roman people were thus 
voting away their rights, they actually had the ballot, and, we 
may say, universal suffrage. In 614 Q.. Gabinius, a tribune 
of low birth, had a tabrllarian* law passed, by which the 
people were to vote with tablets on the election of magistrates ; 

* So named from the wooden tablets with which they gave their votca 



303 



HISTORY OF ROME. 



in 618, L. Cassius, the well-known rigid judge, when tribune, 
extended this principle to trials ; and in 622, C. Papirius Car- 
bo further extended it to the voting on laws : * yet we see of 
how little avail it was. Cicero t remarks that after it was in- 
troduced more state criminals escaped tlian when the people, 
voted openly; and we know how such acquittals werjB obtained 
by the plunderers of the provinces. 

L. Opimius was accused in 632, by the tribune Q.. Decius, 
for having put citizens to death without trial ; and it is rath- 
er startling to find the consul of that year, C. Papirius Carbo, 
the friend of the Gracchi, exerting hiseloquence (in which he 
excelled) in his defence, and maihnining that C. Gracchus 
had been justly slain. Opimius of course was acquitted. This 
change of party did not, however, avail Carbo: he was pros- 
ecuted the next year (633) by the young orator L. Crassus, 
for his share, as it would seem, in the measures of the Grac- 
chi, and seeing no prospect of escape he put an end to his 
own life. 

Having concluded the narrative of this first civil discord, 
we will cast a glance over the foreign affairs of the state at 
this period. 

When Attalus of Pergamus left his kingdom to the Ro- 
man people, (619,) his natural brother Aristonicus took up 
arms to assert his claim to it. There was perhaps some 
doubt in the senate as to the justice of their cause ; for it was 
not till two years after (621) that Asia was decreed as a prov- 
ince to the consul P. Licinius Crassus, who, though he vva3 
chief pontiff, and therefore bound not to leave Italy, led an 
army thither. But thinking more on booty than war, he was 
defeated and made a prisoner in a battle fought near Smyrna, 
and he was put to death by the victor. Aristonicus, however, 
was forced to surrender (623) to M. Perperna, and the king- 
<lom of Atialug became a Roman province under the title 
of Asia. 

In 627 the consul Fulvius, as above related, led an array to 
the aid of the Massilians again?t the Salluvian Gauls. The con- 
sul C. Sextius (628) gave this people a defeat at a place, af- 
terwards named from him and its warm springs, Aqu.T Sextice, 
(Aix,) The Allobroges and Arvernians were next attacked, 
under, t^e, pretence of their having given shelter to the king 



Cicero, Laws, jii. 16. 
< Laws, iii. 17. The rule he ; Te gives is as follows ; "Optimntilnts 
nota, pi ebi lit rra sttnto {sufCTagiA ) 



THE JUGURTHINE WAR. '309 

of the Salluviairs, and having ravaged the lands of the JEdii- 
ans, who were the allies of Rome. They were reduced 
(G30) by the consul Cn. Domitius. The next year Q. Fabi- 
us Maximus, the colleague of Opimius, gained a great victo- 
ry over the Aliobroges, whose king, Betultus, having gone to 
Rome to excuse himself to the senate, was detained, and 
placed in custody at Alba, and directions were sent to brinw 
his son to Rome also, as their presence in Gaul was danger- 
ous. In 6134 the colony of Narbo Marcius (Narbonne) was 
founded by Q,. Marcius Rex, and the Roman dominion in 
Gaul now extended to the Pyrenees. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE JUGURTHINE WAR. DEFEAT AND DEATH OF ADHERBAL. 

BESTIA IN AFRICA. JUGURTIIA AT ROME. DEFEAT OP 

AULUS. METELLUS IN AFRICA. — ATTACK ON ZAMA. 

NEGOTIATIONS WITH JUGURTHA. TAKING OF THALA. 

CAIUS MARIUS. TAKING OF CAPSA. ■ TAKING OF THE 

CASTLE ON THE MULUCHA. SULLA AND BOCCHUS. DE- 
LIVERY UP OF JUGURTHA. HIS END. CIMBRIC WAR. 

VICTORY AT AQU^ SEXTIiE. VICTORY AT VERCBLLJB. 

INSURRECTJON OF THE SLAVES IN SICILY. 

A WAR now broke out which, as narrated by an excellent i 

historian,* displays in an appalling manner the abandoned s 

profligacy and corruption of the Roman nobility at this time. | 

Micipsa, king of Numidia, died, (634,) leaving two sons, ! 

Adherbal and Hierapsai, with whom he joined his nephew | 

Jugurtha, the son of Manastabal, as a partner in the kingdom :! 

Jugurtha was a young man of talent, highly popular with f 

the army, ambitious, and hungering after dominion with the | 

avidity which has at all times characterized Eastern and \ 

African princes, and like them unscrupulous as to means. | 

He had been incited by many Romans of rank whom he 1 

was intimate with at Numantia, to seize the kingdom on the | 

death of Micipsa, and assured by them that money was j 
omnipotent at Rome. Accordingly he soon had Hiempsal, 

* C. Sallustius Crispus. 



j310 HISTORY OF ROME. 

the more spirited of the two princes, murdered ; and, %v^ea 
Adherbal took up arms to defend himself, he defeajted him 
and drove him out of his kingdom. 

^,' Adherbal repaired to Rome, whither he was followed by 
eiivoys from Jugurtha, bearing plenty of gold and silver, 
which they distributed to such effect, that when the senate 
had heard both parties, they, decreed that ten commissioners 
should go out to divide the realm of Micipsa between Ad- 
herbal and Jugurtha ! L. Opimius was at the head of the 
commission, (035,) u»d Jugurtha plied him and most of his 
colleagues so well with gifts and promises, that the far more 
valuable half was given to him'; and so convinced was he 
now of the venality of every one at Rome, that they weie 
hardly gone when he invaded and plundered Adherbal's 
dominions, hoping thus to provoke him to a war. But Ad- 
herbal, a quiet, timid prince, contented himself with sending 
an embassy to complain of the injury. Jugurtha replied by 
reentering his realm at the head of a large army. Adherbal 
assembled an army ; but Jugurtha fell on his camp, near the 
town of Cirta, in the night, and cut his troops to pieces. 
Adherbal fled to Cirta, which would have been taken, but 
that there happened to be in it a great number of Italian 
traders, who irymned the walls and defended it. Jugurtha, 
aware that Adherbal had sent to Rome, pressed on the siege 
with :dl his riiight, hoping to take the town before any one 
could come to prevent him. Three commissioners, how- 
ever, arrived, with orders for the kings to abstain from war, 
and decide their quarrel by equity. Jugurtha, alleging that 
he had taken up arras in self-defence, as Adherbal had 
plotted against his life, said he would send envoys to Rome 
to explain all matters. The commissioners then went away, 
not having been allowed to see Adherbal, and Jugyjrtha 
urged on the siege more vigorously than ever. 

Two of Adherbal's followers, however, made their way 
through the camp of the besiegers, and brought a letter from 
him to the senate. Some were for sending an army to 
Africa ; but the influence of Juourtha's party succeeded in 
having only a commission appointed, composed however of 
men of the highest rank, among whom was M. .^milius 
Scaurus, at that time the chief of the senate, a man of talents 
of a high order, but of insatiable avarice and ambition. On 
arriving at Utica they sent orders to Jugurtha to come to 
them in the province ; and having made'one more desperate 
but fruitless effort to storm the ^,o>vn^ he obeyed, fearing to 



THE JUGURTHINE WAR. ^tl 

irritate Scaurus. But the interview was of no effect, for, 
after wasting words in vain, the commissioners went home. 
It would perhaps have been better for Adherbal if they had 
not come at all ; for the Italians in Cirta, convinced that the 
power of Rome would be a security to them, insisted on his 
surrendering the town, only stipulating for his life ; and, 
though he knew how little reliance was to be placed on 
Jugurtha's faith, he yielded, as it was in their power to 
compel him. Jugurtha first put Adherbal to death, with 
torture, and then made a promiscuous slaughter of the male 
inhabitants, the Italian traders included, (640.) 

Jugurtha's pensioners at Rome attempted to gloss over 
even this atrocious deed ; but C. Memmius, a tribune elect, 
in his harangues to the people, so exposed the motives of 
those who advocated his cause, that the senate grew alarmed, 
and by the Sempronian law Numidia was assigned as one of 
the provinces of the future consuls. It fell to L. Calpurnius 
Bestia, ((341 ;) an army was levied, and all preparations made 
for war. Jugurtha was not a little surprised when he heard 
of this. He sent his son and two of his friends as envoys to 
Rome, to bribe as before ; but they were ordered to quit 
Italy, unless they were come to make a surrender of Jugur- 
tha and his kingdom. They therefore returned without 
having effected any thing. The consul, wlio, like so many 
others, was a slave to avarice, having selected as his legates 
Scaurus and some other men of influence, whose authority, 
he hoped, would defend him if he acted wrong, passed over 
to Africa with his troops, and made a brisk inroad into 
Numidia. Jugurtha, instead of trying the chance of war, 
assailed him by large offers of money, displaying at the same 
time the difficulties of the war ; and Scaurus, whose prudence 
had hitherto been proof against all his offers, yi-elded at last, 
and went hand in hand with the consul. They agreed to a 
peace with him ; he came to the camp and made a surrender 
of himself, and delivered to the qutestor thirty elephants, a 
good number of horses and cattle for the army, and a small 
quantity of money. Bestia then went to Rome to hold the 
eieciions, as his colleague was dead. 

The senate were dubious how to act ; the disgraceful 
transaction was vehemently reprobated by the people, but 
the authority of Scaurus was great with them. Memmius 
seized the occasion of assailing the nobility ; he detailed 
their acts of cruelty and oppression, he exposed their avarice, 
venality, and corruption, and he finally succeeded in having 



312 HISTORY Ot ftOME. 

the priEtor L. Cassius sent to Africa to bring Jugurtlia .0 
Rome, ill order to convict Scaurus and the otliers by nis 
evidence. Cassius having pledged thpi public faith and his 
own, (which was of equal weight,) for his safely, Jugurtha 
came with him to Rome, ((34'2.) Here, besides his former 
friends, he gained C. Bajbius, one of Meniniius' colleagues ; 
and when Memmius produced him before the people, and, 
having enumerated all his crimes, called on him to name 
those who had aided and abetted him in them, Biebius 
ordered him not to answer. The people were furious, but 
Baibius heeded them not ; and Jugurtha soon ventured on 
another murder. 

There was at Rome a cousin of his, named Massiva, the 
son of Gulussa, whom the consul elect, Sp. Postumius Al- 
binus, anxious for the glory of a war, persuaded to apply to 
the senate for the kingdom of Numidia. Jugurtha, seeing 
him likely to succeed, desired his confidant, Bomilcar, to 
have him put out of the way. Assassins were then, as in 
more modern times, easily to be procured at Rome. Mas- 
siva was slain, but his murderer, on being seized, informed 
against Bomilcar, who, more in accordance with equity than 
with the law of nations, was arrested. Fifty of Jugurtha's 
friends gave bail for him ; but Jugurtha, finding this to be a 
case beyond his money, sent him away, heedless of his bail, 
for he feared that his other subjects would be less zealous to 
serve him if he let Bomilcar suffer. In a few days he him- 
self was ordered to quit Italy. It is said that as he was 
going out of Rome he turned back, and gazing on it, said, 
" Venal city, and soon to perish if a purchaser were to be 
found ! " 

Albinus passed over to Africa without delay ; but, with all 
his diligence, he was baffled by Jugurtha, who never would 
give an opportunity of fighting, and kept illuding him with 
offers of surrender. Many people suspected that the consul 
and he understood one another. The elections being at 
hand, Albinus returned to Rome, leaving his brother Aulus 
in command of the army. A delay having occurred, in 
consequence of two of the tribunes wanting to remain in 
office, in opposition to their colleagues, Aulus, hoping to 
end the war, or extort money from Jugurtha, led out his 
troops in the month of January, (043,) and by long marches 
came to a town named Suthul, where the royal treasures lay. 
The town was strong by nature and art : Jugurtha mocked 
at the folly of the legate, and, by holding out hopes of sur 



METELLUS IN AFRICA. 313 

render, drew him away from it. By bribes he gamed some 
of the centurions and captains of horse to promise to desert, 
others to quit their posts : he then suddenly assailed the 
:amp in the night ; a centurion admitted him ; the Romans 
9ed to an adjacent hill, where they were obliged to surrender, 
»ass under the yoke, and engage to evacuate Numidia within 
en days. 

Grief, terror, and indignation prevailed at Rome when this 
disgraceful treaty was known. The senate, as was always 
the case, pronounced it not to be binding. Albums hastened 
to Africa, burning to efface the shame ; but he found the 
troops in such a state of indiscipline that he could not ven- 
ture on any operations. At Rome, the tribune C. Mamilius 
Limetanus took advantage of the state of public feeling, to 
bring in a bill for inquiring into the conduct of those who 
had advised Jugurtha to neglect the decrees of the senate, 
and of those who had taken bribes from him, had given him 
back the elephants and deserters, or made treaties with him. 
The nobility, conscious of their guilt, strained every nerve 
against the bill ; the people, more out of hatred to them than 
regard for the republic, urged it on and passed it. Strange 
to say, Scaurus, one of the most guilty, had influence enough 
to have himself chosen among the three inquisitors whom 
the bill appointed. The inquiry was prosecuted with great 
asperity, the people being delighted to have an opportunity 
of humbling the nobility ; common fame was deemed suiB- 
cient evidence, and Opimius, Bestia, Albinus and others, 
were condemned. 

Albinus' successor (643) was Q.. Caecilius Metellus, a man 
who was an honor to his order, of high talents, ot stainless 
integrity, of pure morals ; his only defect was pride, " the 
common evil of the nobility," as the historian observes. He 
found the army as Scipio Africanus had found his at Car- 
thage and Numantia, and he employed the same means to 
restore its discipline. Jugurtha, aware of the kind of man 
he had to deal with, and that there was now no room for 
bribes, began to think of submission in earnest, and he sent 
envoys offering a surrender, and stipulating only for the 
lives of himself and his children. But Metellus, knowing 
there would be no peace in Africa while Jugurtha lived, 
treated with the envoys separately, and by large promises 
induced some of them to engage to deliver him up alive or 
dead : in public he gave them an ambiguous reply. 

In a ^e\\ days he entered Numidia, but saw no signs of 

27 NN 



314 HISTORT OF RCME. 

war; the peasantry and their cattle were in the fields, the 
governors of towns came forth to meet him, and furnished 
every thing he demanded. He put a garrison into a large 
own named Vaga, which was a place of great trade, and 
ivould therefore be of advantage if the war was to continue. 
Meantime Jugurtha sent a still more pressing embassy ; but 
Metellus, as before, engaged the envoys to betray him, and, 
rt'ithout promising or refusing him the peace he sought, 

ewaited for them to perform their engagements. 

(: Jugurtha, finding himself assailed by his own arts, and 
ihat all hopes were illusive, resolved once more to try the 
fate of arms. Learning that Metellus was on his march for 
a river named Muthul, he placed liis troops in ambush on a 
hill near it, by which the Roman army had to pass ; but the 
wild olives and myrtles among which they lay did not suffi- 
ciently conceal them, and Metellus had time to prepare for 
action. Jugurtha displajed all the talent of an able general, 
but his troops were far inferior in quality to those to which 
tliey were opposed, and, after a hard-fought contest, a com- 
plete victory remained with the Romans. Having given his 
men four days' rest, Metellus led them into the best parts of 
Numidia, where he laid waste the fields, took and burned 
towns and castle.s, putting all the males to the sword, and 
giving the plunder to his soldiers. Numbers of places 
therefore submitted and received garrisons, and Jugurtha 
became greatly terrified at this mode of conducting the war. 
Aware that nothing was to be hoped from a general action, 
he left the army he had asseml)led where it was, and, placing 
himself at the head of a select body of horse, hovered about 
the Romans, attacking them when scattered, and destroying 
the forage and the springs of water. The^^e desultory attacks 
greatly harassed the Roman troojw ; and, as the only means 
of forcing Jugurtha to an action, Metellus resolved to lay 
siege to the large and strong town of Zama. Jugurtha, 
learning his design from deserters, hastened thither before 
him, and conjured the townsmen to hold out bravely, prom- 
ising to come with an army to their relief, and leaving them 
the deserters to assist in the defence. 

Metellus, on coming before Zama, attempted a storm . in 
the heat of the engagement Jugurtha made a sudden attack 
on the Roman camp and broke into it; the soldiers fled in 
dismay toward those who were attacking the town. Me- 
tellus sent his legate Marius with the horse and some cohorts 
of the hWias to the defence of the camp, and the Numidians 



NEGOTIATIONS WITH JUGURTHA. 315 

were driven out with loss. Next day, when they would 
renew the attack, they found the horse prepared to receive 
them. A smart cavalry action commenced and lasted all 
through the day, and at the same time the town was 
gallantly attacked and defended : night ended the contlict. 

Metellus, seeing that there was no chance of taking the 
town, or of making Jugurtha fight, except when and where 
he pleased, and that the summer was at an end, raised tlie 
siege and led his troops into the province for the winter. 
He then renewed his secret dealings with Jugurtha's friends; 
and having induced even Bomilcar to come to him privately, 
he engaged him, by a promise of pardon from the senate, to 
undertake to deliver up his master. Bomilcar took the first 
opportunity to urge Jugurtha to a surrender, by picturing 
to him the wretched condition to which he was reduced, 
and the danger of the Numidians making terms for them- 
selves without him. Envoys were therefore sent to Metellus, 
offering an unconditional surrender. Metellus, having as- 
sembled all the senators who were in Africa, and other fit 
persons, held a council after the Roman usage, and with their 
concurrence sent orders to Jugurtha to deliver up 200,000 
pounds of silver, all his elephants, and a part of his horses 
and arras. This being done, he ordered him to send him 
the deserters : all were brought, except a few who had time 
to make their escape to the Moorish, king Bocchus. Jugur- 
tha was then directed to repair to the town of Tisidium, 
there to learn his fate; but his guilty conscience made him 
hesitate, and after fluctuating a few days he resolved once 
more to try the fortune of war. The senate continued Me- 
tellus in his command as proconsul, (644.) 

Jugurtha now strained every nerve. At his instigation 
the people of Vaga treacherously massiacred the Roman gar- 
rison ; but they paid the penalty of their crime within two 
days; for when Metellus heard of it, he took what troops he 
had with him, set out in the night, came on the Vagenses by 
surprise, slaughtered them, and gave the town up to plunder. 
About this time Bomilcar's plans failed. He had associated 
with himself a man of high rank named Nabdalsa, to whom 
he wrote a letter urging immediate action. Nabdalsa, lying 
down to rest, put the letter on his pillow, and his secretary 
coming intjQi.the tent while he was asleep, took and read it. 
He imnrvediately hastened to give Jugurtha inform^ation. 
Nabdalsa was saved by his rank and his protestations •>f his 
intention to reveal the plot, but Bomilcar and several others 



816 HISTtRY OF ROME. ''-''' 

were put to death ; some fled to the Romans, sojne to Boc- 
chus, king of the Gaetulians, and Jugurtha remained witlv- 
out any one in whom he could place confidence, haunted by 
fear and suspicion. In this condition he was forced to an 
action, and defeated by Metellus. He fled to a large town 
named Thala ; whither Metellus, though there was no water 
to be had for the space of fifty miles, resolved to pursue him. 
He collected vessels of every kind, which he filled at the near- 
est river, and he ordered the Numidians to convey supplies 
of water to a place which he designated. When he reached 
that place a copious rain fell, and he thus catne before Tha- 
la, from which Jugurtha fled in the night with a part of his 
treasure. After a siege of forty days the town was taken; 
but the deserters had collected the things of most value into 
the palace, and then, after feasting and drinking, set fire to it 
and perished in the flames. Jugurtha now sought to arm the 
Gaetulians in his cause, and he prevailed on Bocchus, whose 
daughter was among his wives, to form an alliance with him. 
Such was the condition of the war when (645) the consul 
Marius came out to supersede Metellus. 

' C. Marius * was the son of a small proprietor at Arpinum 
in the Volscian country ; he entered the army when young, 
and <1istinguished himself by his courage, his military skill, 
his temperance, and other (jualities becoming a good soldier. 
He rose through the inferior grades of the service, and was 
at length appointed by the people, who hardly knew him but 
by fame, to be a military tribune ; he served under Scipio at 
Numantia, (thus he and Jugurtha were fellow-soldiers,) and 
that able man foretold, it is said,his future eminence. In the year 
G^^^ he wa.s made a tribune of the people, and he had a law 
passed to lessen the influence of the nobility at elections, and 
another abrogating that by which corn was ordered to be 
sold to the people at a reduced price, — certainly no dema- 
gogic measure : but the hardy peasant probably saw, that an 
idle town-population could not but be injurious to the state. 
He then stood for both ai-dileships in the one day, and failed, 
but imdismaved he shortly after sought the pra-torship, and 
gained it, thodijh he was accused of having used unfair means. 
He next had, as proprfPtor, the government of Ulterioi Spain, 
which he cleared of the bands of robbers that infested it. 
Marius married into the noble family of the Julii ; and his 
character stood so high, that Metellus, when appointed to 
Numidia, made him one of his legates. 

* See Plutarch, Marius. 



CAIUS MARIUS. 31 T 

The great object of Marius' ambition was the consulate ; 
but this was an office which had hitherto been the exclusive 
property of the nobility, to which no new 7uun* be his merit 
what it might, had ever dreamed of aspiring. Marius howev- 
er knew that the times were changed, and that the people would 
gladly seize an occasion to spite the nobility. Vulgar minds 
are commonly superstitious; that of Marius was eminently so, 
and it happened that as he was sacrificing, when in winter quar- 
ters at Utica, the haruspex declared that mighty things were 
portended to him, and bade him rely on the gods and do 
what he was thinking of. He instantly applied to Metellus 
for leave to go to Rome to sue for the consulate. The proud 
noble could not conceal his amazement ; by way of friend- 
ship he advised him to moderate his ambition, and seek only 
what was within his reach ; telling him, however, that he would 
give him leave when the public service permitted it. Marius 
applied again and again to no effect; he then became exas- 
perated, and had recourse to all the vulgar modes of gaining 
favor with the varioiis classes of men ; he relaxed the discipline 
of his soldiers ; to the Italian traders, of whom there was a 
great number at Utica, and to whom the war was very injuri- 
ous, he threw the whole blame of its continuance on the 
general's love of power, adding that if he had but one half 
of the army he would soon have Jugurtha in chains. There 
was moreover in the Roman quarters a brother of Jugurtha's, 
named Cauda, a man of weak mind, but to whom Micij)sa 
had left the kingdom in remainder, who was at this time highly 
offended because Metellus had refused him a guard of Roman 
horse and a seat of honor beside himself While he was in 
this mood Marius accosted him, exaggerated the affront he 
had received, called him a great man, who would with- 
out doubt be king of Numidia if Jugurtha were taken or 
slain, as he would be if he were consul. The consequence was 
that all these people wrote to their friends at Rome, inveighing 
against Metellus, and desiring the command to be transferred 
to Marius.' 

Metellus, having delayed Marius as long as he could, at 
length let him ga home. He was received with high favor 
by the people ; he was extolled, Metellus abused ; the one 
was a noble, the other, one of themselves, the man of the peo- 
ple ; party spirit is always blind to the defects of its favorites,f 

* A novus homo, or ' new man,' was one in whose family there had 
been nncun.le dignity, and who tlierefore had no images. 

' Political partisans are, in this, like loveri. " Mr. Wilks squints no 

27* 



318 HISTORY OF ROME. 

and the merits of its adversaries. The tribunes harangued ; 
the peasants and the workmen of the city neg ected tlieir 
business to support Marius ; the nobility were defeated, and 
be was made consul. The senate had already decreed Nu- 
uiidia to MeteUus ; but they were to be further humbled ; a 
tribune asked the people whom they would have to conduct 
the war with Jugurtha, and they replied, Marius.* 

The new consul set no bounds to his insolent exultation; 
be made incessant attacks on the nobility, vaunting thnt he 
had won the consulate from thetn as spoils from a vanquished 
enemy. The senate dared refuse none of bis deman<1s for 
the war; they eveii cheerfully decreed a levy, thinking that ' 
the people wotdd be unwilling to serve, and that Marius 
would thus sink in their favor. But it was (piile the contrary; 
all were eager to go and gain fame and plunder under Marius ; 
who, having held an assembly, in which as usual he inveighed 
against the nobility and Extolled himself, commenced his 
levy. In this he set the pernicious example of taking any 
that offered, mostly Capite-censi, instead of raising them in 
the old way from the classes :t he knew that those who had 
nothing to lose, and all to gain, were best suited to a ihan' 
greedy of power and indifTerent to the welfare of his country.' 
Having thus raised more than had been decreed, he passed over 
to Africa, where the army was given up to him by the legate ' 
Rutilius, as the])roud spirit of Metellus could not brook the 
sight of his insolent rival. Yet so variable is the multitude, 
so really just when left to itself, that Metellus was received 
with as much favor by the people as by the senate on bis re- 
tiir'n, anrj he obfained^ a triumph and the title of Nnmidicus'' 
as the true conqueror of Numidia.| 

Marius displayed great energy and activity; he 1\aid th^ 
wht»U; comifry waste, and force<l the two kings to keep at a 
distance. Aware, like Metellus, that it was only by taking bis 
towns be could reduce Jugurlha, and desirous of performing 
some feat to rival that of the capture of Thala, he fixed on a 
town naiiu'd Capsa, similarly situated, but with this difference, 
that while there were .«i>rings outside of the former, there 
was but one at the latter, and that within the \*alls. Having 

vinre than a gentleman ought to do, " Said ah hdrtit)^l*'of tliat »ieWjirka- 
bif iiinii. 

• This was a manifest violation of the Sempronian la'v. Sec above 
p. 30:5. 

\ Not those of Servius ; see above, p. 17!i 

i Ve leius faterculus, ii. 11. 



SULLA AND BOCCHUS. 319 

made his men load themselves and the beasts, mosJy with 
skins of water at the river Tama, he set forth at nightfall, not 
saying whither he was going; and resting by day and march- 
ing by night, he reached before day on the third morning a 
range of hills within two miles of Capsa ; and when it was 
day, and tlie people were come ont of the town, lie ordered 
his horse and light troops to rush for the gates. In this way 
the town was forced to capitulate ; but, contrary to the laws 
of nations, the grown males were put to the sword, the 
rest sold, the plunder given to the soldiers, and the town 
burnt. 

This fortunate piece of temerity, for it was nothing better^'' 
greatly magnitied the fame of Marius, and scarcely any 
place ventured to resist him. He now proceeded to another 
act of similar fool-hardiness. There was near the river Mu- 
lucha a strong castle, on a single rock in the plain, in which 
the royal treasures were deposited. It was well, supplied 
with men, arms, and provisions, and had a good spring of 
water ; one single narrow path led up to it from the plain, na- 
ture having secured it on all other sides. Marius .spent sever- 
al days before it ; and having lost some of his best men to no 
purpose, he was thinking of retiring, when fortune again stood 
his friend. A Ligurian, seeing some snails on the back part 
of the rock, climbed up to get them, and going higher and high- 
er as he saw them, he at length reached the summit. He de- 
scended again, carefully noting the way, and then went and 
informed the consul of his discovery. Marius resolved to 
take advantage of it ; he sent with the Ligurian five trum- 
peters and four centurions, who climbed up while he kept 
the garrison occupied by an attack. Suddenly the Roman 
trumpets were heard to sound above them, and the women 
and children were seen flying down ; Marius then urged un 
his men, the wall was scaled, and the fort carried. 

About this time the qusistor L. Cornelius Sulla,* afterwards 
so renowned, arrived in the canip with a large body of horse, 
to raise which he had been left in Italy. Jugurtha having 
induced Bocchus, with a promise of a third of his kingdom, 
to aid hirn eflbctually, their combined forces fell one evening 
on the Romans as they were marching to their winter (piar- 
ters. The Romans were forced to retire to two neighboring 

" HuUii. not Si/la, ts the orthography of all good writers. Tin- Latin 
langiiaire had do y in it at this time. Sulla, i e. surula, is suiai' to be a 
diminutive of sura. 



320 HISTORY OF ROME. 

hills, around which the barl)arians hivouacked ; but to- 
ward morning, whrMi they were niostly asleep, the Ilomaiis 
sounded their tnnnpeis and rnshed down and slaughtered 
them. In tlie neiglilmrhood of Cirta, four days after, the two 
kings ventured on another attack ; but they were again routed 
with great loss. The consul then went into quarters for the 
winter at Cirta, whither envoys came from Bocchus, request- 
ing that two trusty persons might be sent to confer with him. 
Marius committed the affair to Sulla and the legate Manlius; 
and the arguments of the former had no little effect on the 
king, who soon alter sent five other envoys to Marius. They 
were so unlucky as to fall in \vith robbers on their way, by 
whom they were stript and plundered ; but Sulla, who com- 
manded in the absence of .Vlarius, treated them with great kind- 
ness ; and on the return of tlie consul a council was assem- 
bled, and three of the envoys were, <is Bocchus had desired, 
sent to Rome, where the senate granted him the friendship 
and alliance which he sought, ])rovided he should deserve it. 

Bocchus tlien desired that Sulla might be sent to him. Sulla 
went (64G) with a slight escort, and having run no small risk 
of being captured or slain by Jugurtha, through whose camp he 
had to pass, reached the Moorish territories. By employing all 
the arts of a skilful negotiator, and working on the hopes and 
fears of the king, he at length engaged him to betray Jugur- 
tha. The crafty Numidian was lured to a conference, and 
there seized and delivered up to Sulla. Marius remained in 
Africa as proconsul for two years. He was chosen consul a 
second time in his absence, and he triumpiied on the kalends 
of .lainiary, (<i48,) the day of his entering on oflice. Jugur- 
tha adorned his triumph, and at its conclusion was thrust 
nearly naked into a dungeon. " Hercules !" said he, with a 
forced smile, as he entered it, " what a cold bath you have I'* 
He was there left to perish by hunger, and his guilty life 
endefl on the sixth day. 

The cause of Marius being raised a second time to the 
consulate, in violation of rule and precedent, was an immi- 
nent danger which menaced the repui)lic from the north, 
and which he alone was judged able to avert. 

In the year (>{{) intelligence reached Rome of the approach 
of a barbarous people named Cimbrians to the north-eastern 
frontier of Italy. This people is supposed to have inhabited 
the peninsula of Jutland, and those parts which afterwards 
sent forth the Anglo-Sa.xon conquerors of England. At 
this lime, urged by some of the causes which usually set bar 



CIJttBRIC WAR. 321 

barous tribes in motion, they resolved to migrate southwards. 
The consul Cn. Papirius Carbo gave them battle in the 
modern Carinthia, but he sustained a defeat. The barbari- 
ans, instead of advancing into Italy, turned back, and being 
joined by a German people named the Teutones, poured into 
Southern Gaul, where (643) they defeated the consul M. Ju- 
nius Silanus. The next year the consul M. Aurelius Scaurus 
had a similar fate; and in the following year (645) the con- 
sul L. Cassius Longinus was defeated and slain by the Tigu- 
rinians, a Helvetic people who had joined the Cimbrians, and 
the remnant of his army had to pass under the yoke to escape 
destruction. Q,. Servilius Caepio, the consul of the year 
646, turned his arms, as the Cimbrians appear to have been 
in Spain, against the Tectosages, and plundered their capital 
Tolosa (Toulouse) of its sacred treasure, which he diverted 
to his own use. Ctepio was continued the next year in his 
command ; and as the Ciriibrians were returned from Spain, 
the consul Cn. Manlius led his army into Gaul ; but he and 
CcEpio, instead of uniting their forces, wrangled and quar- 
relled with each other, and kept separate camps on different 
sides of the Rhone ; in consequence of which both their ar- 
mies were literally annihilated by the barbarians, who now 
seem to have seriously thought of invading Italy. It was at 
this conjuncture that Marius was made consul a second 
time. , , ■ 

The Cirnbrians however returned to Spain, where they rer' 
mained during this ai]d the following year. Marius, who. 
was made consul a third time, (649,) employed himself chief- 
ly in restoring the discipline of the army ; and Sulla, who 
was his legate the first and a tribune the second year, dis- 
played his diplomatic talent now in Gaul as before in Numidia, 
and thus augmented the envy and hatred with which the 
rude, ferocious consul regarded him. His colleague happening 
to die just before the elections, Marius went to Rome to hold 
them, and there his friend the tribune L. Apuleius Saturni- 
nus, as had been arranged between them, proposed him for 
consul a fourth time. Marius affected to decline the honor; 
Saturninus called him a traitor to his country if he refused 
to serve her in the time of her peril ; the scene was well 
acted between them, and Marius was made consul with Q,. 
Lutatius Catulus, (650.) 

The province of Gaul was decreed to both the consuls ; 
and as the barbarians were now returned fr:)m Spain and 
tiad divided their forces, the Cimbrians moving to entef 

oo 



322 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Italy on the north-east, the Teutones and Ambrones from 
Gaul, Marius crossed tlie Alps, and fortified a strong camp on 
the banks of the Rhone, that he might raise the spirit of his 
men, and accustom them to the sight of the huge bodies and 
ferocious mien of the barbarians. He refused all their chal- 
lenges to fight, and contented himself with repelliilg their 
assaults on his camp and at last the barbarians, giving up all 
hopes, of forcing him to action, resolved to cross the Alps, 
leaving him behind them. We are told that they spent six 
days in marching by the Roman camp, and that as they went 
they jeeringly asked the soldiers if they had any messages to 
send to their wives. Mariusthcn broke up his camp, and fol- 
lowed them, keeping on the high grounds till he came to Aquse 
SextitB. Hq here chotec for his camp an eminence where 
there was no water, and when his soldiers complained he 
pointed to a stream running by the enemies' camp, and told 
them they must buy it there with their blood. " Lead us on 
then at once while our blood is warm!" cried they. "We 
must first secure our camp," coolly replied the general. 

The camp servants, taking with them axes, hatchets, and 
some spears and swords for their defence, went down to 
the stream to water the beasts, and they drove off such of 
the enemies as they met. The noise roused the Ambrones, 
who, though they were full rtfter a meal, j^ut on their armor 
and crossed the stream ; the Ligurians advanced to engage 
them, some . more Roman troops succeeded, and the Ant- 
brones were driven back to their wagons with loss. This 
check irritated the barbarians exceedingly, and the Romans 
passed the night in anxiety, expecting an attack. In the 
morning RIarius, having sent Claudius Marcellus with 3000 
men to occupy a woody hill in the enemy's rear, prepared 
to give battle. The impatient barbarians charged up-hill ; 
the Romans, with the advantage of the ground, drove them 
back, Marcellus fell on their rear, and the rout was soon 
complete : the slain and the captives were, it is said, not less 
than 100,000. As Marius after the battle stood with a 
torch, in the act of setting fire to a pile of their arms, mes- 
sengers arrived with tidings of Ws being chosen consul for 
the fifth time. 

Catulus, meantime, had not been equally fortunate : not 
thinking it safe to divide his forces for defending the passes 
of the Alps, he retired behind the Atesis, (.Adige,) securing 
the fords, and having a bridge in front of his position to 
communicate with the country on the other side. But when 



VICTORY OF VERCELLJC. 323 

the Ciiiibrians poured down from the Alps, and were be- 
ginning to fill up the bed of the river, his soldiers grew 
alarmed, and, unable to retain them, he led them back, 
abandoning the plain of the Po to the barbarians. Catulus 
was continued iu his command as proconsul the next year, 
(Gol ;) his deficiency of military talent was made up foi* by 
the ability of L. Sulla, who had left Marius to join him. 
iVlarius, who was at Rome, instead of triumpbing as was 
expected, summoned his troops from Gaul, and proceeded to 
unite them with those of Catulus, hoping to have the glory 
of a second victory ; and when the battle took place in the 
neighborhood of Vercellae, he placed his own troops on the 
wings, and those of Catulus iu the centre, which he threw 
back in order that they' might have as little share as possible 
in the action. But his manceuvre was a failure, for an im- 
mense cloud of dust rising, which prevented the troops from 
seeing each other, Marius in his charge left the enemy at 
one side, and the brant of the battle fell on the troops of 
Catulus. The dust was of advairtage to the Romans, as it 
prevented their seeing the number of their foes : the heat of 
the weather, (it being now July,) exhausted the barbarians, 
and they were obliged to give way, and as their front ranks 
had bound themselves together by chains from their Waists, 
they could not escape. ' A dreadful spectacle presented 
itself when the Romans drove them to their line of wagons ; 
the women rushed out, fell on the fugitives, and then slew 
themselves and their children ; the men too put an end to 
themselves in various ways : the captives amounted to 60,000, 
the slain to double the number. Marius and Catulus tri- 
umphed together, and though the former had had little share 
in the victory, his rank, and the fame of his former one, 
caused this also to be ascribed to him ; the muhitude called 
him the third founder of Rome, and poured out libations to 
him with the gods at their meals. He would have triumphed 
alone but for fear of Catulus' soldiers; and, as we shall see, 
he never forgave him his victory.* ' '" ' 

One evil of gredt magnitude which resulted from this war 
was, the great number of slaves that it dispersed over the 
Roman dominions; and at this very time those of Sicily 
were again in insurrection. Under the guidance of a slave, 

" The details of the battle are only to be found in Plutarch, (Marius,) 
who&e authority were Sulla's owp Memoirs, and therefore must b« 
received with some suspicion. vi'i " 



t 



324 HISTORY OF ROME. 

named Salvias, who assumed the name of Trypho and tnt 
royal dignity, they defeated the Roman officers. In another 
part of the island the slaves made one Athenio, a Cilician, 
their king, but he submitted to Trypho, after whose death 
he had the supreme command. At length (651) the consul 
M. Aquilius slew Athenio with his own hand in an engage- 
ment, and suppressed the rebellion. 



CHAPTER m* 

STATE OF ROME. TRIDUNATE OF SATURNlNUS. — HIS SEDI- 
TION AND DEATH. RETURN OF METEJL.1.US. TRIBUNATE 

AND DEATH OP DRUSUS. SOCIAL OR MARSIC WAR. — 

MURDER OF THE PRAiTOR BY THE USURERS. SEDITION OF 

MARIUS AND SULPICIOS. SULLA AT ROME. FLIUHT OF 

MARIUS. 

*'T«E cruelty with which the npbility hadiused their victory 
over the Gracchi, and the scandalous corruption and profli- 
gacy which they had exhibited in the cas^ of Jugurtha, had 
greatly exasperated the people against them, and alienated 
from them the aflectious of the lovers of justice and honor. 
Ambitious and revengeful meu took advantage of this state 
of feeling to have themselves made tribun<?8, and to have 
measures passed injurious to the noljles as a body, or as 
individuals. Caepio, who had attempted to modify Gracchus' 
law, which deprived the senators of the right of being judges, 
was, after his defeat by the Cinibrians, deprived of his com- 
mand, and his estate was confiscated, and the following year, 
(648,) the tribune C. Cassius Longinus had a bill passed, 
(levelled at him,) prohibiting any one who had been deposed 
by the people from sitting in the senate. He was some years 
after prosecuted for the plunder of the gold of Tolosa, and 
he ended his days in ejcile. Cassius' colleague, Cn. Domitius 
Aheuobarbus, deprived the pontiflTs of the right of choosing 
their own colleagues, and gave it to the people ; and another 

* Appiaiv B C i. 88— O. V<iTleJti«,ii: 13--1T. Flut., Marius an4 

8U1U .... ■■:■,:: .i.u.^ 



TRIBUNATE OF SATURNINUS. 



m 



of the tribunes, C. Servilius Glaucia, offered the freedom of 
the city to any of the Latins or the allies who should prose- 
cute a magistrate to conviction. 

These, however, were but preludes to what was to follow, 
Marius was raised a sixth time to the consulate, (652,) and 
it is said that he employed both money and arts to prevent 
Metelius from being his colleague, and to have L. Valerius 
Flaccus, on whom he could rely, appointed. His allies were 
Glaucia and Saturninus, both mortal enemies to Metelius, 
who, but for his colleague, would, in his censorship, have 
degraded them for their scandalous lives. Glaucia as praetor 
presided when Saturninus stood a second time for the tribu- 
nate. He was notwithstanding rejected, and A. Nonius, a 
bitter enemy to them both, elected ; but when he left the 
assembly, they sent a body of their s'atellites after him, who 
murdered him ; and next morning Glaucia, without waiting 
for the people, had Saturninus appointed by his own crew 
to take his place, no one venturing even to murmur. 

A series of measures of a demagogic nature were now 
introduced. By one law the land which had been recovered 
from the Cimbrians beyond the Po was to be treated as 
conquered land, without any regard to the rights of its Gallic 
owners, and divided among Roman citizens and soldiers ; 
100 jugers apiece were to be given to the veterans in 
Africa ; * colonies were to be led to Sicily, Achaia, and 
Macedonia ; t the Tolosan gold was to be employed in the 
purchase of lands to be divided. By another law, corn was 
to be sold to the people at a reduced rate. | It was added 
to the law for dividing the Gallic land, that in case of its 
passing, the senate must, within five days, swear to it, and 
theft any one who refused should be expelled the senate, and 
fined 500,000 sesterces. 

The laws relating to the division of the lands were not at 
all pleasing to the town population, who saw that the ad- 
vantages would fall mostly to the Italians. The movers, 
therefore, took care to bring in from the country large num- 
bers of those who had served under Marius, to overawe and 
outvote the people of the city. These last cried out that it 
thundered ; Saturninus took no heed, but urged on his law : 

*Aur. Victor. t Cic. Balbus, 21. 

X At the semis et triens. (See p. 30].) Auctor ad Herenn. i. 12. 
Ccepio, who was now qucestor, we are here told, when he could not 
prevent the law from being put to the vote in any other way, broke 
the hustings-bridges, (ponies.) and took away the voting-urns. 

28 



ii 



336 HISTORY OF ROME. 

they then girt their clothes about tliem, seized whulever 
came to hand, and fell on tlie country folk, who, incited by 
Saturnlnns, attacked them in turn, drove them oflT, and thep 
passed the law. Marius, as consul, laid the matter beford 
the senate, declaring that he for one would never take the 
oath, Metellus, Ibr whom the snare was laid, made a similar 
declaration ; the rest expressed their approbation, and Marius 
closed the senate. On the rtftii day he assembled them again 
in haste, telling them that the people wore very hot on the 
matter, and that he saw no remedy but for them to swear to 
it as far as it was law, and that when the country people 
were gone home they mi^ht easily show that it was not law, 
as it had been carried by force, and when there was thunder. 
He himself and his friends then swore ; the rest, though they 
now saw through the trick, were afraid not to do the same. 
Metellus alone refused. Next day Saturninus sent and had 
him dragged out of the senate-house ; when the other tribunes 
defended him, Glaucia and Saturninus ran to the country 
people, telling thrm they bad no chance of land if Metellus 
remained in Rome. Saturninus then proposed that the 
consuls should be directed to interdict him from fire, water, 
and lodging. The town peoj)le armed themselves, and were 
resolved to defend him ; but Metellus, thankirtg them for 
their zeal, said he would not have his country endangered 
on his account, and he went into voluntary exile at Rhodes. 
Saturninus then had his bill against hini passed, and Marius 
made the proclamation with no little pleasure. 

When the elections came on, Saturninus had himfeelf re- 
chosen, and with him one L. Eqiiitius Firnio, whom he gave 
out to be a son of Tib. Gracchn.s, which gained him the 
popular favor. But his great object was to get Glaucia into 
the consulate, which was a matter of some diffi'cnlty, for M. 
Antonius, the celebrated orator, had been already chosen for 
one of the places, and C Memmius, a man of high charac- 
ter and extremely popular,* stood for the other. They did 
not, however, .let this difficulty long stand in their way. 
They sent some o" their satellites, armed with sticks, who 
in the open day, in the midst of the election, and before all 
the people, fell on Memmius and beat him to death ! The 
assembly was dissolved, ami Saturninus, next morning, hav- 
ing summoned his adherents from the country, occupied tha 
Capitol, with Glaucia, the qucestor C. Saufeius, and some 

* See above, pp. 311, 312. 



RETUEN OF METELLUS. 32.7 

Dtheis. The senate, having met, declared them public ene- 
mies, and directed the consuls to provide for the safety of 
the state. Marius had then reluctantly to take arms against 
his friends. While he loitered, some of the more determined 
cut the pipes which supplied the Capitol with water. When 
the thirst became intolerable, Saufeius proposed to burn the 
temple ; but the others, relying on Marius, agreed to surren- 
der on the public faith. There was a general cry to put them 
to death ; but Marius, in order to save them, shut them up 
in the Curia Hostilia, under pretext of acting more legally. 
The people, however, would not be balked of their ven- 
geance ; they stripped off the roof, and flung the tiles down 
on them and killed them. A number of their adherents also 
were slain, among them the pseudo-Gracchus. 

A decree for the recall of Metellus was joyfully passed by 
the senate and people, (653:) Marius, having vainly tried to 
prevent it, left the city, to avoid witnessing the return of 
his enemy. He went to Asia Minor, under pretence qf 
offering some sacrifices he had vowed to the Mother of the 
Gods, (Cybele.) but in reality to try if he could excite the 
king of Pontus to a war, for peace he felt not to be his ele- 
ment, and his conduct since his triumph had lost him the 
favor of all parties. The tribune P. Furius, whom Metel- 
lus had degraded when censor, (650,) also opposed his recall, 
and stood firm against the tears and entreaties of his son. 
His filial piety gained for the youth the surname of Pius, 
{dutiful,) and Furius being prosecuted the next year by his 
late colleague, C. Canuleius, was torn to pieces by the people, 
who would not even listen to his defence. When Metellus 
arrived at Rome the concourse of those who came to con- 
gratulate him was so great that an entire day did not suffice 
for him to receive them. 

Matters now remained rather tranquil for a few years. In 
661 the tribune M. Livius Drusus, the son of the opponent 
of C. Gracchus, a yoimg man of njany estimable qualities 
but of great pride, brought forward a series of measures by 
which he proposed to remedy the evils of the state, and re- 
store the authority of the senate. . In the first place the 
Itnights had not exercised the exclusive right of acting as 
judges, given to them by the Sempronian law, one whit more 
impartially than the senators had done. Of this the late 
condemnation of P. Rutilius had been a glaring instance. 
Rntilius, one of the most upright and honorable men of hig 
dme, had been both quaestor and legate in Asia, and he hau 



328 HISTORY OF ROME. 

exerted himself ,'". defending the provincials against the 
abominable oppressions and extortions of the publicans. 
This drew on him the hatred of the whole equestrian or- 
der, a charge of extortion was got up against him ; the 
judges joyfully found him guilty ; and he had to go into 
exile. Drusus now brought in a bill, by which, as the sena- 
tors amounted to three hundred, an equal number should be 
selected from the equestrian order, and the decuries of judges 
be taken out of these six hundred, and he added that they 
should take cognizance of cases of bribery and corruption. 
This just and well-meant measure gave satisfaction to no 
party. The senate saw in it a loss of dignity, and they 
dreaded the influence their new associates might acquire. 
The knights in general viewed it only as a plan for gradually 
withdrawing from them the judicial power which they had 
found so profitable, and they were prepared to be envious 
and jealous of the three hundred of their own body who 
might be selected. Above all, they were offended at the 
bribery clause, as they had thought themselves qUite secure 
of impunity on that head. 

To gain the common people at Rome, Drusus proposed 
that the colonies in Italy and Sicily, which had been long 
.•since voted, should be formed, and that the Sempronian law 
foT the distribution of corn should be retained. He further, 
whether it was what he had originally in view, or annoyed at 
finding his good intentions so ill received,* resolved to give 
the freedom of the state to all the Italians. lie carried on 
his measures not without violence ; and one evening when 
he returned home from the Forum, followed as usual by a 
great crowd, and was in his hall dismissing them, he cried 
out that he was wounded. A shoemaker's knife was found 
stuck in his thigh, but the ai?sassin was not discovered. 
•' Ah! my friends and relations," said he, as he lay dying, 
" will the republic ever have a citizen such as I?"* No ju- 
dicial inquiry was instituted into this murder, and all the 
laws of Drusus were abrogated by a single senatusconsult, 
on the motion of the consul L. Marcius Philippus, as having 
been contrary to the auspices. 

The knights resolved to push their success to the utto'» 
most, and to deprive the allies of A\] hopes of the civic 
franchise. They therefore made the tribune Q.. Varius, a 
Spaniard by birth, bring in a bill to punish all those whd 

• Veil. Pat. ii. 14. 



SOCIAL OR MARSIC WAR. 329 

had openly or secretly aided the Italians in theii designs 
against the state; for, as many of the leading senators had 
favored their claims, they intended in this way to drive 
them from the city. The other tribunes interposed; but the 
knights stood around them brandishing their naked daggers, 
and the bill was passed; and prosecutions were instantly 
commenced against the leading senators. Many were con- 
demned : others, such as Bestia and Cotta, went into volun- 
tary exile. M. ^Emilius Scaurus, the chief of the senate, 
being accused by Varius before the people, made the follow- 
ing defence : " Varius of Sucro says that vEmilius Scaurus 
has excited the allies to take up arms. M. Scaurus, the 
chief of the senate, denies it. There is no witness. Which, 
Q,uirjtes, should you believe?" The tribune did not attempt 
to go on with the prosecution.* 

The allies meantime, seeing that they had nothing now to 
expect from the justice of Rome, had resolved on an appeal 
to arms, and began secretly to make the requisite combina- 
tions among themselves. The Romans, aware of what they 
were meditating, sent spies to the different towns ; and one 
of these, seeing a youth led as a hostage from the town of 
Asculum to another town, gave information to the proconsul 
d. Servilins, who hastened thither and sharply rebuked the 
Asculans for what they were doing ; but they fell on and 
slew him and his legate Fonteius, and then massacred all the 
Romans in the place and pillaged their houses. Before, 
however, the confederates commenced the war, they sent to 
Rome requiring to be admitted to a participation in the hon- 
ors and advantages of that state, to whose greatness they 
had so mainly contributed. The senate replied that if they 
repented of what they had done they might send a deputa- 
tion, otherwise not. The confederates then resolved to try 
the chance of arms : their army, formed from the contin- 
gents of their several states, amounted to one hundred thou- 
sand men, exclusive of the domestic forces of each state. 

All the peoples of the Sabellian race, except the Sabines 
and Hernicans, who had long since become Roman citizens, 
shared in the war which now broke out ; in which Rome 
had to struggle for hfer existence with enemies whose troops 
equalled her own in number, discipline, and valor, and who 
had generals as skilful as those she could oppose to them. 
The allies chose Corfinium, the chief town of the Peligni* 

* Asconius on Cicero pro Scauro. Quintil. v. 12. Curious enough 
Varius himself was condemned on his own law. (Asconius as above.) 

28* pp 



330 HISTORY :f romi:. 

ans, for their capital, under the name of Italia ; they ap- 
pointed a senate of five hundred members, two consuls, and 
twelve praetor?. The first consuls were Q. Pompjedius Silo, 
a Marsian, and C. Papius IVIutilus, a Samnite ; the former 
with six prajtors had the command of the north and west 
the latter with six pra;tors also commanded in the south and 
east. Among the prretors were the following, T. Lafrenius, 
C. Pontidius, Marius Hgnatius, M. Lamponius, C. Judaci- 
lius, Vettius Scato, Pontius Telesiiuis, L. Cluentius, and P. 
Ventidius. The war is named the Social, Marsic, or Italian 
war, from the names of those engaged in it. 

The Roman senate made diligent preparations to meet the 
coming danger ; the Latins, Tuscans, Umbrians and the 
people of some other parts of Italy remained faithful, and 
troops came from Gaul and from the foreign allies. The 
chief command of the farces, which equalled those of the 
Italians in number, was given to the consuls L. Julius Caesar 
and P. Rutilius Lupus; thb forntor had as legates his brother 
P. Lentulus, L. Sulla, T. Didius, M. IVLircellus and M. Li- 
cinius Crassus; the legates of the other consul were C. 
Marius, Cn. Pompeius Strabo, Q,. Servilius Csepio, C. Per- 
perna and Valerius Messala. 

The advantages were at first all on the side of the Italians. 
Vettius Scato defeated the consul Julius, and took the town 
of .(Escrnia in Samnium. Marius Egnatius took Venafruin 
by treachery, and destroyed two Roman cohorts that were 
in it. P. Pre?enta?Uh defeated a force of 10,000 men under 
the legate Perperna, and killed 4000 of them ; for which 
Rutilius deprived Perperna of his command, and gave what 
remained of his troops to C. Marius. Lamponius defeated 
Crassus with a loss of eicjjit h\indred men, and forced him 
to shut himself up in Grumetitum. Papius entered Cam- 
pania and took Nola, StabisB, Miuturna?, and Saluri)um; the 
troops in all these places entered his service, and when he 
laid waste the country round Nuceria the neighboring towns 
all declared for him and augmented his forces with 10,000 
foot and 1000 horse. He then laid siege to Ac^rr^, to 
whose relief the consul Julius came with 10,000 Gallic foot 
and a body of Moorish and Numidian -troops ; but Papius, 
sending to Venusia for a son of Ju<rurtha's who was a pris- 
oner there, clad him in purple, and showed him to the Nu- 
midians, a great number of whom deserted ; and C<Bsar 
became so dubious of the rest that he sent them away home, 
Vi'^hen, however, Papius made an attempt on his camp, ba 
was repelled with the loss of 6000 men. 



SOCIAL OR MARSIC WAR. 331 

Rutilius and Marius advanced to the Liris, over which 
hey threw^ two bridges within a short distance of each other 
V^ettius Scato, who was encamped opposite that of Marius, 
went and lay in ambush during the night at that of Rutilius; 
and when the Romans crossed in the morning he drove them 
back with great loss, Rutilius receiving a wound in the head, 
of which he afterwards died. But meantime Marius had 
crossed over and taken Vettius' camp,, which obliged him to 
retreat. When the bodies of the consul and other men of 
rank were brought to Rome for interment, the sight was so 
dispiriting that the senate made a decree that in future all 
who fell should be buried on the spot ; the Italians when they 
heard of it made a similar decree. 

Marius and Caspio were directed to take the command of 
Rutilius' army, as no consul could now be elected in his 
place. Pompasdius then pretended to desert to Caepio, and 
urging him to advance and fall on his troops, now without a 
leader, led him into an ambush, where he and most of his 
men were slain. At the same time, as Caesar was leading 
his army, said to be 30,000 foot and 5000 horse, through a 
defile, he was fallen on and routed by Egnatius. He escaped 
with difficulty to Teanum, where having reassembled his 
troops he went and encamped pver against Papias, who was 
still before Acerrre. . i 

The Marsians having attacked Marius were driven back 
into some, vineyards, w.hither he did not venture to pursue 
them ; but Sulla, who was encamped behind the vineyards, 
when he heard the noise fell on the fugitives, and the entire 
loss of the Marsians was six thousand men. This, however, 
only exasperated that gallant people, and they soon took the 
field again. On the side of Falernum, Judacilius, Lairenius, 
and Ventidius, having united their forces, drove Pompeius 
into Firmum, where, leaving Lafrenius to watch him, the 
others went a\»i'ay. But P. Sulpicius came to his relief, and 
while the besieged made a sally he fell on the camp of the 
l)esiegers and set it on fire. The Italians were defeated and 
their general slain. 

In this war the conduct of Marius w^s little worthy of his 
former fame ; whether in consequence of his age, (he was 
now sixty-five,) or of a nervous disorder as he himself said, 
he acted with timidity and irresolution, shutting himself up 
in an entrenched camp, and allowing theenemfto insult 
him, and finally resigning his command. 

The first year of the war was now drawing to a close; the 



332 HISTORY OF ROME. 

senate had been obliged to allow the freednen to be enlisted 
for the legions, and the Tuscans and Umhrians showed 
strong symptoms of an inclination to share in the revolt. 
The o[)poiients to the claims of the allies were forced to 
yield, and the consul Julius had a law passed granting the 
civic franchise to the Latins and those who had not revolted, 
and finally to those who should lay down their arms. This 
prudent measure at once quieted the Tuscans. 

The consuls of the next year (()()3) were Cn. Pompeius 
and M. Porcius Cato. The former defeated a body of 15,000 
Italians who were on their march for Etruria; the slain were 
oOOO in number; and it being winter, more than half of 
those who escaped perished by hunger and the severity of 
the weather. Ilis colleague was less fortunate, for about the 
same time, having gained some advantages over the Marsians, 
he made an attack on their camp, but was defeated and 
slain. Pomp(^ius laid siege to Asculum ; the praetor Cos- 
conius was defeated by the Samnites, but being joined by 
the prajtor Lucceius he again engaged, and routed them 
with a loss of 15,000 men and their general Marius Eg- 
natius. 

Sulla defeated the Italian general Cluentius at Pompeii 
in Campania. lie then entered Samnium, and took the 
town of .Eculanum. He defeated Papius near .(Esernia, and 
then look Bovianum. 

Pompeius meantime urged on the siege of Ascijlnm. Ju- 
dacilius, who was a native of that town, advanced with 
eight cohorts to its relief, sending word to the people to 
make a sally when they saw him. This however they did 
not do ; he forced his wa^y in, nevertheless, and seeinvr there 
was no phance of his being able to maintain the town, he 
resolved not to let tho?e escape who had turned the people 
against him. lie seized and put them to death, and then 
raised a pyre in a temple on which he placed a couch, and 
having feasted with his friends and swallowed poison, he lay 
down, directing them to set fire to it, and he thus perished. 

Fortune was now every where adverse to the allies ; one by 
one they had lost their best generals ; the spirit of resistance 
gradually died away; and they all, but the Samnites and 
Lucanians, submitted and received the Roman franchise ; 
and thus, after two }'ears, ended the Social war, which had 
cost Italy the loss of three hundred thousand of the flower 
of her population, in the concessions that might have ob- 
viated it To prevent the allies from acquiring a prepon- 



MURDER OF /HE PRAETOR BY THE USURERS. 333 

derance by their numbers in the Coinitia, the senate, instead 
of distributing them in the actual tribes, formed, as was the 
ancient practice, eight new tribes to contain them ; a meas- 
ure which, though not noticed at the time, gave rise to 
future dissensions. 

During the Social war an event occurred at Rome which 
strongly shows the disregard for law, both human and di- 
vine, which then prevailed. The money-lenders were press- 
ing hard on their debtors, and, contrary to law, insisting upon 
interest on interest. The prajtor A. Sempronius Asellio, in 
the trials which took place, reminded the jurors of the law 
on the subject ; and this so incensed the usurers, that they 
resolved to fall on him as he was sacrificing to Castor and 
Pollux in the Forum. A stone was thrown which struck the 
cup out of his hand ; he fled for refuge to the temple of 
Vesta, which was hard by, but the usurers got between hira 
and it ; he then ran ii.'o a tavern, whither they pursued and 
killed him. Some even went into the temple, which it was 
not lawful to enter, thinking he had fled to the Vestals, 
and resolved that even so he should not escape. The senate 
offered a reward in money to any freeman, liberty to any 
slave, and a pardon to any accomplice, who would give in- 
formation against the murderers ; but the usurers had dis- 
guised themselves so that they could not be identified, or 
perhaps people were too much in terror of them to give in- 
formation. 

The merits of Sulla in the Social war had been so great 
that he was raised immediately to the consulate (664) with 
Q,. Pompeius Rufus, and the conduct of the war against 
Mithridates king of Pontus was committed to him. But the 
envy and the cupidity of Marius were excited, and he re- 
solved if possible to deprive hira of his command. He 
leagued himself for this purpose with P. Sulpicius Rufus, a 
tribune of the people, a man of talent and a daring character, 
and they projected a law for transferring the command to 
Marius. For this purpose it was necessary to get a majority 
in the tribes; and as this could not be effected as they were 
then constituted, Sulpicius brought in a bill for distrib- 
uting the new citizens among all the tribes; for as they 
were highly discontented with their present position, he 
reckoned that they would give their votes to those who 
would relieve them from it. But the old citizens were not 
BO willmg to part with their monopoly ; they employed 



334 HISTORV OF ROME. 

Sticks and stones against the intruders. The c^jnsuls, as the 
day of voting drew near, being apprehensive of further dis- 
turbance, proclaimed a Justitinm. Sulpicius directed his 
adherents to come to the Forum that day with concealed 
daggers, and to do as he should direct them. When there- 
fore all was ready, he called on the consuls to dissolve the 
justitiuiif as being illegal. A tumult ensued, the daggers 
were drawn and brandished, and the consuls menaced. 
Pompeius fled ; Sulla retired to consult the senate ; and 
while he was away the Sulpician party fell on and murdered 
Pompeius' son, for freely speaking his mind. Sulla then 
dissolved the jastitinm, and set out for his army, which was 
at Nola: Sulpicius had his bill passed forthwith, and the 
Mithridatic war decreed to Marius. 

Sulla having assembled his troops told them all that had 
occurred at Rome, and as their hopes of plunder in the 
East were high, and they feared that Marius would have 
other troops and other officers, they called on him to lead 
them at once to Rome. He gladly obeyed, and set forth at 
the head of six legions. The soldiers stoned the tribunes 
whom Marius sent to take the command ; the senate, com- 
pelled by Marius, sent two praetors to prohibit the advance 
of Sulla, but they narrowly escaped with their lives from 
the soldiery. Other embassies followed, praying Sulla not 
to come nearer than where he was, at the fifth milestone, 
Marius wishing to get time to prepare for defence. Sulla 
seeing through the design gave the promise; but he fol- 
lowed close on the heels of the envoys, and he himself 
with one legion seized the Caelian gate, while Pompeius 
with another seized the Colline; a third went to the bridge, 
a fourth staid without, and Sulla led the remaining two 
into the city. The people began to throw missiles and tiles 
on them from the roofs ; but when Sulla threatened to set 
fire to the houses, they desisted. Marius and his party gave 
them battle at the Esquiline, but they were defeated, and 
Marius and Sulpicius having vainly 6ssayed to excite the 
slaves fled out of the city. 

Sulla next day assembled the people, and having deplored 
the condition into which the constitution had been brought 
by the ans and the violence of wicked men, proposed, as 
the only remedy, a return to the former wholesome state 
of things; that no measure should be brought before the 
people that had not beten examined and approved of by the 



FLIGHT OF MARIUS. 335 

senate; and that the voting should he by the classes, a=i ar- 
ranged by king Servius, and not by the tribes. He then, as 
the senate was so mucli reduced, selected three hundred 
of the most respectable men to augment it. All the late 
measures of Sulpicius were declared illegal, and he, Marius 
and his son, and about twelve other senators, were outlawed 
and their property confiscated. 

Sulpicius was betrayed by a slave and put to death 
Marius escaped in the night to Ostia, where one of his 
friends had provided a vessel for him ; he embarked, but a 
storm coming on he was obliged to land near Circseum, 
where, as he and his companions were rambling about, some 
herdsmen who knew him telling him that a party of horse 
had just been seen in quest of him, th*6y got into a wood, 
where they passed the night without food. Next morning,' 
they set out for Minturnae, but on turning round they 
saw a tr6op of horsemen in pursuit of them. There hap- 
pened to be two vessels just then lying close in to the shore, 
and they ran and got aboard of them. The horsemen 
^ame to the water's edge, and called out to the crews to 
put Marius out, but they were moved by his entreaties, 
and, refusing to deliver him tip, sailed away ; but afterwards, 
reflecting on the danger they were running, they persuaded 
him to land at the mouth of the Liris to get some food and 
repos6, and, while he was lying in the grass, they went on 
l^oard, and, making sail, left him to his fate. He rambled 
about the marshes till he reached the solitary hut of an old 
man, , whose compassion he implored. The old man led 
him away into the marsh, and making him lie down in a 
hollow spot near the river covered him with sedge and 
i^fehes. Presently Marius heard at the hut the voices of 
fhose who were in pursuit of him, and fearing lest his host 
might betray him he got up, and went and stood up to his 
neck in the mud and water of the marsh. Here, however, 
he was soon discovered, and was dragged out, naked as he 
was, and led to Minturnje and placed in confinement. The 
authorities there having consulted together resolved to put 
him to death, and a Gallic horseman was sent to despatch 
him. The Gaul, when he approached the spot where he 
was lying in a dark room, was daunted by the fiery glare of 
the old warrior's eyes, and when he rose and cried with a 
tremendous voice, " Dost thou dare to slay Cains Marius ?" 
he rushed out, crying, " I cannot kill Caius Marius." The 



ij36 HISTORY OF ROME. 

magis ates then determined not to have the blood of so 
great a man on their heads, and they gave him his liberty, 
and leading him to thp coast put him on board of a vessel 
to pass over to Africa. He landed at Carthage ; but pre^ 
ently came a messenger from C. Sextilius, the governor of 
the province, ordering him to depart. He long sat in si- 
lence, looking sternly at the envoy, on whose inquiry of 
what reply he should make to the prajtor, he groaned, and 
said, "Tell him you saw Caius Marius sitting an exile 
among the ruins of Carthage." He then retired to the 
iittle isle of Cercina, where he was joined by his son and 
several of his other friends, and they remained there watch- 
ing the course of events. 

Sulla sent back his army to Capu^, in or^ler to pass over 
to Greece ; his colleague Q.. Pompeius was to remain to 
protect Italy with the troops of Cn. Pompeius ; but this 
army, probably with the approbation of their general, fell 
on and murdered the consul when he came to the camp, 
and Sulla was obliged to leave the command with Cn. Pom- 
peius. He moreover found that the people were adverse 
to him, for they rejected his nephew Nonius and his friend 
Servius with contempt when he recommended them for 
office. He affected to be pleased at seeing the people ex- 
ercising the liberty, for which he said they were indebted to 
him ; and he acquiesced in the appointment of L. Cornelius 
Cinna, of the opposite fiiction, to the consulate w:ith Cn, 
Octavius, who was of his own party. He tried to bind 
Cinna, by the solenmity of an oath, to attempt no innova- 
tion in his absence. They ascended the Capitol, and Cinna, 
in the ancient mode, grasping a stone prayed that if he did 
not keep his engagement he might be cast out of the city 
as he fiung away that stone. Sulla then d?parted for his 
army. 



STATE OF ASIA. 337 



CHAPTER IV.* 

STATE OF ASIA. FIRST MITHRIDATIC WAR. SULLA IN 

GREECE. VICTORIES OF CH^RONEA AND ORCHOMENUS. 

PEACE WITH MITHRIDATES. FLACCUS AND FIMBRIA. 

SEDITION OF CINNA. RETURN OF MARIUS. — ^CRUELTIES 

OF MARIUS AND CINNA. DEATH AND CHARACTER OF MA- 
RIUS. RETURN OF SULLA. ^ — HIS VICTORIES. PROSCRIP- 
TIONS OF SULLA. HIS DICTATORSHIP AND LAWS. HE 

LAYS DOWN HIS OFFICE AND RETIRES. HIS DEATH AND 

FUNERAL. HIS CHARACTER. 

The acquisition of the kingdom of Attains caused the 
Romans to become deeply interested in the affairs of the 
East. We will therefore now take a slight view of the polit- 
ical condition of Anterior Asia at this time. 

After the reign of Antiochus the Great the kingdom of 
Syria had gone rapidly to decay. The dominions east of the 
Euphrates were gradually occupied by the Parthians, a 
people probably of Turkish race, and their empire finally ex- 
tended over the whole of Persia ; their princes were named 
Arsacides, from Arsaces, the first of their line. Another 
portion of the Syrian dominions was about this time seized 
on by Tigranes king of Armenia, who became one of the 
most powerful monarchs of Asia. The kings of Bithynia 
and Cappadocia were dependent on the Romans; but the 
kingdom of Pontus on the Euxine, under its present monarch 
Mithridates VI., a prince of great activity and talent, had 
risen to considerable importance. It was against this mon- 
arch that Sulla was now to direct the arms of Rome, with 
whom the war had originated as follows. 

Mitln-idates, having, it is said, caused the king of Cappa- 
docia, who was married to his sister, to be murdere.l, claimed 
the guardianship of his infant nephew. His sistet appealed 
for protection to Nicomedes of Bithynia; but Mithridates 
entered Cappadocia, murdered his nephew, and seized the 
kingdom. The Cappadocians rebelled against him, and 
called on the Romans. The senate declared them free, and 
directed them to form a republic: but knowing none but the 

* Appian, Mithridatica, 1 — 63. Bell. Civ i. 55 — 107. Velleius, ii 
20—28. Plut., Marius and Sulla. 

29 QQ 



338 HISTORY OF ROME. 

regal form of government, they sent to entreat that they 
might have a king. Their wish was acceded to, and their 
choice fell on one Ariobarzanes. Mithridates made no op- 
position ; but he secretly stirred up ihe Armenians, who 
drove the new monarch from his throne ; and Sulla, who had 
just been pra>tor, was sent from Rome (GCO) to restore him. 
On this occasion Sulla advanced to the Euphrates, where 
Parthian ambassadors came to him proposing an alliance 
with Rome. 

On the death of Nlcomedes (661) the throne of Bithynia 
was disputed by his sons Nicomedes and Socrates named 
Chrestos ; the Pontic king, in alliance with his powerful son- 
in-law I'igranes of Aruienia, supported the latter, and at the 
same tiuie drove Ariobarzanes out of Cappadocia. The 
Romans sent (66Q) an embassy, headed by M. Aquilius, to 
restore the two kings, which was done without any attempt 
on the part of Mithridates to prevent it. Aquilius and his 
friends and followers, who had, acording to the usual custom, 
made the kings and all the towns pay large sums of money or 
enormous interest for what they lent them, looking forward to 
the advantages to be derived from a war, required the kings 
to make an irruption into the dominions of Mithridates. 
Nicomedes unwillingly complied, on their assurance that 
they would aid him. Mithridates, desirous to put the 
Romans in the wrong, offered no resistance, but sent an em- 
bassy to complain ; and on receiving an ambiguous, unsatisfac- 
tory reply, he entered and seized Cappadocia. He then sent 
again to the Romans, displaying his power and advising them 
to justice and peace; but they in indignation ordered his 
envoy to quit their camp and never to return. 

The Roman commissioners, with L. Cassius, the governor 
of the province of Asia, now took upon them, without con- 
sulting the senate and people, and in the very midst of the 
Social war, to make war on a most powerful monarch. They 
collected a force of 120,000 men, and dividing them into three 
corps, Cassius, Aquilius, and Q. Oppius took different posi- 
tions, while Nicomedes was at the head of an army of his 
subjects. But the Pontic generals Archelatis and Neop- 
tolemus, two Cappadocians by birth, defeated Nicomedes ; 
the Roman commanders successively had the same fate, and 
Mithridates was speedily master of the whole of Asia north 
of Mount Taurus ; the isles of the iEgean also cheerfully sul)- 
mitted to his dominion, Rhodes alone remaining faithful to 
the Romans. 



SULLA IN GREECE. 



m 



Mithridates now gave a dreadful proof of his hatred to the 

Romans. He sent secret orders to the people of the Greek i I 

towns on the coast to rise on a certain day and massacre all ! 

the Romans and Italians, men, women and children, slaves 1 

and free, without mercy; and such , was the hatred the || 

Romans had brought on themselves by their insolence, j \ 

oppression and extortion, that the mandate was strictly '< \ 

obeyed, — less, says the historian^ from fear of the king than | 'I 
from animosity toward them. No mercy was shown, no 

temple was a sanctuary ; those who grasped the images of the , I 

gods were torn from them; the children were slain before i| 

the face of their mothers, whose own fate was only so long | I 

deferred. The lowest calculation gives eighty thousand as ] j 

the number of those who perished. Such as escaped sought | { 

refuo-e in Rhodes, which Mithridates besieored by sea and ! t 

land ; but to no effect, as he was obliged to retire with ( t 

disgrace. Meantime in Greece the Athenians, Boeotians, ; i 

Achreans, and Laconians had declared for him, and Arche- . \ 

laus passed over and made the Pirreeus his head-quarters, ■ I 

while an Epicurean philosopher named Aristion became the ^ r 

tyrant of the city by means of a garrison of two thousand j i 

men that Archelaus had given him to guard the treasure I j 

which was transferred thither from Delos. Near Chaeronea, | j 

Brutius Sura, the legate of Q,. Sentius governor of Macedo- | | 

nia, engaged the Pontic troops for three days, and forced I 

them to fall back to Athens. | | 

Sulla was now (665) landed with five legions and some | 

troops of the allies. The Boeotians returned to their alle- I I 

giance to Rome; he advanced into Attica, and laid siege to | 

Athens and the Piraeeus, being desirous to end the war as < I 

speedily as possible and return to Rome. He first tried to t | 

storm the Piraeeus, but, failing in the attempt, he made all ; \ 

kinds of machines, cutting down for that purpose the trees of ! | 

the Academy and the Lyceum, and taking the sacred treas- I 

ures from Epidaurus, Delphi, and Olympia. All the assaults j ] 
on the Pirceeus were gallantly repelled by Archelaus, and as 
the Pontic fleet commanded the sea no want was felt; but in 
the city famine soon began to rage, while the misery of the 
wretched citizens was augmented by the insolence and cru- 
elty of Aristion. At length the chatter of some old men, 
blaming him for not having secured a certain part of the wall, 
was overheard by the Romans, and Sulla attacked the town 
on that side and forced his way in. He gave orders for an 
indiscriminate slaughter ; no age or sex was spared ; the very 



340 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Streets ran blood, till night ended the carnage ; tie then 
granted to the prayers of his friends, and the former renown 
of the city, the lives of those who remained. Aristion fled to 
the Acropolis, but thirst soon compelled him to surrender, 
and he was put to death. Sulla then pressed the sietje of the 
Piraieus more vigorously than ever, and Archelaus having at 
length embarked his troops and left it to its fate, he look and 
burned it, without sparing its noble docks and arsenal, ((]()<).) 
Archelaus meantime, in conjunction with the other gen- 
erals, had assembled an army stated at 120,000 men, with 
which he encamped near Cha;ronea. Sulla led his troops 
into Boeotia. Archelaus, knowing the inferiority of his 
soldiers, wished to avoid an action, but the impetuosity of 
some of the other generals was not to be restrained ; they 
gave battle to disadvantage, and sustained so ei»tire a defeat 
I j that only 10,000 men, it is said, of the whole army escaped, 

I I while we are assured that the Romans lost but thirteen men ! 

! i Archelaus fled to Eubcea, and soon after Mithridates, having 

I I sent another army of 80,000 men under Dorylaus into Greece, 

1 ' he joined it, and, taking the command, encamped at Orcho- 

j I menus. Sulla, seeing the fine plain which extends thence to 

;? Lake Copais so well adapted for the action of the enemies' 

I I numerous cavalry, dug trenches through it ten feet wide to 

. I impede them. Archelaus, observing what he was about, made 

i I a charge ; the Romans were giving way, when Sulla, jumping 

I ; from his horse, seized a standard, and advancing alone with it 

cried out, " If any ask you, Romans, where you left your 
general, say, Fighting at Orchomenus." Shame took place 
of fear, the troops turned, Sulla sprang again to horse, the 
enemies were driven to their camp with a loss of 15,000 men, 
and next day the camp was stormed, and those who were in 
it slaughtered or driven into the marshes, where they were 
drowned. Archelaus fled to Chalcis, and Sulla retired to 
Thessaly for the winter. 

Meantime matters at Rome had taken a turn highly un- 
favorable to Sulla, and his friends came flying for safety to 
his camp. He was therefore anxious to terminate the war, 
and gladly hearkened to the proposal of an interview with 
Archelaus for that purpose. The Pontic general, who knew 
his situation, proposed that he should give up all designs on 
Asia and return to the civil war in Italy, for wliich Mithri- 
dates would supply him with money, ships, and troops. This 
being indignantly rejected, it was agreed that the king should 
restore all his conquests in Asia, pay two thousand talents, 



FLACCUS AND FIMBRIA. 34 i 

and furnish seventy ships fully equipped, and then be secured 
in his other dominions and declared an ally of Rome. Sulla 
then, accompanied by Archelaus, set out for the Hellespont ; 
but envoys came from Mithridates refusing to give up Paph- 
lagonia. This roused the indignation of Sulla. Archelans 
craved permission to go to his master ; and an interview 
between Sulla and Mithridates having taken place at Darda- 
uum, all was arranged as Sulla desired. He excused himselt 
to his soldiers for not exacting more satisfaction for the blood 
of so many myriads of Roman citizens, by telling them that 
if the king and Fimbria were to unite their troops he should 
be unable to withstand them. 

C. Flavius Fimbria was at this time in Asia, at the head 
of a Roman army of the Marian faction. Cinna, as we shall 
presently relate, having made L. Valerius Flaccus his col- 
league in the consulate, sent him with two legions to take the I I 
conduct of the Mithridatic war from Sulla, and, as he was U 
not a military man. Fimbria, who was a good officer, was f [ 
sent out as his legate. Fearing, as it would seem, to meet j [ 
Sulla, Flaccus led his troops through Macedonia to the Hel- | : 
lespont, and here a quarrel taking place between him and ! 
Fimbria, the latter, having excited a sedition against him \ 
among the soldiers, whom his avarice had alienated, murdered ( 
him and took the command of the army, with which he | 
gained some advantages over Mithridates and his son. He 
was encamped at Thyatira at the time of the peace, and Sulla 
instantly marched against him. Fimbria's troops began at 
once to desert, and finding he could not rely on them, and 
being mortified by Sulla's refusal of a personal interview, he 
put an end to himself. His army then joined that of Sulla, 
who having regulated the affairs of Asia, rewarding those 
who had been faithful to Rome, and imposing such heavy 
fines on the rest of the towns as immersed them in debt to the 
usurers and became a source of incalculable misery, set out 
for Greece on his return to Italy, where a new war awaited 
him. 

For scarcely had he left Rome when Cinna, heedless of 
his oath, and having, it is said, received a large bribe for the 
purpose, renewed Sulpicius' project of dividing the new 
citizens among all the tribes. Octavius, with the senate and 
the old citizens, opposed him. A large number of the new 
citizens armed with daggers occupied the Forum, to carry 
the law by terror ; but Octavius, at the head of the opposite 
pa'tVi also armed, came down and dispersed them. Several 
29 • 



i ■ 



342 HISTORY OF ROME. 

were slain, aiid Cinna, having vainly essayed to excits tne 
slaves, fled from the city. The senate declared his dignity to 
be forfeited, and L. Cornelius Morula, the Flamen Dialis, 
was made consul in his place. Cinna repaired to the army at 
Nola, which he induced to declare for him ; he also gained 
several of the allied towns, wliich furnished him with men 
and money ; and C. Milonius, Q,. Sertorius, and others of his 
senatorial friends, having come from Rome and joined him, 
he resumed the consular ensigns and advanced agair»st the 

Ij city, which Octavius and Merula had put in a state of defence. 

• They had also summoned Pompeius Straho to their aid, and 

i he was now encamped hefore the Colliue gate. 

J j Cinna having recalled Marius, he embarked with his 

j i friends and made sail for Italy. He landed in Etruria, 

j where his name and his promises respecting the places in the 

j j tribes drew about six thousand men to his standard ; he then 

J I sent to Cinna, offermg to serve under him. Cinna overjoyed 

I I sent him proconsular ensigns; but Marius, who still wore 

; the dress in which he had fled from Rome, and had never 

I J cut or trimmed his hair since that time, replied that they did 

j j not become one in his condition. They divided their forces 

I j into three parts, Cinna and Cn. Carbo lying before the city, 

1 I Sertorius above, Marius below it ; and Marius having taken 

j • Ostia, and put its inhabitants to the sword, threw a bridge 

II over the river so that no provisions could reach the city. 

I Octavius was advised to offer liberty to the slaves; but he 

[ replied that he would not give slaves a share in that coun- 

I > try, from which, in defence of the laws, he was excluding 

II C. Marius. Orders were sent to Q,. Metelius Pius, who was 
acting against the Samnites, to make terms with them and 
c>ome to the aid of the city. But while he hesitated to grant 
the terms they required, Marius sent, and promising them all 
they demanded, gained them over to his side. Ap. Claudius, 
a military tribune who had charge of the Janiculan, admitted 
Marius into the town, who then let in Cinna : but the troops 
of Octavius and Pompeius drove them out again. Pompeius 
was shortly after killed by lightning. 

Famine now began to be dreaded in the city, and both 
slaves and free deserted in great numbers. The .senate 
therefore sent envoys to treat with Cinna: he asked if they 
came to him as consul or as a private person ; they hesitated, 
and retired. He then encamped nearer the city, and the 
senate flndioo the desertion increase were obliged to deprive 
Merula of his ofl!ice, and send to Cinna as consv^i Thev 



CRUELTIES OF MARIUS AND CINNA. 343 

only asked him to swear that there should be no slaughter; 
ne declined to swear, but promised that he would not of his 
own accord be the cause of any one's death, and he desired 
that Octavius should leave the city lest any evil should befall 
him. Cinna spoke thus from his tribunal, beside which 
stood C. Marius in silence ; but his stern look showed what 
he was meditating. When the senate sent to invite them to 
enter the city, Marius said, smiling ironically, that such was 
not permitted to exiles. The tribunes assembled the tribes to 
vote his recall, but not more than three or four had voted, 
when he flung oif the mask, entered the city at the head of a 
body-guard of slaves named Bardiaeans, who slew all he 
pointed out to them ; it at length sufficing for Marius not to I 

return any one's salute for these ruffians to murder him. ! 

Their atrocities at length rose to such a height that Cinna \ 

and Sertorius found it necessary to fall on and massacre them 
in their sleep. s 

We will enter into some details of the murders now per- | 

petrated. Octavius, declaring that while consul he would 
never quit the city, retired to the Janiculan. Here, while I 

he sat on his tribunal surrounded by his lictors, some horse- 
men, sent for the purpose, killed him, and, cutting off his | 
head, brought it to Cinna, by whom it was fixed on the Rostra. I 
C. and L. Julius, Atilius Serranus, P. Lentulus, and M. | 
Bajbius were overtaken and slain as they fled. Crassus and f 
his son being pursued, the father killed the son, and then was \ 
slain himself. M. Antonius, the great orator, sought refuge | 
in the house of a peasant, who, having sent his slave to a tav- | ^ 
em to get somewhat better wine than usual, the host inquired 
the reason ; the slave whispered it to him, and he went off, 
and, finding Marius at supper, gave him the information. 
Marius clapped his hands with joy, and was hardly kept 
from going himself to seize him. He sent a tribune named 
Annius, who, staying without, sent some soldiers in to kill 
him ; but the eloquence with which Antonius pleaded for 
his life was such that the soldiers stood as if enchanted. An- 
nius, wondering at their delay, went in and himself cui off 
Antonius' head, and brought it to Marius. Q. Ancharius, 
seeing Marius about to sacrifice on the capitol, and thinking 
he might be in a merciful mood, approached and addressed 
him, but the signal was given and he was slain. L. Merula 
and Q,. Catulus, Marius' colleague in the Cimbric war. and 
whom he had never forgiven, put themselves to a voluntary 
death. Merula opened his veins, and a tablet was found by 



344 .A '- H STORY OF ROME. 

liim raying that he had previously taken off his sac cci liat, 
(aptr,) in which it was not hiwfui for a flanien to die.* 
Catulus shut himself up in a room newly plastered with lime, 
and burning charcoal in it suffocated himself Nor must the 
fidelity of the slaves of Cornutus go without its praise, who 
concealed their master, and taking and dressing the corpse 
of some common person burned it as his, and then conveyed 
him away secretly to Gaul. All the friends of Sulla were 
murdered ; his house was razed, his property confiscated, and 
himself declared an enemy. Murder, banishment, confis- 
cation raged every day, and even sepulture was refused to the 
bodies of the slain. Marius, whose appetite for blood in- 
creased with indulgence, was at the end of the year made 
consul the seventh time with Cinna, but he died in the first 
month while meditating new schemes of vengeance. t Cinna 
then had L. Valerius Flaccus, and when he heard of his 
murder, Cn. Papirius Carbo, chosen as his colleague, (667.) 
Caius Marius was one of those men who, in particular 
states of society, rise to eminence without being really great. 
His talents were purely military; his good qualities those of 
the mere soldier; he was temperate and free from avarice, 
but he was envious, jealous, ignorant, superstitious, and cruel, 
even to ferocity. As a statesman he was contemptible, the 
mere tool of others, and deficient in moral courage. Even 
in his military capaeity he was rather a good officer than 
a great general. In Numidia he only imitated Metellus, who 
had really brought the war to a conclusion ; there is nothing 
remarkable in his conduct of the Cimbric war ; and, if Sulla 
is to be believed, the battle at Vercelire did him no great 
credit. It was party spirit, not a sense of his superior merits, 
that renewed his consulates at this t me ; for surely Metellus, 
if no other, could have conducted the Cimbric war as well as 
Marius. Finally, in the Social war, when opposed to able 
generals and good troops, his deficiencies became apparent. f 

* The office now remained vacant till 744. Dion, liv. 36; Tac. Ann 
ill. ^^A•, Suet. Octav. 31. 

t Fimbria, who was at this time quflPstor. nt the funeral of Marius 
ordered Q,. Sccevola, the chief pontiff to be slain. Finding that the 
wound was not mortal, he prosecuted him ; and beinsr asked what 
cbarffCB he could brin<r against so excellent a man, he replied, that of 
not receiving the whole weapon in his body. (Cicero, Rosciua 
Amer. 12.) 

t It may surprise some to find the aristocratic Cicero constantly 
landing Marius ; but Uiey were natives of the same place, their families 
had been connected, and Cicero was a vain-glorious man. 



RETURN OF SULLA. 345 

Those who had escaped from the tyranny of Marius and 
China sought refuge with Sulla, and they were so numerous 
that his camp seemed to contain a senate. Cinna and Carbo, 
knowing their danger, exerted themselves to the utmost to 
raise troops and money through Italy to oppose him. It was 
however carried in the senate to send an embassy to treat of 
peace. Orders were forwarded to Cinna to give over levying 
troops till Sulla's answer should arrive; to which he promised 
obedience, but yielded none. He assembled his troops to 
pass over to Liburnia to oppose Sulla there, but he was short- 
ly after killed by them in a mutiny, and Carbo remained sole 
consul, (GG8.) 

Sulla's answer now arrived, declaring his willingness to 
obey the senate, provided all those who had sought refuge 
with him were restored to their country, and himself to all 
his dignities and honors; but that he never could be the 
friend of those who had perpetrated such atrocities, though 
the people might pardonthem if they pleased : adding that he 
should be better able to protect himself and friends by retain- 
ing a well-affected army. His envoys however, hearing at 
Brundisium of the death of Cinna, did not proceed in the 
business. Carbo, to strengthen himself, had the freedmen 
distributed through all the tribes, and he wished to exact hos- 
tages from all the towns and colonies in Italy, but was pre- 
vented by the senate. He had also a decree passed ordering 
all the armies to be disbanded. 

In Africa the cause of Cinna's faction was at this time tri- 
umphant, for C. Fabius, whom they had sent thither as pro- 
praetor, defeated and drove out of it Q,. Metellus Pius, who 
supported the cause of the aristocracy. 

At length (669) Sulla, having regulated the affairs of 
Greece and Asia, embarked in 1600 vessels, with an army of 
40,000 men, at Patras, and landed at Brundisium.* He was 
joined by Metellus with what troops he had, and the nobility 
flocked to him in such numbers that scarcely any seemed left 
in the city. Cn. Pompeius, (the son of him who had been 
struck by lightning,) a young man of but three-and-twenty 
years, who had impeded the levies of Carbo in Picenum, and 
raised there an army of three legions on his own account, 
with which he had sticcesfully opposed the troops of Carbo's 
generals, also came to join him. Sulla received this young 



* Appian. Velleius says 30,000 men and Plutarch that he sailed 
i'rom Dyrrhachium in 1200 ships. 

B R 



346 HISTORY OF ROME. 

man with distinguished favor, styled him Imperator, and 
always rose at his approacii and uncovered his head, — hon- 
ors which lie showed to no one else. 

Those of the other party at Rome, well aware of Sulla's 
merciless, unrelenting character, saw that there was no me- 
dium for them between victory and ruin ; and the people in 
general, knowing that his victory would be followed by nmr- 
ders and conhscations, made every effort to resist him. The 
consuls, therefore, L. Scipio and C Junius Nordanus were 
enabled to enroll a force of 100,000 men for the war against 
him. The first battle was fought between him and Norbanua 
at Canusium, where the latter was defeated with the loss of 
six thousand men, and fled to Capua. Sulla advanced into 
Campania : at Teanum he proposed a conference with Scipio 
about regulating the state, and he took advantage of the ne- 
gotiations to gain the consul's troops, who, when Sulla pre- 
pared to attack their camp, all went over to him, leaving 
Scipio and his son alone in their tent ; they were, however, 
dismissed in safety by Sulla. lie then tried the same course 
with Norbanus and his troops at Capua, but without success. 
Carbo hastened to the defence of Rome, where he caused 
Metellus and all the senators who were with Sulla to be de- 
clared public enemies. The rest of the year was spent by 
both parties in augmenting their forces, in which the consuls 
had the advantage, being largely reenforced from the greater 
part of Italy and from Cisalpine Gaul. Among the events of 
this year was the conflagration of the temple erected on the 
Capitol by the last kings of Rome. 

Carbo had himself and C. Marius, the son of the great 
Mariiis, chosen consuls for the next year, (670.) The cam- 
paign was opened with the defeat at the ii^isis, a stream which 
divides Umbria from Picenum, of Carbo's legate, C. Aibi\is 
Carrinas, by Metellus ; and soon after Marius, giving battle to 
Sulla at Sacriportum near Signia, was overcome, in conse- 
quence of a part of his troops going over to the enemy. Ma- 
rius and the rest of his troops fled to Praeneste, but when a 
part had gotten in, the Praenestines closed their gates lest the 
pursuers should enter also. Marius himself was drawn up 
by a rope; but those without, who were mostly Samnites, 
were slaughtered without mercy by Sulla ; who, having left 
Q. Lucretius Ofella to blockade the town, led his t'oops 
toward Rome. Marius, being resolved that his enemies ihere 
should not escape, sent orders to the praetor L. Junius Bru- 
■tus Damasippus to assemble the senate as if for some other 



VICTORIES OF SULLA. 347 

purpose, and then to seize and put to death P. Antistius, 
P. Carbo, L. Domitius, and Q,. Mucins Scjevola the chief pon- 
tilT. His orders were executed ; Scaevola, it is said, was 
butchered in the vestibule of the temple of Vesta. 

Sulla, having led his army to the field of Mars, entered the 
city, from which all his enemies had tied. He sold all their 
goods by auction, and then assembling the people lamented 
the necessity he was under of acting thus, and assured 
them that all would soon be well again. Leaving Rome he 
marched against Carbo, who was at Clusium : but we need 
not enter into an enumeration of the various actions which 
now occurred in different parts; the superiority in military 
skill was so decided, on the part of Sulla and his generals 
that they had the advantage in every encounter ; many places 
submitted; the defeated armies mostly dispersed and went 
to their several homes ; Norbanus fled to Rhodes, and Carbc 
to Africa. 

The Samnites and Lucanians had taken a large share in 
the war, and now their troops, under Pontius Telesinus and 
Lamponius, united with the remnants of Carbo's army under 
Carrinas, Marcius, and Damasippus, — having vainly at- 
tempted to relieve Praeneste, — advanced against Rome ; Te- 
lesinus crying that " there never would be wanting wolves 
to ravage Italy if the wood that harbored them was not cut 
down." Their forces amounted to forty thousand men. 
Sulla returned with all speed to Rome, and late in the day 
a furious engagement commenced before the Colline gate. 
Sulla's right wing under Crassus was victorious, the left led 
by himself was driven back to the city, but the gates were 
shut against them, and they were forced back on the enemy. 
The engagement lasted till late in the night. The whole 
number of the slain on both sides is said to have been fifty 
tliousand, among whom was Telesinus, whose head and those 
of Marcius and Carrinas were cut off and exposed before 
I'r.Tneste. Marius, in attempting to escape by a mine from 
that town, was killed by those who saw him coming out; 
others say he put an end to himself. His head was cut off 
and fixed on the Rostra by Sulla, who now assumed the title 
of Felix, or Fortunate After his victory Sulla collected 
about six or eight thousand of his prisoners in a public place, 
near the temple of Bellona, whither he called the senate. 
As he was addressing them, the cries of the captives, whom 
the soldiers were slaughtering by his orders, reached their 
ears : the fathers started, but he coolly desired them to attend 



348 HISTORY OF ROME. 

to hi n as it was only some bad persons who were being chas 
tised by his orders. They saw then that the tyrant was 
changed, not the tyranny. 

Sulla and his partisans now gave a loose to their ven- 
geance ; murders were committed all over the city ; and the 
Marians were not alone the victims, as several took the op- 
portunity of killing their private enemies or their creditors. 
Universal terror prevailed : at length a young man named C 
Metellus ventured, in the senate, to ask Sulla when there was 
to be an end of the slaughter. " We do not ask," said he, 
" to save those whom you intend to destroy, but to free from 
apprehension those whom you mean to save." Sulla replied 
that he did not yet know whom he would spare. " Then 
tell us," said Metellus, " whom you will punish." Sulla 
said he would, and he at once posted (prusrrijjsit) the names 
of eighty persons; next day he added two hundred and 
twenty names, and the following day an equal number. He 
addressed the people, telling them that these were all he 
could recollect at present, but that he would add any others 
that occurred to him, as he was resolved to spare none who 
had borne any command, or aided his enemies since the day 
that Scipio, as he alleged, had broken his engagement with 
him, but that if the people obeyed him he would make a 
salutary change in their condition.* 

In this proscription, as it was named, lists of those in- 
cluded in it were hung up in the Forum, and a reward of 
50,000 sesterces was offered for each head ; it was made a 
capital offence to harbor or save any of the proscrihed. 
The j)roperties of all in the proscription lists were declared 
forfeit, and their children and grandchildren incapable of 
holding office in the state. 

In the present state of morals at Rome the effect of this 
proscription may be easily conceived. Men were fallen on 
and butchered in the face of day in the streets and in the 
temples, and their heads cut off and brought before the 
tribunal of Sulla. Sons might be seen bearing the gorv 
visages of their fathers, brothers those of their brothers 
slaves those of their masters : wives closed their door* 
against their own husbands. 

Fresh lists soon appeared ; some made interest with Sul^'" 
to have their private enemies proscribed, others those who*^ 
houses or lands they coveted. Q,. Aurelius, a quiet mai* 

* Appian sajs he then proscribed 40 senators and 1600 knights. 



DICTATORSHIP AND LAWS OF STTI^LA. 349 

who had abstained from politics, reading the proscription 
list one day in the Forum, saw his own name in it. " Alas ! '" 
cried he, " my Alban estate has ruined me," and he had 
gone but a few steps when he was followed and slain. L. 
Catilina, afterwards so notorious, killed his own brother, 
and then applied to Sulla to have him put in the list. To 
evince his gratitude he soon after slew the prsetor C. Marius 
Gratidianus with great cruelty at the tomb of Catulus, and, 
bringing his head to Sulla as he sat in the Forutn, went 
coolly, before all the people, and washed his hands in 
the holy-water vessel at the adjoining temple of Apollo. 
Sulla himself always presided at the sale of the goods and 
properties of the proscribed, saying that he was selling his 
spoils; and many of his friends, such as his step-son ^milius 
Scaurus, and M. Licinius Crassus, were enabled to acquire 
immense fortunes by their purchases at these sales. 

Sulla's atrocities were not confined to Rome. Murder and 
confiscation spread all through Italy ; the states and towns 
which had aided Cinna, Carbo, or his other foes with men, 
money, or in any other way, were called to a severe reckon- 
ing, their citadels and walls were pulled down, and heavy 
fines or taxes imposed on them. Some, especially in Tus- 
cany, were depopulated, and the houses and lands given to 
his soldiers, for whom he also founded other colonies, and 
thus provided his three-and-twenty legions with lands. 

The great object of Sulla was to break down the democ- 
racy, and to reestablish the ancient aristocratic form of the 
constitution. For this purpose he resolved to revive in his 
own person the dictatorship, which had now been out of use 
one hundred and twenty years. As there were no consuls 
he directed the senate to appoint an interrex : M. Valerius 
Flaccus was chosen, and acting under the directions of Sulla 
he proposed to the people to create him dictator for as long 
a time as might suffice to regulate the city and all Italy, that 
is, to give him the office for as long as he might choose to 
hold it. The people of course voted as required, and Sulla 
now appeared with four-and-twenty lictors and a strong 
guard. He allowed, however, M. Tullius and Cn. Cornelius 
Dobibella to be chosen consuls for the next year. 

Whde Sulla was thus engaged in Italy. Pompeius had 
passed over to Sicily. Perperna, who was in the isHnd, 
quitted it when he landed ; and shortly after Carbo, who was 
cominff thither from Africa, was made a prisoner and led in 
chains before the young general's tribunal. Pompeius, after 
30 



550 . HISTORY OF ROME. 

reproaching him bitterly, ordered him to be executed, though 
Carbo when in power had befriended him and prevented 
his property from being confiscated. Pompeius tlien passed 
over to Africa, and having defeated Cinna's son-in-law 
Domitius, reduced it within forty days. Though he was only 
a knight, and had never been consul or praetor, Sulla allowed 
him to triumph. On this occasion the dictator gave him the 
title of Magnus — Great. 

We will enumerate the principid of the Cornelian laws, as 
those now passed by Sulla were named. First, respcctirjg 
the colleges of priests, the Domitian law was repealed, and 
the right of coiipting their members restored to the sacrer 
colleges; the number of the pontiffs and augurs was raised 
from ten to fifteen. Respecting the mawistracios, no one 
was to be praetor before qurestor, or consul before prmtor; 
twenty qiia>stors to be chosen annually, partly by the people, 
partly by the consuls; in like manner the number ofpr.Ttors 
to be raised from six to eiorht; those who had been tribunes to 
be incapable of the higher offices, and the tribunes not to 
have the power of proposing laws. He restored the judicial 
power to the senators, and prohibited any one from challen- 
ging more than three jurors, and they were to give their ver- 
dict openly or secretly at the option of the accused, ft was 
also forbidden to any governor to go out of his province or 
to make war without the consent of the senate and people. 
The laws against extortion in the provinces were made more 
strict, it being Sulla's wish to attach the provincials to the 
government. Sumptuary and other laws relating to morals 
were passed ; in that against assassins especial care was taken 
to exempt those who had murdered the proscribed. As the 
senate wns now greatly reduced, Sulla augmented it by 
three hundred members from the equestrian order, each of 
them beincr chosen by tlie comitia of the tribes. He also 
selected ten thousand of the slaves of the proscribed, to 
whom he gave their liborty, and enrolled them in the tribes 
under the nante of Cornelians. These men were therefore 
always at his devotion, and his old soldiers were ready to 
appear when summoned, so that he was under no apprehen- 
sion for his power. 

Sulla showed in the case ofL. Lucretius Ofella that he 
\vould have his laws obeyed, for when he saw him suing 
for the consulate without havinjj been quaestor or praetor, he 
Bent to tell him to desist. Ofella taking no notice of the 
warning, a centurion was despatched to kill him ; and when 



Sulla's death. 35 1 

the people seized the centurion for the murder, and brought 
him before Sulla, he said it was done by his order, 
adding, " A ploughman was one time annoyed by the 
vermin; he stopped the plough twice and shook his coat, and 
when they still bit him he burned the coat not to lose 
his time ; so I advise those who have been twice overcoino 
not to expose themselves the third time to the fire." 

During the first year of his dictatorship (671) Sulla had 
himself and Metellus Pius chosen consuls for the following 
year. In 673, having had P. Servilius and Ap. Claudius 
elected, he, to the surprise of all men, laid down his office 
and retired into private life. The man who had put to death 
ninety senators, fifteen consulars, two thousand six hundred 
knights, besides having driven numbers into exile, and in 
whose struggle for the supremacy one hundred thousand men 
had perished, who had confiscated the property of towns and 
individuals to such an extent as had reduced thousands and 
thousands to beggary and desperation* — that man dismissed 
his lictors, walked alone about the Forum and the streets 
of Rome, calmly offering to account for any of his public 
actions! It is said that one day a young man followed him 
home cursing and reviling him, and that he bore it patiently, 
only saying, " That youth's conduct will teach another not to 
lay down such an office so readily." 

Sulla retired to Cumse, where he employed his time in 
writing his memoirs, in hunting and fishing, and in drink- 
ing and revelling with players and musicians. He was here 
attacked the very next year with the most odious of all dis- 
eases, {morbus pedicularis,) a judgment, one might almost 
say, from heaven on him ; and one day hearing that a magis- 
trate of the adjacent town of Puteoli was putting off the 
payment of a debt to the corporation expecting his death, 
he sent for him to his chamber and had him strangled before 
his eyes. The exertions he made caused him to throw up a 
quantity of blood, and he died that night, in the sixtieth year 
of his age, (674.) 

Though the Cornelian gens had hitherto always inhumed 
their dead, it was Sulla's desire that his body should be burnt, 
lest the impotent vengeance he had exercised on the remains 
of Marius might in a turn of affairs be directed against his 
own. After some opposition on the part of the consul Lepi- 
dus, it was decided by the senate that his corpse should be 

• Appiai, B. C. i 203. 



352 HISTORY OF ROMK. 

conveyed in state to Rome, and be burnt in he Field o. 
Mars. It was carried on a golden bier, hor!<enien and truni 
peters followed it, his old soldiers flocked from all parts to 
attend the procession : they moved in n)ilitary array, standards 
and axes preceding the bier. The priests and vestals, the 
senate, ma:jistrates, and knights, can»e forth to meet it ; more 
than two thousand golden crowns, the gifts of the towns^ 
his legions, and his friends, were borne along; the Roman 
ladies contributed spices in such abundance that larjie figures 
of Sulla and a lictor were formed out of them, in addition to 
two hundred and twenty basketfuls which were to be flung 
on the pyre. The morning being lowering, the corpse was 
not brought out till toward evening ; but when the pyre was 
kindled, a strong breeze sprang up and the corpse was 
rapidly consumed ; an abundant rain then fell and quenched 
the eujbers, so that Sulla's good fortune seemed to attend 
him to the last. 

Sulla composed his own epitaph, the purport of which 
was, that no one had ever exceeded him in serving his 
friends, or in injuring his enemies. He was a man doubt- 
less of great talents, both as a general and a statesman, but 
never did a more ruthless soul animate a human body than 
his ; he was cruel, less from natural ferocity than from a 
calm contempt of human nature. He thoroughly despised 
mankind ; therefore, he was an aristocrat,* and therefoiu 
he ventured to lay down his power, confident that none would 
dare to attack him, and not in reliance on his soldiers or 
his Cornelians, for how could they protect him against the 
dagger of the assassin ? In this contempt of mankind he 
resembled Napoleon, as he also did in his superstitious 
belief in fortune, and in the circumstance of having left the 
world an account of his actions written by himself; but 
Napoleon was incapable of Sulla's cold-blooded cruelty. 

" Lot us not be misunderstood; we mean that a proud man. like 
Sulla, who thinks thus of human nature, will be in general an aristo- 
crat, — not that pride and contempt of mankind are by any means tho 
necessary characteristics of an aristocracy- The demagogue is usually 
of the same way of thinking, but he is mean enough to flatter those 
whom he despises. The honest democrat, on the contrary, is orten a 
man of the most amiable and generous character, and his error is that 
of judging of others by himself. Bias' maxim oi nXciov: xaxoi (* most 
men are bad,' that is. selfish) should always be present to 'Jhe mind of 
a politician, and he should think how they, not how the good, would 
act under any given circumstances. 



SEDITION OV LEPIDUS 353 



CHAPTER V* 

PEDITION or LEPIDUS. SERTORIAN WAR IN SPAIN. — -DEATH 

OF SERTUllIUS, AND END OF THE WAR. SPARTACIAN OR 

GLADIATORIAL WAR. DEFEAT AND DEATH OF SPARTA- 

CUS. CONSULATE OF POMPEIUS AND CRASSUS. PIRATIC 

WAR. REDUCTION OF CRETE. 

The consuls of the year in which Sulla died were Q, 
Lutatius Catulus of the Sullian, and M. ^milius Lepidus 
of the Marian party ; the latter liad been chosen through the 
influence of Pompeius, contrary to the opinion of Sulla, 
who warned him of the consequences of what he had done. 
Events proved the dictator's foresight, for no sooner was the 
funeral over than Lepidus proposed a law to recall the pro- 
scribed, and to rescind all the acts of Sulla. The first 
measure seems but barely just, yet it would in fact have been 
a renewal of the civH war. The senate, therefore, headed 
by Catulus, the best man of his time, opposed it. Lepidus 
retired into Etruria, and drew together an army of the pro- 
scribed and others; and the senate, to prevent a conflict, 
gave him Cisalpine Gaul as his province. But at the end of 
his year Lepidus, leaving M. Junius Brutus in charge of 
Gaul, led his troops toward Rome, demanding the consulate 
H second time. He was declared an enemy ; Catulus headed 
an army to oppose him, while Pompeius was sent into Gaul 
against Brutus. Lepidus was defeated in a battle near the 
Mulvian bridge, and driven into Etruria, where he was 
routed a second time : he then fled to Sardinia. Pompeius 
meantime had reduced Cisalpine Gaul, but his conduct to 
Brutus on this occasion was a great stain on his character. 
Brutus had surrendered, and by his direction had retired to 
a town on the Po : the next day there came a man named 
Geminius, sent by Pompeius, who put him to death. Lepi- 
dus died shortly after he reached Sardinia, and the remains 
of his army were led into Spain by Perperna. 

The Marian cause was however not yet despaired of, for 
Sertorius, a man of first-rate talent, still upheld it in Spain. 
After the ruin of the cause in Italy, through the folly of the 

• Appian, B. C. i. 107—121. Velleius, ii. 29—32. Dion, xxxvi 
1—27. Plutarch, Sertorius, Pompeius, and Crassus. 

30* sa 



354 HISTORY OT ROME. 

consul Scipio, Sertorius, whose advice he would not follow, 
set out with all haste for Spain, of which he had been ap- 
]vuiuU!tl praetor. He exerted himself to gain the affections 
of the people by justice and affability, and by the leduction 
of the tributes; and, knowing that Sulla would soon pursue 
him, he despatched a force of six thousand men to guard the 
Pyrenees ; but treachery aided C. Aiuiius, whom Sulla sent 
as proconsul (<>71) to Spain, and Sertorius, unable to main- 
tain himself there, passed over to Africa, where, aiding one 
of the native princes, he defeated and killed Paccianus, one 
of Sulla's officers. While considering what further course 
he should take, he was invited by the Lusitanians to come 
and be their leader against the troops of Sulla. He gladly 
accepted the command ; and, uniting in himself the talents 
of a Viriathus and of a Roman general, equally adapted for 
the irueri/la and the regular warfare, he speedily routed all 
the Roman commanders, and made himself master of the 
country south of the Ebro. lie did not disdain having 
recourse to art to establish his influence over the natives. 
Having been presented by a hunter with a milk-white fawn, 
he tamed it so that it would come when called, and heeded 
not the noise and tumult of the camp, and he pretended that 
it had been a gift of a deity to him, and was inspired, and 
revealed <listanl or future events. He trained his Spanish 
troops afier the Roman manner^ and, having collected the 
children of the principal persons into the town of Osca, 
(Huesca,) he had them instructed in Greek and Latin litera- 
ture, that they might be fit for offices of state, though he had 
in this a further object in view, namely, that thoy should be 
hostages for the fidelity of their parents. So many Romans 
of the Marian party had repaired to him, that he formed a 
senate of three hundred members, which he called the real 
senate, in opposition to that of Sulla. Though his troops 
were mostly all Spaniards, he gave the chief connnands to 
the Rofnans : yet he did not thereby lose the affections of 
the natives. 

The fame of Sertorius reached the ears of Mithridates, 
who was now again at war with the Romans, and he sent to 
liim to propose an alliance, on condition of all the country 
which he had been obliged to surrender being restored to 
him. Sertorius, having assembled his senate, replied, that 
Mithridates might, if he pleased, occupy Cappadocia and 
Bithynia, but that he could not allow him to hold the Roman 
province. " What would he not impose," said the king, 



SERTORIAN WAU IN SPAIi?. 



" if sitting in Rome, when, thus driven to the edge of th6 
Atlantic, he sets limits to my kingdom, and menaces me 
with war?" The alliance however was concluded, hut it 
came to nought. 

Sulla had committed the war in Spain to Metellus Pius , 
but Metellus, being only used to regular warfare, was quite 
perplexed by the irregular system adopted by Sertorius, and 
he was so hard pressed at the time of the fall of Lepidus, 
that Pompeius, with the consent of the senate, led his army 
to his aid, (676.) Sertorius at the same fime received an 
accession of force, for Perperna having passed over to Spain 
with fifty-three cohorts, thinking to carry on the war inde- 
pendently, his men forced him to join Sertorius. 

The fame of Pompeius' was so great, that when it was 
known that he was entering Spain several towns declared for 
him. Sertorius laid siege to one of these towns ; Pompeius 
came to its relief; he was preparing to occupy an adjacent 
hill, but Sertorius anticipated him. Thinking then that he 
had Sertorius in a trap between his army and the town, : • 

Pompeius sent in to tell the people to mount their walls and ■ 

see Sertorius besieged. Sertorius, when he heard this, j 

laughed, and said he would teach Sulla's pupil that a general j 

should look behind as well as before, and pointed to six ; 

thousand men he had left in his camp. Pompeius feared to i 

stir ; the town surrendered before his face, and Sertorius | 

burned it, to prove how little able Pompeius was to aid | 

revolters. | 

At a place named Sucro, (Xucar,) he gave Pompeius I 

battle, selecting the evening, as the night would be against | ( 

the enemy, who knew not the country, whether victors or ' 

vanquished. He drove back the wing opposed to him under 1 ( 

L. Afraiiius, then sped away to the other, where Pompeius | 

was gaining the advantage, and defeated him. Finding that | 

Afranius had penetrated to his camp and was plundering it, i 

he came and drove off his troops with great loss. Next day 
he offered battle again ; but just then Metellus came up. ! 

" If that old woman * had not come," sai|d he, " I should i 

'M]o \o i<i(ifk,>R ailt ii I 

* Metellus was not more tHah fifty-sii years of age, but he had 

g'iven himself up to luxurious habits, and had grown very corpulent. ' 

He was an amiable man. When Calidius, who had been the means j 
of recalling his father, stood for the prfetorship, Metellus canvassed for 

him, and, tliough consul, styled him his patron and the protector of i 

his family. (Cicero, Plancus.) ! 



356 HISTOBt ^F ROME. 

have whipped this boy well, and sent him back to Rome.' 
He then retired. 

Sertorius eventually reduced his opponents to such straits 
that it was appreliended he would even invade Italy. Pom- 
peiu3 wrote word, tlmt, unless supplied with money from 
home, he could not stand ; Metellus ofi'ered a large reward 
for Sertorius' head ; and envy and treachery at length re- 
lieved them from all their fears. Perperna had all along 
iMjen jealous of Sertorius' superiority ; he did his Uitmost to 
alienate the affections of the Spaniards from him by exer- 
cising severities in his name, and he organized a conspiracy 
against him among the Romans. He finally invited him to 
a fea^t at Osca, and there he was fallen on and murdered, 
(G80.) Perperna hoped to Ik; able to take his place, but 
the Spaniards, having no confidence in him, submitted to 
Ponjj)eius and Metellus ; and, venturing to give battle with 
the troops he had remaining, he was defeated and taken. 
He had found among the papers of Sertorius letters from 
several of the leading n)en at Rome, inviting him to invade 
Italy, and these he offered to Pompoius to save his life ; but 
Pompeius nobly and wiselv had these and all Sertorius' 
other papers burnt, without beinrr read by himself or any 
one else, and he put Perperna to death without delay, lest 
he should mention names, and thus give occasion to new 
commotions. 

Thus, after a continuance of eight years, terminated the 
war in Spain. Meantime Italy was the scene of a contest 
of a most sanguinary and atrocious character. 

We have already related what an enormous slave-popula- 
tion there was in Italy, and how hardly the slaves were 
treated by their masters. The passion of the Roman people 
for the combats of gladiators had increased to such an extent, 
that it was become a kind of trade to train gladiators in 
schools, and hire them out to a;diles, and all who wished to 
gratify the people with their combats ; and .stout, strong 
slaves were purchased for this j)urpose. The cheapness of 
provisions in Campania made it a great seat of these schools, 
and here those in the school of one Lentulus Ratuatus, at 
Capua, resolved (679) to break out. and, if they could not 
escape to their homes, to die fighting for their liberty, rather 
tlian slaughter one another for the gratification of a ferocious 
populace. Their plot was betrayed, but upwards of seventy 
got out, and, arming themselves with spits and cleavers from 
the adjoining cook-shops, they broke open other schools, and 



SPARTACIAN OR GLADI.lTOltlAL WAR. 351 

I 
I 

freed those who were in them. Near the town they met a • 

wagon laden with arms for the use of the schools in other i 

towns; and, having thus armed themselves, they took a i 

strong position on Mount Vesuvius. Here they were joined ' 

by great numbers of slaves, and they routed the troops sent \ 

from Capua to attack them, and got possession of their arms. { 

The chief command was given to Spartacus, a Thracian by | 

birth, who had served in the Roman army, though he had | 

been afterwards reduced to slavery ; and under him were ( 

two other gladiators, Crixus and CKnomaiJs. \ 

The praetor Claudius Pulcher was now sent against them < 

with 3000 men. He forced them to retire to the summit of t 

a steep hill, which had but one narrow approach. This he ;' 

guarded straitly; but they made themselves ladders of the \ 

branches of the wild vine, with which the hill was overgrown, 
and let themselves down on the other side, and then suddenly ' 

fell on and routed the troops of the praetor. Spartacus was \ 

now joined by vast numbers of the slaves who were employed ( 

as herdsmen. He armed them with such weapons as fortune 
offered, and he spread his ravages over all Campania and 
Lucania, plundering towns, villages, and country-houses. 
He defeated the prsetor P. Varinius, his legate Furius, and 
his colleague Coscinius : but, aware that they would not 
eventually be able to resist the disciplined troops of Rome, 
Spartacus proposed that they should march for the Alps, 
and, if they reached them, then disperse and seek their 
native countries. This prudent plan was rejected by the 
slaves, who, as they were now forty thousand strong, looked 
forward to the plunder of Italy. The senate meantinie, 
aware of the importance which the war was assuming, di- 
rected (680) the consuls L. Gellius and Cn. Lentulus to take 
the field against them. Tlie praetor Arrius engaging Crixus 
(who, with the Germans, had separated from Spartacus) in 
Apulia, killed him and twenty thousand of his men ; but he 
was soon after himself defeated by Spartacus, as also were 
both the consuls. Spartacus was now preparing to march 
against Rome at the head of 120,000 men; but, as the 
consuls had posted themselves in Picenum to oppose him, 
he gave up his design and fell back to Thurii, which he 
made his head-quarters. 

The war against Spartacus had lasted nearly three years, 
the hopes of the Romans were in the prjctor M. Liciniug 
Crassus, to whom it was now committed, (681.) Six legions 
*ere raised, to which he joined those of the consuls which 



1 I 



358 HISTORY OF ROMS. 

had fought so ill, having previously decimated a part of 
them. Spar.acus retired, on the approach of Crassus, to the 
point of Rhegium, where he agreed witli some Cilician pi- 
rates to transport hira and his men over to Sicily, hoping to 
[ be able to rouse tlie slaves there again to arms. The pirates 

j agreed, took the money, and then sailed away, leaving them 

; to their fate. Crassus, to prevent all escape, ran a ditch 

and wall across from sea to sea at the neck of the peninsula 
of iiruttium ; but Spartacus, taking advantage of a dark, 
; stormy night, made his way over the rampart. A body of 

1 Gauls or Germans which separated from him was defeated 

j by Crassus, who soon after gave Spartacus himself a signal 

j defeat ; but the gladiator in his turn routed the qucestor and 

I legate of Crassus. The confidence which this advantage 

; gave the slaves caused their ruin ; for they would not obey 

[ their leader and continue a desultory war, but insisted on 

j being led against the Romans. Crassus on his part was 

I equally anxious for a battle, as Pompeius, who, at his desire, 

j had been recalled by the senate, was now on his way, proba- 

' bly to rob him of the glory of ending the war. The slaves 

j were so eager for the combat that they attacked as he was 

j pitching his camp. A general engagement ensued : Spar- 

tacus fell fighting like a hero, and his whole army was cut 
to pieces : about six thousand who were taken were hung by 
I Crassus from the trees along the road from Capua to Rome. 

j Pompeius, however, came in for some share of the glory, 

j for he met and destroyed a body of five thousand who were 

j endeavoring to make their way to the Alps. Tlie Servile 

I War, in which it is said sixty thousand slaves perished, thus 

. terminated. Pompeius and Meteliua triumplied for their 

I successes in Spain : Crassus, on account of the mean con- 

idition of his foes, only sought the honor of an ovation. 
The enormous wealth of Crassus, and his eloquence, gave 
j him great influence in tht state, and he was one of the chief 

j props of the aristocracy ; Ponipeius on the other hand 

j sought the favor of the people, whose idol he soon became. 

{ Both now stood for the consulate. Pompeius, though he 

I had borne no previous office, as the Cornelian law r'equired, 

1 and was several years under the legitimate age of forty-two 

years, was certain of his election : while Crassus could oidy 
succeed by Pompeius asking it for him as a favor to him- 
self. They were both chosen, but their year (682) passed 
{ away in strife and contention. Before they went out of 

office the people insisted on their becoming friends , and 



PIRATIC WAR. 359 

Crassus ileclaring that he did not. thu',ji ii unbecoming in 

him to make the first advances lo one on whom senate and 

people had bestowed such honors at so early an age, they 

shook hands in presence of the people, and never agani were 

at open enmity. In this consulate the tribunes were restored 

to all the rights and powers of which Sulla had deprived 

them ; the measure proceeded from Pompeius with a view to 

popular favor. With his consent also the praetor L. Aurelius I j 

Cotta put the judicial power into the hands of the senators, | j 

knights, and the aerarian tribunes;* for the senators alone || 

had shown themselves as corrupt as ever, and the knights, j | 

while the right had been exclusively theirs, had been no bet- \ 

ter. It was hoped that three separate verdicts might be more | I 

favorable to justice. | I 

Crassus now returned to his money-bags, and was wholly I 

occupied in augmenting his already enormous wealth. Pom- | 

peius, whose passion was glory, kept rather out of the public 1 1 

view, rarely entering the Forum, and when he did visit it i ' 

bemg environed by a host of friends and clients. At length i 

the alarming extent to which the pirates of Cilicia now | 

carried their depredations gave him another opportunity of f 

exercising extensive military command. | 

From the most remote ages piracy had been practised in I 

various parts of the Mediterranean sea. The Athenians, in | 

the days of their might, had kept it down in the ^Egean ; | 

the Rhodians had followed their example ; but when their | 

naval power had been reduced by the Romans, the Cili- i 

cians, who had been encouraged in piracy by the kings of f' 

Egypt and Syria in their contests with each other, carried | 

on the system to an extent hitherto unparalleled. Not only | 

did private persons join in this profitable trade, but whole j 

towns and islands shared in it. The slave-market at Delos | 

was abundantly supplied by the pirates; the temples of | 

Samothrace, Claros, and other renowned sanctuaries were \ 

plundered ; towns on the coasts were taken and sacked ; i 

the piratic fleets penetrated to the straits of Gades. They I 

landed in Italy, and carried off the Roman magistrates and | 

the senators and their families, whom they set at heavy | 

ransoms. They even had the audacity to make an attack on | 

the port of Ostia: the corn-fleets destined for Rciie were j 

mtercepted. and famine menaced the city. j 

* These were wealthy plebeians, to whom the quaestors i^ued the 
pay of the soldiers. *i iiil*. .LjUJji 



3(50 HISTORY OF KOME. 

Fleets and troops had at various times been sent agiinst 
the pirates to no efTcct. In G74 P. Servilius put to sea with 
a strong fleet, and having routed their squadrons of light 
vessels, took several of their towns on the coast of Lycia, 
and reduced the country of Isauria, (077,) whence he gained 
the title o( Isauricus. But he had hardly triumphed when the 
sea was again covered with swarms of pirates. The prajtor 
M. Antonius (678) was then sent against them, with most 
extensive powers ; but he effected nothing ; their depreda- 
tions became as numerous as ever, and they even laid siege 
to tiie city of Syracuse. In this state of things the tribune 
A. Gabinius, (tiSo,) either moved by Pompeius or hoping 
thereby to gain his favor, proposed that to one of the con- 
sulars should be given the command against the pirates, 
with absolute power for three years over the whole sea and 
the coasts to a distance of fifty miles inland, and authority 
to make levies and take money for the war out of the treas- 
ury and from the publicans in the provinces, and to raise 
what number of men he pleased. Though no one was 
named, all knew who was meant. The aristocratic party ex- 
erted themselves to the utmost against the law. Gabinius 
was near being killed in the senate-house : the people would 
then have massacred the senate, but they fled ; the consul C. 
Calpurnius Piso was indebted to Gabinius for his life. When 
the day for voting came, Pompeius spoke, affecting to de- 
cline the invidious honor; but Gabinius, as of course had 
been arranged, called on the people to elect him, and on him 
to obey the voice of his country. The tribunes Trebellius 
and L. Roscius attempted to interpose, but, like Tib. Gracchus, 
Gabinius put it to the vote to deprive Trebellius of his of- 
fice : when seventeen tribes had voted, Trebellius gave over. 
Roscius, as he could not be heard, hold up two fingers, to 
intimate that he proposed that two persons should be aj)- 
pointed ; but such a shout of disapprobation was raised that 
it is said a crow flying over the Forum fell down stunned. 
Catulus, the chief of the senate, being present, Gabinius 
called on him to speak, expecting that he would take warn- 
ing by the fate of the tribune, and not oppose the law. The 
people listened in respectful silence while he argued against 
it ; and when, in conclusion, having extolled Pompeius, he 
asked them whom, if any thing should happen to him, 
they would put in his place, the whole assembly cried out. 
" Thyself, Q,. Catulus ! " Finding further opposition useless, 
he retired, and the law was passed. Pompeius, who had 



PIRATIC WAR. ^1 

left the town, returned in the night, and next day he called 
an assembly, and had various additions made to the law, 
which nearly doubled the force he was to have, giving him 
500 slHps, 120,000 foot and 5000 horse, with 24 senators 
to command as legates under him.' Such was the general 
confidence in his talents and fortune, that the prices of corn 
and bread fell at once to their usual level. 

Pompeius lost no time in making all the needful arrange- 
ments. He placed his legates with divisions of ships and 
troops along all the coasts from the straits of Gades to the 
iEgean ; and in the space of a few months the pirates were 
destroyed, or forced to take refuge in their strongholds in 
Cilicia. He sailed thither with a fleet in person, and the 
reputation of his clemency making them deem it their safest 
course to submit, they surrendered themselves, their strong- 
holds, their ships, and stores ; and thus, in forty-nine days 
after his departure from Brundisium, Pompeius termniated 
the Piratic War. The pirates were not deceived in their ex- 
pectations : he placed them as colonists in Soli, Adana, and 
other towns of Cilicia which had been depopulated by Ti- 
granes ; and even Dyme, in Achaia, received a portion of 
them to cultivate its territory, which was lying waste. 

In this year also the island of Crete was reduced. The 
Cretans, who appear so contemptible in Grecian history that 
one hardly knows how to give credit to the greatness of their 
Minos in the mythic ages, had of late become of rather more 
importance. M. Antonius, when he was sent against the 
pirates, hoping to acquire plunder and fame in Crete, ac- 
cused the Cretans, probably with justice, of being connected 
with them, and proceeded to invade the island ; but he was 
repulsed with disgrace. The Cretans, knowing that a storm 
would burst on them from Rome, tried to avert it by an 
embassy, laying all the blame on Antonius ; but the terms 
offered by the senate were such as were beyond their power 
to fulfil, and they had to prepare for war. The proconsul 
Q,. Metell us invaded their island, (683:) under two chiefs 
named Lasthenes and Panares they held out bravely foi 
two years. The war was one of extermination on the part 
of Metellus, who wasted the whole island with fire and 
sword; and, having at length reduced it, gained the horioi 
of a triumph, and the title of Creiicus, (685.) 

31 TT 



.^62 UISTORT OF ROME. 



CHAPTER VI.» 

SECOND MITHRIDATIC WAR. — THIRD MITHRIDATIC WAR — 
VICTORIES OF LUCULLUS. HIS JUSTICK TO THE PROVIN- 
CIALS. WAR WITH TIGRANES. DKFEAT OF TIURANES. 

TAKING OP TIGRANOCEUTA. INVASION OF ARMENIA. DE- 
FEAT OF A ROMAN ARMY. INTRIGUES OF I.l.'fUM.ts' ENE- 
MIES AT RUMi: MANILIAN LAW. I'OMl'EIUS IN ASIA. 

DEFEAT OF MITHRIDATES. POMPEIL'S IN ARMENIA : IN 

f. ALBANIA AND lUERIA : IN SYRIA AND THE HOLY LAND. 

DEATH OF MITHRIDATES. RETURN AND TRIUMPH OP 

POMPEiUS. 

While the Roman arms were occupied in Europe by the 
Sertoriaii and the other wars above related, the contest with 
Mithridates for the dominion of Asia still continued. 

Sulla had left as propraetor in Asia L. Licinius Murena. 
with P^iinbria s two legions under him. As was the usua) 
practice, Murena, in hopes of a triumph, tried to stir up a 
war. Archelaus, who had fled to him when he found him- 
self suspected by his master, furnishing him with pretexts, 
he invaded the territories of Mithridates, who, instead of 
having recourse to arms, sent an embassy to Rome to com- 
plain, and Q. Calidius came out with orders to Murena to 
desist from attacking a king with whom there was a treaty. 
After a private conference with Calidius, however, Murena 
took no notice of (he public order; and then Mithridates, 
finding that negotiation was of no use, took the field against 
him, and forced him to retire into Phrygia. Sulla, displeased 
at seeing the treaty he had made thus despised, sent out 
A. Gabinius with orders in earnest to Murena, and thus the 
war ended for the present. Murena had the honor of a 
triumph, but how merited it is not easy to see. 

Mithridates was well aware that he would soon be at 
war again ; and he found the period after the death of Sulla 
30 favorable, while the Roman arms were engaged in so 
many quarters, that he resolved to be the aggressor. At his 
impulsion his son-in-law Tigranes, of Armenia, invaded 
Cappadocia, and swept away three hundred thousand of its 

* Appian, Mithridatica, 64 to the end. Dion,- xxxvi. 28 to the end ; 
zzxvii. 1 — 23. Plut., LucuUus and Pompeius. 



THIRD MITHBIDATIC WAR. 363 

inhabitants, whom he sent to people the city of Tigranoeerta, 
which he had lately built. Mithridates himself invaded 
Bithynia, which its last king, Nicomedes II., dying without 
heirs, (678,) had left to the Roman people. 

The Pontic i^iionarch, knowing the contest in which he 
was now to engage to be for his very existence, made all 
the preparations calculated to insure its success. He sent 
to Spain and formed an alliance with Sertorius ; he also 
made alliances with all the peoples round the Euxine ; du- 
ring eighteen months he had timber felled in the forests of 
Pontus, and ships of war built ; he hired able seamen in 
Phoenicia, and laid up magazines of corn in the towns of 
the coast ; he armed and disciplined his troops in the Roman 
mahner ; and his army, we are told, amounted to 120,000 
foot, 16,000 horse, with 100 scythed chariots. Still these 
troops were Asiatics, and little able to cope with the legions 
of Rome. 

.,,;The war against Mithridates was committed to the con- 
suls of the year, (678,) M. Aurelius Cotta and L. Licinius Lu- 
cuUus, the latter of whom had been Sulla's qunestor in the 
first war. Cotta was soon driven by Mithridates out of his 
province, Bithynia, and he was besieged in Chalcedon. 
When Lucullus came out, he brought with him one legion 
from Rome, which, joined with the two Fimbrian and two 
others already there, gave him a force of thirty thousand 
foot and sixteen hundred horse. Mithridates, being forced 
by him to raise the siege of Chalcedon, led his troops 
against Cyzicus, a town lying in an island joined by two 
bridges to the main land. Lucullus followed him thither, 
and Mithridates, (by the treacherous advice of one of the 
Romans sent him by Sertorius, who assured him that the 
Fimbrian legions which had served under that general 
would desert,) let him without opposition occupy a hill, 
which enabled him to cut off his communication with the 
interior, so that he must get all his supplies by sea, and the 
winter was now at hand. 

The defence of the Cyzicenes was most heroic ; mounds, 
mines, rams, towers, and all the modes of attack then 
known were employed against them in vain. Mithridates, 
finding his cavalry useless, and that it was suffering from 
want of forage, sent away it and the beasts of burden, but 
Lucullus fell on it at the passage of the Ryndacr.s, killed 
a part, and took 15,000 men and 6000 horses with all the 
beasts of burden. A storm now came on and shattered 



364 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Mithridatcs' fleet; all the horrors of famine .vere felt in his 
camp; still he persevered, lioping to take the town. At 
length he got on shipboard by night, leaving his army to 
make the best of its way to Lampsacus. It reached the river 
^sepue ; but while it was crossing that stream, which was 
now greatly swollen, the Romans came up and routed it with 
the loss of '20, 000 men, (679.) 

A tremendous storm assailed and shattered the fleet of 
Mithridates, and he himself escaped with difficulty to Nico- 
media, whence he sent envoys and money on all sides to 
raise new troops, and to induce Tigranes and other princes 
to give him aid. Meantime Lucullus, having overcome in 
the yEgean a Pontic fleet which was sailing to aid Sparta- 
cus, advanced and entered Mithridates' paternal dorninions, 
where the plunder was so abundant that a slave was sold for 
four drachmas and an ox for one. This however did not 
content the troops, thoy longed for the pillage of some weal- 
thy city, and loudly blamed their general for receiving the 
submission of tiie towns. To gratify them Lucullus formed 
the siege of Amisus and Themi<cj*ra ; but these towns made 
a stout defence, and Mithridates, who was at Ca!*ira, sent 
them abundant supplies of men, arms, and provisions. 

The.se sieges lasted through tlie winter. In the spring 
(680) Lucullus, leaving Murena before Amisus, advanced 
against Mithridates. As the king was so superior in cavalry, 
he kept along the hills, and finding a hunter in a cave, made 
him guide him till he #ame close to Cabrra ; he there en 
camped in a strong position, where he could not be forced 
to fight. As Lucullus drew his supplies from Cappadocia, 
the king, hoping by cutting them off" to reduce him to ex- 
tremity, sent his cavalry to intercept the convoys ; but his 
officers were so unskilful as to make their attacks in the nar- 
row passes instead of in the plains, where the superiority of 
their cavalry would be decisive ; and the consequence was, 
that they were completely defeated, and but a small portion 
of their troops reached the camp. Mithridates, having lost 
his cavalry, in which his strength lay, resolved to fly that 
very night. He summoned his friends to his lent, and in- 
formed them of his design : they immediately ihougltt only 
of saving their property, and were sending it off* on beasts of 
burden. But the number of these was so great that they 
impeded one another in the gates ; the noise called the at- 
tention of the soldiers, who finding themselves thus about to 
b« abandoned, in their anger and terror began at once to 



WAR WITH TIGRANES. 365 

pull down the rampart and to fly in all directions. Mitliri- 
dates vainly endeavored to restrain them ; he was obliged to 
join in the flight. Lucullus sent his horse in pursuit, and 
leading his inl'autry against the camp, gave orders to aljstain 
from plunder and to slay vvithout mercy ; but the former 
command was little heeded by the greedy soldiery, and the 
king himself escaped captivity through the cupidity of his 
pursuers, who stopped to divide the gold with which a mule 
was laden. He reached Comana, whence he repaired to 
Tigraiies, having sent the eunuch Bacchus to put all the 
women of his harem to death, lest they should fall into the 
hands of the Romans. 

Lucullus having sent his brother-in-law P. Clodius to Ti- 
granes to demand the surrender of Mithridates, proceeded 
(681) to reduce the Pontic towns and fortresses. Many 
surrendered ; Amisus, Heraclea, and others were taken; and 
Mithridates' son, Machares king of Bosporus, was received 
into friendship and alliance. The wretched condition of the 
people of the province of Asia next claimed the attention of 
Lucullus, for they were ground to the dust by the avarice 
and oppression of the Roman usurers and publicans. The 
fine of 20,000 talents imposed by Sulla had by addition of 
interest upon interest been raised to the enormous sum of 
120,000 talents; they were obliged to sell the ornaments of 
their temples and public places, nay, it is added, their very 
sons and daughters, to satisfy their remorseless creditors. 
The remedies devised by Lucullus were simple, just, and 
efficacioiis ; he forbade more than twelve per cent, interest 
to be paid, cut off" the portion of interest due above the 
amount of the capital, assigned the creditor a fourth part of 
the debtor's income, and deprived him who charged com- 
pound interest of both capital and interest. In four years 
all incumbrances were cleared off" and the provincials out of 
debt! But great was the indignation of the worshipful 
company of knights, who farmed the revenues and lent out 
money ; they considered themselves treated with the utmost 
injustice, and they hired the demagogues at Rome to attack 
and abuse Lucullus, and at length succeeded in depriving 
him of his command ; but he had the blessings of the pro- 
vincials and the good-will of all honest men. 

P. Glodius had to go as far as Antioch on the Orontes, 
and there to wait the arrival of Tigranes, who was in Phoe- 
nicia. While there he held secret communication with 
uiuny of tbj towns subject to that monarch, and received 
31 * 



366 HISTORY OF HOME. 

their assurances of revolt when Lucullus should ippear. 
When admitted (GS2) to an audience with the k ng, lie 
rudely desired him to surrender Mitliridates, or else to pre- 
pare tor war. The offended despot set the Romans at defi- 
ance, and Clodius departed. Lucullus then returned to 
Pontu.-*, and laid siege to and took the city ofSinope, (083;) 
and leaving one legion under Sornatius to keep possession 
of the country, he set out himself with two legions and five 
hundred horse to make war on the potent king of Armenia. 
He reached the Euphrates, and having passed it advanced 
to the Tigris unopposed ; then turning northwards he en- 
tered the mountains, directing his course for Tigranocerta. 
Meantime Tigranes was ignorant of the approach of the 
Romans, for, as he had cut off the head of the first who 
brought him tidings of it, as a spreader of false alarms, all 
others were deterred. At length Mithrobarzanes, one of his 
friends, venturing to assure him of the fact, he was ordered 
to take a body of horse and ride down the Romans, and to 
bring their leader captive; Mithrobarzanes, however, was 
defeated and slain, and Lucullus laid siege to Tigranocerta. 
Tigranes, finding the danger so near, summoned troops 
from all parts of his empire, and^ assembled an immense 
army, containing, it is said, 150,000 heavy and 20,000 light 
infantry, 55,000 horse, of which 17,000 were in full armor, 
and 35,000 pioneers, and advanced to the relief of his capi- 
tal. Mitliridates and his general Taxiles, who knew by 
experience how ill suited Asiatic troops were to cope with 
Europjuans, strongly urged Tigranes not to risk a general 
engasjemeut, but to cut off the supplies, and thus reduce the 
Romans by famine. But the despot laughed these prudent 
counsels to scorn, .md descended into the plain ; and when 
he saw the small appearance of the Roman army, he cried, 
" If they are come as ambassadors they are too many, if as 
enemies too few." Never, however, was defeat more deci- 
sive than that of the Armenian king; he himself was one 
of the first to Ay : the earth for miles was covered with the 
slain and with spoils, and the Romans declared themselves 
ashamed of having employed their arms against such cow- 
ardly slaves. Lucullus gave all the booty to his soldiers, and 
then resumed the siege of Tigranocerta, which its mingled 
population, who had been dragged from their homes to peo- 
ple it, gladly put into his hands. Having taken possession 
of the royal treasures for himself, he gave his soldiers per- 
mission to pillage the town, and he aflerwards gave them a 



INVASION DF ARMENIA. 367 

donation of 800 drachmas a man. The inhabitants of Ti- 
graiiocerta were allowed to return to their respective coun- 
tries. 

The fame of the justice and moderation of Lucullus 
caused several of the native princes to declare for him, (0S4,) 
and even the Parthian king sent an embassy to propose an 
alliance ; but Lucullus, having discovered that he was dealing 
double, being at the same time in treaty with Tigranes, 
resolved to make war on him, and thus perhaps acquire the 
glory of having overcome the three greatest monarclis in the 
world. He sent to Sornatius, desiring him to join him with 
the troops from Pontus ; but these positively refused to 
march ; and Lucullus' own army, hearing of their refusal, 
applauded their conduct and followed their example. Lu- 
cullus, thus forced to give up all hopes of glory from a Par- 
thian war, as it was now midsummer, invaded Armenia anew ; 
but, when he had crossed the ridges of Taurus, and entered 
on the plains, he was greatly dismayed to find the corn still 
green in that elevated land. He however obtained a suffi- 
cient supply in the villages, and, having vainly offered battle 
to the troops of Tigranes, he advanced to lay siege to Ar- 
taxata, the former capital of Armenia. As Tigranes' harem 
was in that city, he could not calmly see it invested, and he 
gave Lucullus battle on the road to it; but skill and disci- 
pline triumphed as usual over numbers, and he sustained a 
total defeat. Lucullus was desirous of following up his suc- 
cess and conquering the whole country, but it was now the 
autumnal equinox, and the snow began already to fall ; the 
rivers were frozen and difficult to cross, and the soldiers 
having advanced for a few days mutinied and refused to go 
any further. He implored them to remain till they had taken 
Artaxata ; but finding his entreaties to no purpose he evac- 
uated the country, and, entering Mygdonia, besieged and 
stormed the wealthy city of Nisibis. 

Here ended the glory of Lucullus : he was disliked by his 
whole army ; his extreme pride disgusted his officers ; the 
soldiers hated him for the rigorous discipline which he main- 
tained, and his want of affability ; his having appropriated to 
himself so much of th« spoils of Tigranocerta and other 
places was another cause of discontent ; and his own brother- 
in-law, Ciodius, mortified at not being made more of than 
he was, added continual fuel to the flame, especially address- 
hig himself to those who had served under Fimbria. 

Meantime Mithridates had returned to Pontus, where he 



368 HISTORY OF ROME. 

attacked and defeated Fabius, who commanded there, ar»c 
shut hiin up in Cabira. Triarius, who was on his way from 
tlie province to join Lucullus, came to tlie relief of Fabiua 
and drove off Mithridiites, wiiom he followed to Coniagena, 
where he gave him a defeat. Both sides now retired to 
winter quarters. In the spring (685) Mitliridates, knowing 
that Triarius had sent to summon Lucullus from Ni.sibis to 
his aid, did his utmost to bring on an action before he should 
arrive : for this purpose he despatched a part of his army to 
attack a fortress named Dadasa, where the baggage of the 
Romans lay. The soldiers, fearing the loss of their prop- 
erly, forced Triarius to lead them out. Before they had 
time to form, the barbarians assailed them on all sidc.'^, and 
they would have been utterly destroyed, but that one of them, 
feigning to be one of Mitliridates' soldiers, went up to him 
and gave him a wound in the thigh. He was instantly slain, 
but the confusion caused by the danger of the king enabled 
many of the Romans to escape. Their loss however is 
stated at seven thousand men, among whom were twenty- 
four tribunes and one hundred and fifty centurions. It was 
rare indeed for the Romans to lose so many officers since the 
days of Hannibal. 

Lucullus' enemies at Rome were meantime not idle: they 
loudly accused him of protracting the war from ambition and 
avarice, and a decree of the people was procured, (080,) under 
the pretext of returning to the old practice of shortening the 
duration of military command, assigning to the consul M. 
Acilius Glabrio the province of Bithynia and Pontus, and di- 
recting that the Fimbrians and the oldest of the troops in Asia 
should have their discharge. Lucullus was encamped oppo- 
site the army of Mithridatcs when the proclamation of Gla- 
brio arrived, announcing that he was deprived of his command, 
giving their discharge to those who were serving under him, 
and menacing with the loss of their property those who did not 
obey the proclamation. The Fimbrian soldiers immediately 
left Lucullus; he could do nothing with those who remained; 
Q,. Marciiis Rex, the consul of the preceding year, who was 
in Cilicia, declined giving him any aid, alleging that his 
troops would not obey him, but probably infiuenced by 
Clo(lius, who was also his brother-in-law, and to whom he 
had given the command of the fleet. Glabrio remained 
inactive in Bithvnia, and the two kings recovered the whole 
of their dominions. 

Such was the state of things in the East when the tribune 



MANILIAN LAW. 369 

C. Manilius, with the private view, it is said,* of gaining the 
favor and protection of Ponipeius, brought in a bill, giving 
him, in addition to the command and the forces he liad 
against the pirates, the conduct of the war against Tigranes 
and Mithridates, with the troops and provinces which Liiciil- 
lus had, and also those of the proconsuls Glabrio and Mar- 
cius,- — in short, placing the whole power of the republic at 
his disposal. This measure was viewed with just dread and 
apprehension by the aristocracy, who plainly saw that the 
giddy, thoughtless populace were thus creating a monarch, 
and they opposed it to the utmost. Hortensius and Catulus 
employed all their eloquence against it. " Look out," cried 
the latter to the senate from the Rostra, " look out for some 
hill and precipice like our ancestors, whither you may Hy to 
preserve our liberty. "t The bill was supported by C. Julius 
Cfesar and by M. Tullius Cicero, — not, says the historian, | 
out of regard to Pompeius or that they thought it good for 
the state, but because they knew it must pass ; the former, 
who had already formed the plan he afterwards executed, 
wished to court the populace and establish a precedent, and, 
by 'iieaping honors on Pompeius, to make him the sooner 
edious to the people ; the latter, a vain man, wanted to dis- 
play his own importance, by showing that whatever side he 
took would have the superiority. The bill was passed by all 
the tribes, and the Republic was now virtually at an end. 

Pompeius received the intelligence of his appointment 
with complaints of not being allowed to retire into private 
life, for which he longed so much ; but his very friends were 
disgusted with this hypocrisy, as his actions soon proved it 
to be. His first care was to reverse all the acts of Lucullus, 
to' prove to all the people there that his power was at an 
end ; he also called all his troops from him, and took e.spe- 
cial care to reenroll the Fimbrians, who had shown them- 
selves so refractory to him. The two commanders then had 
a conference in a plain of Galatia. They at first behaved to 
one another with great courtesy ; but they soon gave vent 

* " Semper venaliset alienae minister potentise " is Velleius' character 
of Manilius. 

t Plut., Pomp. 30. It is doubtful whether the allusion is to the Sa 
cred Mount or the Capitol. 

t Dion, xxxvi. 26. This writer is frequently unjust toward Cicero 
The orator on this occasion seems to have sought the favor of P. im 
peius; perhaps he really thought the measure necessary. He was alatf 
at all times anxious to gain favor with the knights, who were now ho» 
tile to Lucullus. 

u u 



370 HISTORY OF .\OME. 

to their ill feeling, Pompeiiis reproaching Lucullus with his 
avarice, the latter replying by likening his rival to the bird 
that comes to feed on the carcasses of those slain by others, 
affirming that he was doing now what he had before done in 
the cases of Lepidiis, Sertorius, and Spartacus, who liad 
occn vanquished l)y Catulus, Metelius, and Crassiis, when he 
came to share their fame, — a reproach in which there was 
no little truth. Pompeius took all Lucullus' troops from 
him but sixteen hundred men, whom he knew to be inimical 
to liirn and would be useless to himself 

IMithridates, aware of the immense force that could now 
be brought against him, sent to ask on what terms peace 
might be had. Tlie answer was, the surrender of the de- 
serters and his own unconditional submission. As worse 
could not be expected in any case, he rc.s<:)lvcd to try once 
more the fate of war; and, assembling the deserters, and as- 
suring them that it was on their account he refused peace, 
he swore eternal hostility to Rome : he then retired before 
the Romans, laying the country waste. Pompeius entered 
Armenia, and Mithridates, fearing for it, came and encamped 
on a hill opposite him, cutting otF his supj>lies, but giving no 
opportunity of fighting. His position was so strong that 
Pompeius did not venture to attack him by decamping, 
however, he drew him down, and then, laying an ambuscade, 
cut off several of liis men. Soon after, Pompeius being 
joined by the troops of Marcius, Mithridates broke up by 
night and marched for Tigranes' part of Armenia. Pom- 
peius pursueJ, anxious to bring him to a battle, but, Mith- 
ridates encamping by day and marching by night, he 
could not succeed till they came to the frontiers : then 
taking advantage of the midday repose of the barbarians, 
Pompeius marched on before them, and coming to a hollow 
between hills througli which they were to pass, he halted, 
and placed his troops on the hills. Ai nightfall the barba- 
rians set forth, unsuspicious of danger; it was dark niglit 
when they entered the hollow: suddenly their ears were 
assailed by the sound of the trumpets of the Romans, and 
the clasliing of their arms and their shouts over their heads, 
and arrows, darts, and stones were showered down upon 
them, and then the Romans fell on with their swords and 
pi/n. The slaughter was great and promiscuous, none could 
r(iake any resistance in the dark ; and when the moon at 
length rose, it favored the Romans by being behind their 
backs, and Uius lengthening their shadows. 



POMPEIUS IN ASIA. 



m\ 



Mithri lafes, having escaped, was proceeding to Tigranes : 
but this king, irritated by his misfortunes, and attributing 
the conduct of his son, who was in rebellion against litni, to 
the councils of Mithridates, refused him an asylum, and 
even, it is said, set a reward on his head. He therefore 
turned and directed his course for Colchis, whence he went 
on to the Macotis and Bosporus, where he caused his son 
Machares, who had joined the Romans, to be put to death, 
and employed himself in making further preparations for 
continuing the war. Pompeius, when he found he had 
passed the Phasis, gave up all thoughts of pursuit, and em- 
ployed himself in founding a city named Nicopolis in the 
country where he had gained his victory, settling in it his 
wounded and invalid soldiers, and such of the neighborinjx 
people as chose to make it their abode. 

The young Tigranes had fled to Phraates king of the 
Parthians, who was 'his father-in-l;iw ; and, as Phraates had 
formed an alliance with Pompeius, and promised to make a 
diversion in iiis favor, he now joined the young prince in an 
invasion of Armenia. They advanced and laid siege to Ar- 
taxata : the old king fled to the mountains; and Phraates, 
leaving a part of his forces with Tigranes to continue the i 

siege, which seemed likely lo be tedious, returned to his ! 

own dominions. The elder Tigranes then came down and | 

defeated his son, who at first was flying to Mithridates ; but ] 

learning that he was himself a fugitive, he repaired to Pom- j 

peius, and became his guide into Armenia. Pompeius had 
passed the Araxes and was approaching Artaxata, when | 

Tigranes, whose proposals for peace had been hitherto frus- j 

trated by his son, embraced the resolution of surrendering 1 

his capital, and coming himself as a suppliant to the lio- | 

man general. He laid aside most of the ensigns of his dignity^ I 

and approaching the camp on horseback, was preparing i 

after the oriental fashion to ride into it, when a lictor i^z^ l 

and told him that it was not permitted to any one to enter a ! 

Roman camp on horseback. He then advanced on foot, 
and coming to the tribunal of Pompeius, cast himself on the 
ground before him. The Roman general raised and con- 
soled the huml)led monarch; while his son, who was sitting 
beside the tribunal, did not rise or take any notice of him, j 

and when Pompeius invited the king to supper the young 
prince did not appear at it ; conduct which drew on him the 
aversion of Pompeius, who, next day, having heard both 
parties, decided that the king should retain his paternal 



375 HISTORY OF aOM£. 

dOiiiinions, giving up all his conquests and paying 6000 ta • 
ents, and the prince have the provinces of Gordyene anc 
Sophene. As the treasures were in this last country, the 
prince claimed them, and he irritated Pompeiiis so uiuchj 
that at length he laid him in bonds and reserved him for hia 
triumph. 

Pompclus wintered iu Armenia, forming three separate 
campy on the banks of the Cyrnus, (KCir.) Orttses, king of 
the neighboring Albanians, having l)een in alliance with the 
young Tigranes, and fearing that his country would be in- 
vaded in the spring, resolved to fall on the Romans while 
they were separate. In the very depth of the winter, there- 
fore, he made three simultaneous attacks on their camps; 
but his troops were every where driven off with loss, and he 
was obliged to sue for a truce. 

When spring came, (^-S?,) Pon)peins advanced into the 
coun.try of the Iberians, whose king gave hostages and made 
a peace. Ponipeius then entered Colchis, intending to 
pursue Mithridatcs ; but when he heard what difficulties he 
would have to encounter, he gave up the project, and return- 
ing to All)ania again defeated Orocses. lie then made peace 
with the Albanians and several of the tribes that dwelt 
toward the Caspian. Returning to Pontus, he received the 
submission of several of Mithridiites' governors and officers; 
large treasures were put into his hands, all of which, unlike 
LucuUus, he delivered up to the quaestors; and he sent 
Mithridates' concubines uninjured to their parents and 
friends. 

Having regulated the affairs of this part of Asia, Pomp©* 
ius proceeded to take possession of the part of Syria which 
had been conquered by Tigranes. All the cities submitted 
at his approach ; the Arabian emirs did him homage, and he 
reduced Syria to a province. In the summer of the follow- 
ing year (688) he had to return to Armenia to the aid of 
Tigranes, who had been attacked by Phraates. Iln thence 
proceeded to Pontus, where be wintered. 

At Damascus the ne.xt year ((iSO) Pompeius was waited 
on by the two brothers Ilyrcanus and Aristobulus, who were 
cootending for the high-priesthood at Jerusalem, and now 
appeared as suitors for the favor of the powerful Roman. 
As Pompeius inclined to the former, Aristobiilus .secretly 
retired to the Holy City, and the Roman legions entered 
Judsea for the first time. Knowing his inability to resist, 
Aristobiilus gave himself up, to remain as a pri.soner till the 



DEATH :OF MITHRIOATES. fe?S 

gates 'Of- Jcifusaleni should be opened and his treasures de- 
livered up to the Romans. But when A. Gabinius, who was 
sent to take possession of the city, appeared, the gates were 
closed against him : Pompeius, accusing Aristobulus of treach- 
ery, put him into close confinement and advanced to lay 
siege to the city. Timber for the construction of machines 
was brought from Tyre ; but, though the friends of Hyrcanus 
admitted the Romans into the lower town, the temple was 
so bravely defended that the siege lasted three months ; and 
it was only by taking advantage of the Sabbath, on which 
the superstition of the Jews would not let them defend them- 
selves, and storming on that day, that it was taken. Pompeius, 
it is said, entered into the Holy of Holies of the temple, but 
he took away none of the sacred treasures; the priesthood 
was given to Hyrcanus ; all the conquests made by his 
predecessors were taken from him, and an annual tribute 
was imposed on the land. 

When Pompeius was about to form the feii^gfe of Jerusa- 
lem, tidings came to him of the death of Mithridates. This 
persevering monarch, undismayed by his reverses, had, it is 
said, formed the bold plan of effecting a union of the various 
tribes and nations dwelling from the Maeotis to the Alps, and 
at their head descending on Italy while Pompeius was away 
in Syria. His friends and officers, however, shrank from 
this daring project, and thought rather of making their peace 
with the Romans ; some of them had even carried off his 
children, and put them into Pompeius' hands. This made 
the old king suspicious and cruel, and he put some of his 
sons to death. His son Pharnaces, fearing for himself, and 
expecting to get the kingdom from the Romans, conspired 
against him in the city of Panticapjeum, where they were 
residing. Mithridates on learning the conspiracy sent his 
guards to seize the rebel, but they went over to his side, and 
the citizens also declared for him. Having vainly sent to 
ask permission to depart, and seeing that all was now over, 
the aged monarch retired into the palace, and, taking the 
poison which he had always ready, he gave part of it to his 
two virgin daughters and drank the remainder himself. The 
princesses died immediately ; but his body had, it is said, 
been so fortified with antidotes, that the poison took little 
effect on him. He then implored a Gallic chief not to let 
him endure the disgrace of being led in triumph, add the 
Gaul despatched him with his sword. 

Thus perished in the seventy-third year of his age, and 
32 



( 



374 HlSTOBTt OF ROME. 

after a contest of twenty-seven years with Rome> the ki;ig 
ofPontus, a man certainly to b(.' classed among those whom 
we denominate great. Enterprising, ambitious, of great 
strength and dexterity of n)ind and body, quick to discern 
advantages, unscrupulous as to means, utterly careless of 
human life, and therefore at times barbarously cruel, his 
greatness was that of an Asiatic, and his character will find 
many a parallel, though not many an equal, in Oriental his- 
tory. As a proof of his mental powers, we are told that, 
ruling over twenty-two different peoples, he could converse 
with each of them in their own language. 

Pompeius, giving up all thoughts of Arabia, of which he 
had proposed the conquest, returned to Pontus. At Amisus 
he was met by envoys bearing the submission of Pharnaces, 
with presents and the embalmed body of Mithridates and 
his royal ornaments. The Roman general, who warred not 
with the dead, sent the corpse for interment to Sinope. He 
confirmed Pharnaces in the kingdom of Bosporus, and re- 
duced Pontus to a province ; and, having wintered at Ephe- 
sus, he set out (090) on his return for Italy. Great appre- 
hension was felt at Rome, as it was surely expected that, 
elate with conquest and possessed of such power, he would 
lead his army to the city and make himself absolute. But, 
true to his character, on landing at Brundisium he dismissed 
his soldiers to their homes, only requiring them to appear at 
his triumph, and then, attended by his friends alone, he set 
out for Rome. 

His triumph, which took place the following year (OM) 
and lasted for two days, was the most magnificent Rome had 
as yet seen. The naues of the numerous kings and peoples 
he had warred with were proclaimed aloud ; the immense 
treasures and spoils he had won were displayed ; pictures of 
towns and battles and other events were borne along ; the 
captive princes, Tigrancs, Aristobiilus, and others, with their 
families, walked in procession ; the images of Mithridate.% 
the elder Tigranes, and other absent princes were carried ; 
a table declared the numbers of ships that had been taken 
and cities founded, and the names of the kings who had 
been conquered. Pompeius appeared in a stately chariot, 
followed by his officers and his whole army, horse and foot. 
Contrary to the usual practice, none of the captive princea 
were pvit to death. The money brought into the treasury 
amounted to ^U,000 talearts^. besides iti^OOO whic i he had 



catilina's conspiracy. 375 

distributed among his soldiers, the lowest sura given to any 
of them being 1500 drachmas. 

Even bei^^re he came to Rome, a decree had been passed 
allowing him to wear a triumphal robe at the Circensian 
games, the prceicxta at all others, and a laurel wreath at all. 
He had however the modesty to take advantage but once of 
this decree. 



CHAPTER VH.* 

CATILINa's conspiracy. ARREST AND EXECUTION OF THE 

CONSPIRATORS. DEFEAT AND DEATH OP CATILINA. 

HONORS GIVEN TO CICERO. FACTIOUS ATTEMPTS AT 

ROME. CLODIUS VIOLATES THE MYSTERIES OP THE UONA 

DEA. HIS TRIAL. 

While Pompeiuswas absent in the East, a conspiracy was 
discovered and suppressed at Rome, which from the rank 
of those engaged in it, and the atrocious means resorted to 
to accomplish the most nefarious objects, sets in a strong 
light the state of moral corruption among the Roman nobil- 
ity of this time, and shows that no form of government but 
the single power of monarchy was adequate to maintaining 
the state. 

L, Sergius Gatilina, a member of one of the oldest patri- 
cian families, was a man of very great powers of mind and 
body, but from his youth familiar with every species of 
crime. In the time of Sulla he was the murderer of his 
own brother ; he afterwards, it was firmly believed, pat his 
own son out of the way, to make room for his marriage 
with a beautiful but abandoned woman ; and he was ac- 
cused of various other enormities. He had been prjetor 
(686) in Africa, and he aspired to the consulate ; but he 
only regarded this high office as the means of relieving his 
desperate circumstances, by renewing scenes of proscription, 
bloodshed, and robbery, similar to those in which he had 
acted in the days of Sulla. 

Catilina had collected around him a vast number of des- 

- ^'iiSalliwt, Catilina. Appian, B. C. ii. 1 — 7. Dion, txxTii 34^& 
*'PIut. Cicero and Caesar. 



^! 



876 HISTORY OF Rcciii:; 

petnd0 3S of every description, — all bankrupts in fame ano 
fortune, all who had been punished or feared punishnient for 
their crimes, all in fine who had any thing to hope from a 
revolution. He sought by every means to inveigle young 
men of family, and for this purpose spared no expense to 
gratify their propensities and vices. But it was not such 
alone that were engaged in his designs ; they were shared in 
by some of the first men in Rome, magistrates, senators, and 
knights. In an assembly which met on one occasion at his 
house, when he unfolded his views, there were present, of 
the senatorian order, P. Lcntulus Sura, C. Cethegus, P. and 
Ser. Sulla, (all of the Cornelian gens,) L. Cassius Longinus, 
P. Autronius, L. Vargunteius, Q,. Annius, M. Porcius Lieca, 
L. Ctdpurnius Beslia, and Q,. Curius; of the equestrian, 
M. Fulvius Nobilior, L. Statilius, P. Gabinius Capito, C. 
Cornelius. It was thought too that M. Licinius Crassus and 
C. Julius Ca-sar knew at least of the conspiracy. Several 
women of rank were also engaged in it, as Catilina expected 
them to be useful in raising the slaves, in firing the city, in 
gaining over, or, if not, in murdering, their husbands. The 
young noblemen in general were favorably disposed to it ; 
several leaduig men in the colonies and municipal towns 
joined in it; and it was reckoned that Sulla's soldiers, wiio 
had dissipated their gains, would be easily brought to take 
arms again, along with those whom he had robbed of their 
lands. 

The meeting alluded to was held about the kalends of 
June, 088; and Catilina, having addressed the conspirators 
in the strain usual on such occasions, representing them as 
the most injured and unhappy of mortals, and the possessors 
of wealth as the most oppressive of tyrants, called on them 
to aid in every way to gain him the consulate ; promising in 
return the abolition of debts, proscription of the wealthy, the 
possession of the lucrative priesthoods and magisfacies, and 
rapine and j'lunder of every kind. It was even reported, 
that before they separated they bound themselves by an oath, 
drinking human blood minified with wine. 

A woman was the cause of the affair coming to light. 
Curius, who carried on an intrigue with a lady named 
Fulvia, had been of late rather slighted by her, as he was 
not able from poverty tp make her presents as heretofore ; 
but he now completely altered his tone, boasting of the 
vealth he should have,: and treating her with the greatest 
insolence. Fulvia, guessing that there must be some secret 



catilina's conspiracy, 377 

cause for such a change, never ceased till she had drawn 
the truth from him ; and she made known what she had 
heard without naming her author. The nobility, whose pride 
had hitherto made them adverse to Cicero's getting the con- 
sulate, as he was what was called a new man, now bein^ 
menaced with ruin, and knowing him to be the only man 
able effectually to oppose Catilina, gave him their support, 
and he and C. Antonius were elected. 

Catilina, though disappointed, did not despair; he resolved 
to stand for the consulate again, (689;) he exerted himself 
to gain more associates at Rome and throughout Italy ; and, 
having borrowed money on his own and his friends' credit, 
he sent it to Fajsulag to one C. Mallius, one of Sulla's old 
officers, to enable him to raise troops. He also made every 
effort to have Cicero taken off; but this able consul went 
always well guarded, and having, through Fulvia, gained over 
Curius, he received regular information of Catilina's designs; 
fie also, by giving his colleague the choice of provinces, se- 
cured his fidelity to the state. 

The day of election came, and Catilina was again foiled. 
He now became desperate and resolved on war, for which 
;>urpose he sent Mallius back to Fssulse, C. Julius to Apulia, 
and one Septimius to Picenum, and others to other places ; 
ihen, assembling the principal conspirators and upbraiding 
them with their inertness, he declared his intention of set- 
ting out for Mallius' army, but that he must first have an 
end put to Cicero, who impeded all his plans. A senator 
and a knight, L. Vargunteius and C. Cornelius, forthwith 
offered to go that very night with armed men to the con- 
sul's house, and, under pretence of saluting, to murder him. 
Curius, as no time was to be lost, hastened to Fulvia ; the 
consul was warned in time, and his doors were closed 
against the assassins. Cicero, having also ascertained that 
Mallius was actually in arms, saw that there was no further 
room for delay ; he laid the whole matter before the senate, 
and it was decreed in the usual form that the consuls 
should take measures for the safety of the state. The prge- 
tors and other officers were sent to Apulia and elsewhere to 
provide against emergencies ; guards were placed at Rome ; 
the gladiators were removed to Capua and other towns ; 
rewards were offered for information, to a slave his freedom 
and 100,000 sestercesi'lo'tt freeman' double that sufniahd ti ' 
pardon. . ; ' . : • ■ ■ '• ^ • ' 

At 'ength Catilina, ag if he Were! the victim of persecution^ 
32* vv 



t37S HISTORY OF ROME. 

boldly entered the senate and faced his foes. Cicero's anger 
was roused at the sight of him ; he poured forth a tlood of 
indigiiuui oratory : the overwhehned traitor muttered some 
sentences of exculpation ; the wliole senate called him an 
enemy and a parricide; he then flung off the mask; in a 
fury he cried out that he would quench the flames raised 
around him in the ruins of his country, and hurried to his 
Iiome. Then, having directed Lentulus and the others how 
to act, he set out that night with a few companions for the 
camp of Mallius. On his way he wrote to several consulars, 
saying that he was going into exile at Massilia : it was, how- 
ever, soon ascertained that he had entered tlie rebel camp 
with fusees and other consular ornaments. The senate then 
proclaimed him and Mallius public enemies, and offered a 
pardon to all those, not guilty of capil;d crimes, who should 
quit them before a certain day ; but neither this nor the 
former decree had the slightest effect, such was the general 
appetite for cliange, for blood, and for rapine. 

Lentulus meantime was exerting himself to gain associates, 
and, as there happened to be ambassadors from the Allobroges 
then at Rome, — come, as usual, to try if they could get re- 
dress from the senate for the oppression of the Roman gov- 
ernors, — he had them sounded by one Umbrenus, and, when 
they eagerly caught at hopes of relief, Umbrenus introduced 
them to Gabinius and informed them of the conspiracy, 
telling them the names of those engaged in it, and mention- 
ing among others many innocent persons. They agreed 
on the part of their nation to join it ; but afterwards, when 
they reflected coolly on the matter, they thought the course 
too hazardous, and went and revealed all they knew to 
Q. Fabius Sanga, the patron of their state. Saaga instantly 
informed Cicero, who directed that they should pretend 
the greatest zeal for the plot, and learn as much of it as 
they could. 

The conspirators had now arranged their plan. On a 
certain day Bestia, who was a tribune, was to harangue the 
people, throwing all the blame of the civil war now on the 
eve of bre:diing out on Cicero; the following night Statilius 
and Gabinius with their bands were to fire the city in twelve 
places, while Cethegus should watch at Cicero's doors, others 
at those of other men of rank, to kill them as they came 
out ; the young noblemen were to murder their fathers ; and 
thus having filled the city with blood and tumult, the whole 
paxty were to break out and join Catilina. 



CAriLINA's CONSPIRACY. 379 

By Cicero's direction the Allobroges requiret^ an oath, 
sealed by the principal conspirators, to take home to their 
people. This was readily given them, and one T. Voltur- 
cius was directed to go with them and introduce them,'on 
the way, to Catilina, to whom he was also the bearer of a 
letter from Lentulus. They left Rome by night, and when 
they came to the Mulvian bridge they were assailed by the 
troops which they knew the consul had placed there : they 
gave themselves up at once, as also did Volturcius, seeing 
resistance was in vain, and all were brought back to Rome. 
Cicero, having now sufficient evidence in his hands, sent for 
the principal conspirators and arrested them. He then called 
together the senate ; the letters were read, the Allobroges 
gave their evidence ; Volturcius, being promised life and 
liberty, made a full confession ; Lentulus and the rest ac- 
knowledged their seals. It was decreed that Lentulus, who 
was prcBtor, should lay down his office, and that he and all 
the rest should be held in free custody. The tide of popular 
feeling turned completely against the conspirators, when it 
was known that they had designed to fire the city, and every 
voice now extolled the consul. 

In a day or two after, one L. Tarquinius was taken on 
his way to Catilina, and, being promised his life, told the 
same story with Volturcius, but added, that he was sent by 
M. Crassus to tell Catilina not to be cast down at the arrest 
of Lentulus and the others, but on the contrary to advance 
with all speed toward the city. The information perhaps 
was true, but such was the power and influence his wealth 
gave Crassus, and so many of the senators were in his debt, 
that it was at once voted false, and Tarquinius was ordered 
to be laid in chains till he should tell at whose instigation he 
acted. Some thought it was a plan of Autronius, that, by 
implicating Crassus, he might save himself and the others ; 
others, that it was done by Cicero to keep Crassus from 
taking up the cause of criminals, as was his wont. Crassus 
himself affected to take this last view of the case. Catulus 
and Piso, it is said, vainly tried to induce the consul to im- 
plicate Caesar ; * yet the opinion of his being concerned was 
so strong, that some of the knights menaced him with their 
swords as he came out of the senate. 

Some days after, (the nones of December,) Cicero, having 

• Sallust, Catil. 49. Perhaps they only wanted him to produce the 
evidence be possessed. ■■.,-^ 



3S0 ■- HISTORY OF ROME. 

ascertained that Lentulus and Cethegus were making every 
exertion to induce the slaves and the rabble to rise in their 
favor, again assembled the senate, and put the question what 
should be done with those in custody, as they had already 
declared them guilty of treason. D. Junius Silanus, consul 
elect, being, as was usual, asked the first, voted for capital 
punishment. When the consul put the question to C. C;esar, 
praetor elect, he rose, and, in an artful speech, dissuaded 
from severity, and proposed that their properties should be 
confiscated, theniselves confined in the nnuiicipal towns, and 
that any one who should speak in their favor to the senate 
or people, should be held to have acted against the interests 
of the republic. This speech caused niany to waver ; but 
when M. Porcius Cato, one of the tribunes, rose, and dis- 
played the guilt of the conspirators in its true colors, and the 
danger and impolicy of ill-timed clemency, their execution 
was decided on almo.~;t unanimously. Cicero, that very day, 
having directed the Capital Triumvirs to have every thing 
ready, himself conducted Lentulus to the prison, where he 
was immediately strangled by the officers, as also were 
Cethegus, Statilius, Gabinius, and Coeparius. When Cicero 
came forth, he said, using a common euphemism, " They 
have lived ! " in order to extinguish the hopes of such of 
their confederates as were in the Forum. The populace 
then gave a loose to their joy, and followed him home, 
calling him the savior and founder of the city ; and it being 
now evening, lights were set at the doors throughout all the 
streets, and the women stood on the roofs of the houses to 
gaze on him as he passed. 

Catilina had meantime augmented his forces from two 
thousand men to two legions, of which however only a fourth 
were properly armed. On the approach of Antonius, who 
was sent against him, he fell back into the mountains, 
avoiding an action till he should hear from Rome. He also 
rejected the slaves, who at first were flocking to him in great 
numbers. But when the news of the execution of Lentulus 
and the others came, and he found his forces melting 
away, — as those whose only object had been plunder, 
thinking the case now desperate, were going off every 
day, — he tried to escajje into Cisalpine Gaul with those who 
remained. But Q,. Metellus Celer, who commanded in 
Picenum, being informed, by deserters, of his design, came 
and encamped at the foot of t|ie mountains. , Catilina, seeing 
escape thus cut off, resolved to give battle at cnce to Anto« 



FACTIOUS ATTEMPTS AT ROME. 381 

nius. He chpse a position between hills on one side, and 
rocks on the other ; and, having placed his best men in 
front, and sent away all the horses, that the danger might he 
equal, he prepared for action. Antonius, being either really 
ill of the gout, or making it a pretext, gave the command to 
his legate M. Petreius. Catilina and his men fought with 
desperation, and were slain to a man ; and the loss on the 
part of the victors was also considerable, (690.) 

The suppression of this conspiracy was doubtless the most 
glorious act of Cicero's life ; and, could he have controlled 
his vanity, which was inordinate, and left more to others the 
task of praising it, his fame would perhaps be purer. Pom- 
peius declared more than once in the senate that the safety 
of the state was due to Cicero, and that he had vainly been 
entitled to claim a third triumph if Cicero had not preserved 
a republic for him to triumph in. Crassus said on one 
occasion that he was indebted to Cicero for his being now a 
senator, a citizen, free, and alive ; and that whenever he 
looked at his wife, his house, his country, he beheld his 
good deeds. L. Gellius declared in the senate that he de- 
served a civic crown; and the censor L. Aurelius Cotta 
had a supplication * decreed him, — an honor never before 
granted to a gowned citizen. Finally, he was styled by Q,. 
Catulus the first of the senate, Father of his Country ; and 
several of the senators, even Cato included, joined in the 
appellation ; and when, on going out of office, he was pre- 
vented by the tribune Q,. Metellus Nepos from haranguing 
the people, as was usual, before he made oath that he had 
kept the laws, he swore aloud that, through him alone, the 
republic and the city had been saved ; and the whole people 
averred that he had sworn the truth. 

But the party who wished the subversion of the state per- 
sisted in their efforts against him. The same Metellus, 
urged on by Caesar, it is said, proposed a bill to recall Pom- 
peius with his army, to end the seditions caused by the 
attempt of Catilina and the tyranny of Cicero. As this was 
evidently directed against the senate, Cato tried at first, in 
that assembly, to soothe Metellus, reminding him of the 
aristocratic feelings always shown by his family ; but when 
he found that this only increased his insolence, he changed 

* The supplication or thanksgiving (the probable origin of the T« 
Deiim of modern times) was usually given only on occasion of vic- 
tories over foreign enemies in the field. 



382 HISTORY OF ROME. 

his tone, and loudly declared that while he lived Pompeius 
should not bring an army into the city ; and he pointed out 
to the senate the evident danger of the proposed measure. 

When the day of voting came, Metellus filled the Forum 
with strangers, gladiators, and slaves, beinc resolved to carry 
his bill by force. Cato's family and friends were under 
great apprehension for him ; but, fixed on doing his duty, 
when one of his colleacues, Q. Minucius, came and called 
him up in the morning, he rose and set out for the Forum. 
Seeing the temple of Castor occupied by gladiators, while 
Ca.'sar and Metellus sat on the Rostra, he cried, " What a 
bold and timid man, who has raised such a force against one 
unarmed man ! " lie then advanced to the Rostra, and 
took his seat between the two: ntimbers of well-disposed 
persons in the crowd cried out to him to be stout, and to 
those about them to stand by him in defence of their free- 
dom. Metellus then ordered the clerk to read out the bill ; 
Cato forbade him. Metellus took it him.self, and began to 
read it ; Cato snatched it from him. Metellus then began to 
repeat it from memory; but Miruicius put his hand on his 
mouth and stopped it. Metellus then ordered his gladiators 
to act. The people were dispersed ; Cato remained alone ; 
he was assailed with sticks and stones ; but Murena, whom 
he had one time prosecuted, threw his gown over him, and 
brought him into the temple of Castor. Metellus then dis- 
missed his bandits, and was proceeding at his ease to pass 
his law, when the opposite party r;iHied and drove him and 
his partisans awav. Cato came forth and encouratjed them, 
and the senate met and passed a decree for the consuls to 
take care of the republic. Metellus, having assembled the 
people, and uttered a tirade against the tyrnnny of Cato and 
the conspiracy against Pompeius, w'ent off to Asia tf) boast 
to him of what he had done. The senate deprived both him 
and Ca?sar of their offices : the latter, at first, disregnrded the 
decree, and sat in court as usual ; but, finding that force 
was about to be employed against him, he dismissed his 
lictors and retired to his house; and when, two days after, a 
multitude repaired to him offering to re-instate him by force, 
he declined their services. This conduct, so unexpected, 
was so gratefiil to the senate, that they sent forthwith to 
thank him, and rescinded their decree.* 

At the close of CfEsar's praetorship, the rites of the Bona 

" Suetonius, Jul. Cees. li> 



TRIAL OF CLODIUS. ^8^ 

Dea were according to usage, celebrated by the women in 

his house. At this festival no man was allowed to be 

present; but P. Clodius, the brother-in-law of Lucullus, a 

man of such profligacy of morals that the suspicion of incest 

with his own sisters was so strong against him that Lucullus 

had divorced his wife on account of it, shrank not from 

polluting the mysteries. He was violently enamored of 

Caesar's wife, Pompeia ; and it was arranged between them 

that, to elude the vigilance of her mother-in-law, Aurelia, he [ 

should come disguised as a woman. He got into the house, 1 

but while the slave who was the confidant was gone to 

inform her mistress, he went roaming about, and meeti-ng 

one of Aurelia's slaves was discovered by her. She gave 

the alarm ; he was found in his hiding-place, and turned out 

of the house. The affair was soon known to every one. ( 

The senate consulted the pontiffs, and on their pronouncincr j 

it to have been impiety, the new consul, M. Pupius Piso, j 

(691,) was directed to bring the matter before the people. ' 

Piso, himself a man of indifferent character, and the crea- | 

ture of Pompeius, worked underhand against it. Clodius 

and his partisans exerted themselves to have a good body of ' 

the rabble in readiness to disturb the voting. The nobles, I 

seeing how it would be, had the assembly dismissed ; aud, 

on the motion of Hort.ensius, it was resolved that the pragtor i 

and the usual judges, who were to be chosen by lot, should 1 

try the matter. Money and every other inducement was { 

now to be employed on the judges, who were mostly embar- i 

rassed and profligate men. Crassus, as usual, was most I 

liberal ; * and out of fifty-six, thirty-one acquitted Clodius. 

The judges, pretending fear, had asked a guard from the 

senate. " Were you afraid," said Catulus, a few days after, ! 

to one of them, " that the money would be taken from you ? " 

When Clodius in the senate afterwards said to Cicero, who | 

had given evidence against him,t that the judges h.id not 

given him credit, " Yes," replied he, " twenty-five did ; but 

thirty-one would not give you credit, for they received the 

money beforehand," — so notorious was the manner in which 

the verdict had been obtained. Caesar, when examined on 

' Cicero ad Alt. i. lo. 

t Clodius had attempted to prove an alibi, by bringing people to 
bvvear that he had been at Interamna, si.^ty miles off, at tiie time he 
was said to have been in Csesar's house ; but Cicero, when examined, 
declared that lie had been with him at Rome that very morning. 
Clodius n?ver forgave him for not having perjured himselft 



384 HISTORY OF ROME. 

the trial, though his mother and sister had giver the fullest 
and most satisfactory evidence, denied that he had found any 
thing wrong. He had however divorced his wife; and on 
being asked why he did so, as he declared her to be inno- 
cent, he replied, " Because I will have those belonging to 
me as free from suspicion as from crime." * A very specioup 
sentiment certainly! Caesar however had no doubt of his 
wife's guilt, but he wanted to secure the aid of Clodius, 
whom he knew to be a bold viiiain, »br his future projects, 
and he thought the purchase worth the price. 



CHAPTER Vni.t 

POMPErUS AND LUCULLUS. C. JULIUS C^SAR. M. LICINJUS 

CRASSUS. M. PORCIUS CATO. M. TULLIUS CICERO. 

POMPEUS AT ROME. CONSULATE OF C^SAR. EXILE OF 

CICKRO. RORBERY OF THE KING OF CYPRUS. RECALL 

OF CICERO. HIS CONDUCT AFTER HIS RETURN. 

As Catulus died about this time, the leading men in the 
Roman state were Lucullus, Pompeius, Caesar, Crassus, Cato, 
and Cicero. We will now, therefore, sketch the previous 
history of these persons. The actions of the first two have 
been already related. Pompeius now only aimed at main- 
taining a virtual supremacy in the state : he was no tyrant 
by nature ; but he was vain and covetous of fame, and find- 
ing himself thwarted and opposed in the senate, he courted 
the favor of the people. Lucullus, after his return from 
Asia, took little share in public alTairs ; he abandoned him- 
self to luxurious enjoyments to such an excess as to have 
made his name proverbial. His luxury, however, was of a 
far more refined and elegant nature than was usual, and he 
was a zealous patron and cultivator of literature. He rarely 
visited the senate or Fornm, and only when it was necessary 
to oppose the projects of Pompeius, with whom he was justly 
incensed for his treatment of him in Asia. His pol'tics were 
at all times aristocratic. 

* Suetonius. Jul. Csbs. 74. 

t .^ppian, B. C. ii. 8— Ifi. Dion, .Txxviii. 1— 30, xxxix. G— 11, 17- 
213. Plut. Cicero, Cato, Ceesar, and Pompeius. 



c. JULIUS ca:sAK. 385 

C. Julius Caesar, of an ancient patrician family, was neph- 
ew by marriage to Marius, and had married the daughter 
of Cinna, whom, when ordered by Sulla, he refused to di- 
vorce. The dictator refused to allow him to assume the 
dignity of Flamen Dialis, (to which he had been nominated 
by Marius and Cinna "\ deprived him of his wife's portion, 
and his gentile rights of inheritance ; and only granted his 
life to the prayers of the Vestals, and of his relations Mam. 
^miiius and C. Aurelius Cotta, telling them at the same 
time, it is gaid^ that he would one time be the destruction 
of the aristocratic party, for that there were many Marii in 
him. CiBsar retired to Asia, and his enemies always as- 
serted that at this time he prostituted himself to Nicomedes, 
king of Bithyiiia. On the death of Sulla he returned to 
Rome, and prosecuted Cn. Cornelius Dolabella for extortion 
in Greece ; but, filling to convict him, he retired to Rhodes 
to attend the lectures of the rhetorician Molo. On his way 
he was taken by pirates, and while detained by them, waiting 
for his ransom, he used, apparently in jest, to threaten that 
he would yet crucify them; but when at liberty, he collected 
a fleet, attacked them, and did as he had threatened. 
When he came back to Rome he was chosen by the people 
one of the military tribunes, (682,) and he was active in 
aiding Pompeius and Crassus in restoring their powers to 
the tribunes of the people. His wife Cornelia being now 
dead, he espoused Pompeia the niece of Sulla. He then 
(686) went as qufestor with Antistius Vetus to Ulterio* 
Spain ; but finding no occupation there for his ambitious 
spirit, he obtained leave to return to Rome. He tried to 
excite the Latin colonies who were claiming the civic fran- 
chise, but, finding that the legions destined for Cilicia were 
detained on account of it, he gave up this project. He soon 
after (687) fell under a strong suspicion of being concerned 
with Crassus, Catilina, Piso, and others to raurder a part of 
the senate ; Crassus, it is said, was then to be dictator, and 
Caesar his master of the horse. Crassus however lost cour- 
age, and the attempt was not made. Piso being sent to 
Spain, Caesar, it is added, planned a simultaneous rising 
with him ; but the death of Piso prevented its execution. 
Cajsar was ajdile this year, and he entertained the people 
with all kinds of shows at an enormous expense ; and, as a 
means of repairing his fortune, he sought Egypt as his prov- 
ince, where the people of Alexandria had expelled their 
king ; but the nobility opposed, and to spite thera he ro« 
33 WW 



!iS6 HISTORY OF ROME. 

placed on the Capitol the statues and the Cinibric trophies 
of Marius, which Sulla had removed ; he also caused to be 
prosecuted as murderers those who had received money out 
of the treasury for bringing the heads of the proscribed ; 
and he excited T. Labienus to prosecute C. Rabirius for the 
murder of L. Saturninus, who was put to death by order of 
the senate thirty-seven years before. Q. Catulus, observing 
these proceedings, exclaimed, " Ca'sar assails the constitu- 
tion now with engines, not by mines." On the death of the 
chief pontiff Metellus Pius, (688,) Ca?sar stood for the office 
against Q,. Catulu.s and P. Servilius Isauricus, two of the 
first men in the state, relying on the ])ower of his money ; 
for he had bribed to such an extent, and was thereby so im- 
mersed in debt, that, when taking leave of his mother on the 
day of election, he said to her, " Mother, you will see your 
son to-day chief pontiff or an exile." He was elected; hav- 
ing had more votes in his competitors' own tribes than they 
had altogether. He was praetor elect at the time of Cati- 
lina's conspiracy, and we have seen his conduct on that 
occasion and his union with Metellus Nepos. On the ex- 
piration of his office he was appointed proprsptor in Spain ; 
but his creditors would not let him go, till Crassus, who 
knew how useful he might be to him, satisfied the mo.st 
urgent, and gave security to the amount of eight hundred 
and thirty talents to the others. 

M. Licinius Crassus was a man of considerable talent 
and eIo(iuence, bitt of insatiable avarice. In the time of 
Sulla he obtained by gift or purchase at low rates an im- 
mense (juantity of tlic property of the proscribed, and he 
used every means to augment his wealth. He courted the 
people with entertainments ; he lent money to his friends 
without interest, and to others on interest; and by these 
means had such a number of persons under his influence, 
that he possessed considerable power in the state. His 
eloquence gave him great advantage as an advocate, and he 
usually undertook the defence of those accused of crimes. 
Crassus had not the great talents of Ca;sar, but his private 
character was much purer. 

M. Porcins Cato, a descendant of the celebrated censor, 
was like him a rigid maintainor of the old Roman man- 
ners. His life WAS stainless, his morals austere ; but he was 
not totally exempt from the vanity which seemtd inherent 
in his family. Having served as a military tribune in 
Mao*donia, and made a tour through Asia, he returned to 



M. TULLIUS CICERO. 387 ] 

Rome, and devoted himself to public affairs. He was first 
appointed to the qiiaestorship, and (what was, it seems, very 
unusual at the time) before he entered on the duties of his 

office he made himself master of the laws and rules be- ' 

longing to it. The clerks, who heretofore had done all the j 
business as they pleased under the name of the ignorant 

young noblemen who were appointed to the office, now [ 

found matters quite altered; they attempted to thwart him, 1 
but he turned some of them out, and soon reduced them to 

order. He brought the treasury into a more flourishing state J 

than it had been for some time. He made those wlio had j 
received from Sulla the 50,000 sesterces for the murder 

of the proscribed refund, as possessing the public money j 

unlawfully ; and they were then prosecuted for the murders i 

they had committed. Cato never was absent from a sitting | 

of the senate or an assembly of the people ; he was the first 1 

to enter, the last to leave, the senate-house; in the intervals i 

of business he drew his cloak before his face and read, | 

having a book always with him. When his friends, in the ■ 
year 6S9, urged him to stand for the tribunate, he declineo 

and retired to his estate in Lucania ; but on his road meet- j\ 

ing the train of Metellus Nepos, who was going, with Pom- J 

peius' approbation, to sue for the office, he paused, and, j 

having reflected on the evil Metellus might do if not vigor- ) 

ously opposed, he returned, offered himself as a candidate, J 

and, being elected, acted as we have seen above. Cicero | 

objected to Cato that he did not, like himself, bend to cir ^ 

cumstances, speaking, as he terms it, as if he were in Plato's | 

republic and not in the dregs of Romulus ; and his obser- 5 

vation is just ; but it is this very thing that gives dignity i 

to Cato's character: as for the republic, it was already past { 

redemption. ( 

M. Tullius Cicero was a native of Arpinum in the Vol- \ 

scian country, where his family had been connected with [; 

that of Marius. His superior talents early displayed them- | 

selves, and were sedulously cultured ; and, though of rather S 

a timid character, he ventured to plead the cause of Sex. \ 

Roscius, who was unjustly prosecuted for parricide by Sulla's j 

froedman Chrysogonus and his agents, after they had robbed | 

him of his property. Though he succeeded Sulla testified I 
no enmity toward him ; he, however, some t me after went 
to Greece for the sake of study, and of hearing the lectures 
of the inost distinguished teachers of rhetoric. After his re- 
turn he was appointed (677) • frumentary quaestor for Sicily, 



388 HISTORY OF ROME. 

and ill this office he exhibited that spirit of humanity and 
justice which always distinguished him. In 682, when 
Pompeiiis and Crassus were consuls, Cicero, then aedile 
elect, appeared as the prosecutor of the notorious C. Verrea 
for robbery and extortion in Sicily. He was chosen praetor 
for the year (>S6. It would appear that, as the haughty 
nobility looked down on him as being a new man, he now 
chiefly sought the favor of tlic people and of Pornpeius ; 
I for while in office he strenuously supported the Manilian 

I law, which was certainly not a constitutional measure. The 

1 danger caused by Catilina however drew Cicero and the 

[ aristocracy closely together ; they raised him to his glori- 

j ous consulate, and he ever after contiiuied to be- their ablest 

I supporter. 

i Pornpeius on his return from Asia found his party in the 

; senate not so strong as hitherto ; Luculliis and JNIetellus 

Creticus were both hostile to him, Crassus bore him the old 
grudge, Cicero had somewhat cooled in his ardor. The first 
request which he had made, namely, to have the consular 
elections for 691 deferred till he should .arrive to canvass for 
his friend M. Pupius Piso, was refused, Cato opposing it as 
unconstitutional. Piso however was elected ; but he does 
not appear to have quite answered Pompeius' purpose, being 
perhaps impeded by his colleague INl. Valerius Messala. At 
the next election (691) Pompeius (Piso being his agent) 
actually bought the consulate for his creature L. Afranius, 
paying the tribes so much apiece for their votes.* Even 
this did not answer, as Afranins was a man of little account, 
and his colleague Q. .Metollus Celer was personally hostile 
to Pompeius for hnvincr divorced his sister Mucia. What 
Pompeius chieflv wanted to accomplish was, to get lands 
for his soldiers, and to have all his acts in Asia confirmed 
in the mass by the senate ; but Lucullus and his party in- 
sisted, with reason, that they should be gone through sep- 
arately, and confirmed or not according to their merits. At 
Pompeius' desire the tribune L. F'avius moved an agrarian 
raw, and to gain the people they were joined in it with the 
soldiers. Cicero, proposing amendments for the security of 
private property, and for the purchase of the lands to be 
divided out of the new revenues of the state, gave the bill his 
support ; for he wished to oblige Pompeius, and he expected 
that it would help to remove the rabble from the city.f But 

• Cicero od Att. i 10. Plut. Pomp. 44. i Cic. ad Alt. i. 19 



CONSULATE OF CiESAR. 389 

the senate was strongly opposed to it ; the tribune on his 
side was violent ; he cast the consul Metellus into prison, 
and, when Metellus summoned the senate thither, Flavins 
placed his official seat in the door and told them they must 
make their way through the w^ll. Pompeius however, 
through shame and fear of disgustmg the people, ordered him 
to ri§e and leave the passage free. The bill appears to have 
been then given up. 

Caesar, who, by expeditions against the Lusitanians, had, 
as he considered, gotten sufficient materials for a triumph, 
and was anxious to obtain the consulate, hastened home 
when the time of the elections was at hand, (692.) As there 
was no room for delay, he applied to the senate for permis- 
sion to enter the city before his triumph in order to canvass 
the people ; but Cato and his friends opposing it, it was re- 
fused. Caesar, who was not a man to sacrifice the substance 
for the show, gave up the triumph ; and, entering the city, 
formed a coalition with L. Lucceius, a man of wealth who 
was also a candidate, of which the terms were that Luc- 
ceius should distribute money in his own and Caesar's name 
conjointly, and Caesar in like manner give him a share in 
his influence. The nobles, when they saw this coalition, 
resolved to give all their interest to M. Calpurnius Bibulus, 
the other candidate, and, with even Cato's consent, author- 
ized him to offer as high as Lucceius, engaging to raise 
the money among them. Bibulus therefore was elected 
with Caesar, whose daring projects the senate thus hoped 
to restrain. 

Caesar, who well knew the character of Pompeius, re- 
solved to make him and Crassus the ladder of his ambition. 
He represented to them how absurd their jealousy and en- 
mity was, which only gave importance to such people as 
Cato and Cicero ; whereas if they three were united they 
might command the state. They saw the truth of what 
he said, and each, blinded by his vanity and ambition, ex- 
pecting to derive the greatest advantage from it, agreed to 
the coalition ; and thus was formed a Triumvirate, bound by 
a secret pledge that nothing displeasing to any one of them 
should be allowed to pass. / 

Caesar, as soon as he entered on his office, (693,) introduced 
an agrarian law for dividing all the public land (except in 
Campania) among Pompeius' soldiers and the poorer citi- 
zens ; purchasing it however from the present possessors, 
and appointing twenty commissioners to carry the law into 
33* 



m 



HlSTORr OF ROME. 



effect, among whom were to be Pompeius and Crassus. This 
law, to which they could make no objection, was highly dis- 
pleasing to the adverse party in the senate, who suspected 
CcEsar's ulterior designs, and Cato declared strongly against 
any change. Caesar menaced to drag him off to prison ; he 
professed himself ready to go that instant, and several rose 
to follow him. Ca;sar then grew ashamed and desisted, 
but he dismissed the senate, telling them he would bring 
the matter at once before the people ; and he called the 
•j senate together no longer during his consulate, 

j He then laid his bill before the people, to which he had 

I added a clause for dividing the lands of Campania, in lots 

5 of ten jugers, among twenty thousand poor citizens with 

j three or tnore children ;* and, being desirous to have some 

I of the principal persons to express their approbation of it, he 

j first addressed his colleague, but Bibulus declared himself 

I adverse to innovation ; he then affected to entreat him, ask- 

\ ing the people to join with him, as if Bibulus wished they 

might have it ; " Then," cried Bibulus, " you shall not 
have it this year even if you all will it," and went away. 
Ca;sar, expecting a similar refusal from the other magis- 
trates, made no application to them, but bringing forward 
4 Pompeius and Crassus desired them to say what they 

' thought of the law. Pompeius then spoke highly in favor 

' of it, and on Caesar and the people asking him if he would 

! support them against those who opposed it, he cried, elate 

\ with this proof of his importance, " If any man dares to 

\ draw a sword, I will raise a buckler!" Crassus also ex- 

> pressed his approbation, and as the coalition was a secret, 

ithe example of these two leading men induced many others 
to give their consent and support to the law. Bibulus how- 
ever was still firm, and he was supported by three of the 
j tribunes; and, as a means of impeding the law, he declared 

I all the remaining days of the year nrfa^ti, or holydays. 

} When Caesar, regardless of his proclamations, fixed a day 

' for passing the law, Bibulus and his friends came to the 

I temple of Castor, whence he was haranguing the people, 

and attempted to oppose him ; but he was pushed down, a 
I basket of dung was flung upon him, his lictors' fasces were 

! broken, his friends (among whom were Cato and the trib- 

i 

I * Cicero (ad Alt. ii. 16) highly disapproved of this. He however 

' expected that, as the land would yield but 5000 lots, the people would 

' 6e discontented 



CONSULATE OF C^SAR. 391 

unes) were beaten and wounded, and so the law was 
passed Bibulus henceforth did not quit his house, whence 
he continually issued edicts declaring all that was done on 
the nefast days to be unlawful. The tribune P, Vatinius, 
one of Caesar's creatures, even attempted to drag him to 
prison, but he was opposed by his colleagues. 

The senate were required to swear to this law, as for- 
merly to that of Saturninus. Metellus, Cato, and Cato's 
imkator Favonius at first declared loudly that they would 
not do so ; but having the fate of Numidicus before their 
eyes, and knowing the inutility of opposition, they yielded 
to the remonstrances of their friends. 

Having thus gained the people, Csesar proceeded to se- 
cure the knights, and here Cato's Utopian policy aided him. 
This most influential body thinking, or pretending, that they 
had taken the tolls at too high a rate, had applied to the 
senate for a reduction, but Cato insisted on keeping them 
to their bargain. Ctesar, without heeding him or the senate, 
reduced them at once a third, and thus this self-interested 
body was detached from the party of the aristocracy, and all 
Cicero's work undone. Caesar now found himself strong 
enough to keep his promise to Pompeius, all whose acts in 
Asia were confirmed by the people.* 

The triumvirate, or rather Caesar, was extremely anxious 
to gain Cicero over to their side, on account of the influ- 
ence which he possessed. But, though he had a great per- 
sonal regard for Pompeius, he rejected all their overtures. 
Caesar then resolved to make him feel his resentment, and 
the best mode seemed to be to let Clodius loose at him. 
This profligate had long been trying to become a tribune of 
the people, but for that purpose it was necessary he should 
be a plebeian, which could only be effected by adoption. 
His first efforts were unavailing; but when Cicero, in defend- 
ing his former Colleague Antonius, took occasion to make 
some reflections on the present condition of the common- 
wealth, Caesar, to punish him, had the law for Clodius' adop- 
tion passed at once, Pompeius degrading himself by acting 
as augur on this occasion, in which all the laws and rules 
on the subject were violated.! 

* It was probably on this occasion that Caesar so terrified Lucullui 
by false accusations that he threw himself at his feet. Suet. Jul. 
C<es. 20. 

\ To make an adoption legal, it was necessary that the adopter 
should be older than the adopted, have nc children, and be incapabla 



392 HISTORY OF IlOMfc. 

Some time after, one Vettius, who had been one of Cice- 
ro's informers in the aflRiir of Catilina, being suborned, it 
is said, by Caesar, declared that several young noblemen hud 
entered into a plot, in which he partook, to murder Pom- 
peius ; and he named L. -lEmilius Paulus, who was then 
actually pro-qua3stor in Macedonia, as the head of it. The 
senate ordered him to prison ; next day Csesar produced him 
on the Rostra, when he omitted sOme whom he had named 
to the senate, and added others, among whom were Lu- 
cullus and Cicero's son-in-law Piso, and hinted at Cicero 
himself. Vettius was taken back to prison, where he was 
privately murdered by his accomplices, as Cffisar said,* — by 
Cajsar himself, according to others. t 

The senate, to render Caesar as innoxious as possible, had, 
in right of the Semproniah law, assigned the woods and 
roads as the provinces of the consuls on the expiration of 
their office. But Caesar had no idea of being foiled thus ; 
and his creature, the tribune Vatinius, had a law pasi^ed by 
the people, giving him the province of Cisalpine Gaul and 
Illyricum, with three legions, for five years; and when, on 
the death of Metellus Celer, he expressed a wish to have 
Transalpine Gaul added, the senate, aS he would otherwise 
have applied to the people, granted it to him with another 
legion. In order to draw the ties more closely between 
himself and Pompeius, he gave him in marriage his lovely 
and amiable daughter Julia, and he himself married the 
daughter of L. Calpurnius Piso, whom, with A. Gabinius, a 
creature of Pompeius, the triumvirs had destined for the 
consulate of the following year. They also secured the 
tribunate for Clodius ; and thus terminated the memorable 
consulate of Caesar and Bibulus. ' 

Clodius lost no time (694) in preparing for his attack on 
'jicero. He first secured the consuls, who were distressed 
jnd profligate men, by engaging to get Macedonia and 
Achaia for Piso as his province, and Syria for Gabinius. 
Then, to win the people, he proposed a law for distributing 
corn to them gratis ; by another law he reestablished the 

of having any, and that tliere should be lio collusion in the affair ; all 
of whicli should be proved before a colleire of the priests. Now Fon- 
toius, who adopted Clodius, was not twenty, while his adopted son was 
thirty-five : he had moreover a wife and children, and tlie prie9'.8 were 
never consulted. How this transaction must make one hate Cresar, 
aod despise Pompeius ! 

• Appian, R. C. ii. 12. t Suet. Jul. Cobs 20. 



EXILE OF CICERO. 393 

clube and unions,* which the senate had suppressed, and 
formed new ones out of the dregs of the people and even of 
the slaves ; by a third law he prohibited any one from watch- 
ing the heavens on assembly days;t and by a fourth he 
forbade the censors to note any senator unless he was openly 
accused before them, and that they both agreed. Having 
thus, as he thought, secured the favor of the consuls and the 
people, and having a sufficient number of ruffians from the 
clubs and unions at his devotion, he proposed a bill inter- 
dicting from fire and water any person who, without sentence 
of the people, had or should put any citizen to death. Cicero, 
who, though he was not named, knew that he was aimed' 
at, was so foolish and cowardly as to change his raiment, 
(a thing he afterwards justly regretted,) and go about sup- 
plicating the people according to custom, as if he were 
actually accused; but Clodius and his ruffians met him, 
in all the streets, threw dirt and stones at him, and im- 
peded his supplications : the knights, the young men, and 
numbers of others, with young Crassus at their head, 
changed their habits with him and protected him. They 
assembled on the Capitol, and sent some of the most 
respectable of their body on his behalf to the consuls and 
the senate, who were in the temple of Concord ; but Gabin- 
ius would not let them come near the senate, and Clodius 
had them beaten by his ruffians. On the proposal of the 
tribune L. Ninius, the senate decreed that they should 
change their raiment as in a public calamity ; but Gabinius 
forbade it, and Clodius was at hand with his cut-throats, so 
'.hat many of them tore their clothes, and rushed out of 
the temple with loud cries. Pompeius had told Cicero not 
to fear, and repeatedly promised him his aid ; and CcEsar, 
whose design was only to humble him, had offered to appoint 
him his legate, to give him an excuse for absenting himself 
from the city ; but Cicero, suspecting his object in so doing, 
and thinking it derogatory to him, had refused it. He now 
found that Pompeius had been deceiving him, for he kept 

* The sodalitdtes were, properly speaking, guilds or companies of 
trades, and as such they had religious festivals, a common purse, of- 
ficers, &c. As their members were of a very low rank in society, 
trade b<fing in no repute at Rome, and as we find them mere tools of 
demagogues in their political capacity, we think the terms in the text 
will give the reader of the present (fay a more correct idea of them 
th^n the more dignified ones of guilds and companies. 

t Because thunder, &c. would cause the assembly to be put off, and 
By this means bad measures, and good ones too, had often been stopped 

X X 



394 HISTORY OF ROME. 

out of tlie way lest he should be called on to perform his 
promises. Sooner, as he says, than be the cause of civil 
tumult and bloodshed, he retired by night from the city 
which, but five years before, he had saved from the asso- 
ciates of those who now expelled him. Csesar, who had 
remained in the suburbs waiting for the effect of Clodius' 
measure?!, then set out for his province. When Clodius 
found that Cicero was gone, he had a bill passed interdicting 
him from fire and water, and outlawing any person living 
within four hundred miles of Italy who should entertain him. 
lie burned and destroyed his different villas and his house 
On the Palatine, on the site of which he built a temple to 
Liberty ! His goods were put up to auction ; but, as no one 
would bid for them, the consuls took possession of them for 
themselves. 

Cicero, it is much to be lamented, bore his exile with far 
less equanimity than could have been wished for by the ad- 
mirers of his really noble character; his extant letters are 
filled with the most unmanly complaints, and he justly drew 
on himself the derision of his enemies. But his was not 
one of those characters which, based on the high conscious- 
ness of worth, derive all their support and consolation from 
within ; it could only unfold its bloom and display ita 
strength beneath the fostering sun of public favor and ap 
plause, and Cicero was great nowhere but at Rome. It was 
his first intention to go to Sicily, but the praiior of that island, 
C. Virgilius, who had been his intimate friend, wrote desiring 
him not to enter it. He then passed over to Greece, where 
he was received with the most distinguished honors, and 
finally fixed his residence in Macedonia, where the qufBstor 
Cn. Plancius showed him every attention. 

Having driven Cicero away, Clodius next proceeded to 
remove Cato, that he might not be on the spot to impede 
his measures. And he proposed at the same time to gratify 
an old grudge against the king of Cyprus, the brother of 
the king of Egypt , for when Clodius was in Asia he chanced 
to be taken by the pirates, and, having no money, he ap- 
plied to the king of Cyprus, on whom he certainly had no 
claim. The king, who was a miser, sent him only two 
talents, and the pirates sent the paltry sum back, and sei 
Clodius at liberty without ransom. Clodius kept this con- 
duct in his mind ; and, just as he entered on his tribunate, 
the Cypriotes happening to send to Rome to complain oi 
theii king, he had a bill passed to reduce Cyprus to lh« 



ROBBERY OF THE KING OF CYPRUS. 395 

form of a province, and to sell the king's private property ; 
he added in the bill, that this province should be committed 
to Cato as quEBStor, with praetorian power, who (to keep 
him the longer away from Rome) was also directed to go 
to Byzantium, and restore the exiles who had been driven 
thence for their crimes. Cato, we are assured, undertook 
this most iniquitous commission against his will;* he exe- 
cuted it, however, most punctually. He went to Rhodes, 
whence he sent one of his friends named M, Canidius to 
Cyprus, to desire the king to resign quietly, offering' him the 
priesthood of the Paphian goddess. Ptolemseus however 
preferred death to degradation, and he took poison. Cato 
then, not trusting Canidius, sent his nephew, M. Junius 
Brutus, to look after the property, and went himself to By- 
zantium, where he effected his object without any difficulty. 
He then proceeded to Cyprus to sell the late king's prop- 
erty ; and, being resolved to make this a model-sale, he 
attended the auction constantly himself, saw that every 
article was sold to the best advantage, and even oifended 
his friends by not allowing them to get bargains. He thus 
got together a sum of 7000 talents, which he made up in 
vessels containing 2 talents 500 drachmas each, to which 
he attached a cord and cork, that they might float in case 
of shipwreck. He also had two separate accounts of the 
sale drawn out, one of which he kept, and the ether he 
committed to one of his freedmen ; but both happened to be 
lost, and he had not the gratification of proving his ability 
of making the most of a property. 

When the news that Cato had entered the Tiber with the 
money reached Rome, priests and magistrates, senate and 
people, poured out to receive him ; but, though the consuls 
and praetors were among them, Cato would not quit his 
charge till he had brought his vessel up to the quay. The 
people were amazed at the quantity of the wealth, and the 
senate voted a pra)torship to Cato, though he was under 
the legal age, and permission to appear at the games in a 
prcBterta, of which however he took no advantage. No 
one thought of the iniquity of the whole proceeding ; and 
when Cicero, after his return, wished to annul all the acts 
of Ciodius' tribunate, Cato opposed him, and this caused a 
coolness between them for some time. 

* A Roman was not at liberty ;d refuse a charge committed to him 
bv the vtate. 



396 HISTORY OF ROMR. 

Cicero had been gone but two months when his friend 
Ninius the tribune, supported by seven of his colleagues, 
made a motion in the senate for his recall. The whole 
house agreed to it, but one of the other tribunes interposed. 
Pompeius himself was, however, now disposed to join in 
restoring him, for Clodius' insolence was gone past his en- 
durance. This ruffian had by stratagem got into his hands 
the young Tigranes, whom Pompeius had given in charge to 
the praetor L. Flavins. He had promised him his liberty for 
a large sum of money ; and when Pompeius demanded him, 
he put him on board a ship bound for Asia. A storm having 
driven the vessel into Antium, Flavius went with an armed 
force to seize the prince, but Clodius met him on the Ap- 
pian Road, and, after an engagement in which several were 
slain on both sides, drove him off.* While Pompeius was 
brooding over tliis insult, one of Clodius' slaves was seized 
at the door of the senate-house with a dagger, which he 
said his master had given him that he might kill Pompeius; 
Clodius' mob also made frequent attacks on him, so that out 
of real or pretended fear he resolved to keep his house till 
the end of the year ; indeed he had been actually pursued 
to and besieged in it one day by a mob, headed by Clodius' 
freedman Damio, and the consul Gabinius had to fight in his 
defence.t Pompeius therefore now resolved to befriend 
Cicero ; and P. Sextius, one of the tribunes elect, took a 
journey into Gaul to obtain Ca;sar's consent. About the 
end of October the eight tribunes again proposed a law for 
his recall, and P. Lentulus Spinther, the consul elect, spoke 
strongly in favor of it. Lentulus' colleague, Q,. Melellus 
Nepos, though he had been Cicero's enemy, seeing how 
Caesar and Pompeius were inclined, promised his aid, as 
also did all the tribunes elect : Clodius, however, soon man- 
aged to purchase two of them. 

On the 1st of Jarmary (G9o) Lentulus moved the senate 
for Cicero's recall. L. Cotta said, that, as he had been ex- 
pelled without law, he did not require a law for his restora- 
tion. Pompeius agreed, but said that for Cicero's sake it 
would be better if the people had a share in restoring him. 
The senate were unanimously of this opinion, but the trib- 
une Sex. Serranus interposed. The senate then appointed 
the 22d for laying the matter before the people. When 
that day came, the tribune Q.. Fabricius set out before it was 

* Asconios on Cic. for Milo. f Id. ut supra 



RECALL OF CICERO. 397 

light with a party to occupy the Rostra ; but Clodius had 
already taken possession of the Forum with his own gladia- 
tors, and a band he had borrowed from his brother Appius, 
and his ordinary troop of ruffians.* Fabricius' party was 
driven off with the loss of several lives. Another tribune, 
M. Cispius, was treated in a similar manner. Q,. Cicero 
only saved himself by getting under the bodies of his slaves 
and freedmen who were slain about him in the Comitium ; 
the tribune Sextius was left for dead in the temple of Castor. 
The Tiber and the sewers were filled with dead bodies, and 
the Forum was covered with blood as in the time of the 
contest of Cinna and Octavius. Clodius, elate with his vic- 
tory, then burned the temple of the Nymphs, wher6 the 
books of the censors were kept ; he attacked the houses 
of the praetor L Csecilius and the tribune T. Annius Milo. 
The latter impeached Clodius, de vi, but his brother Appius 
tlye prsetor, and the consul Metellus, screened him, and 
meantime aided his suit for the aedileship, which would pro- 
tect him for another year. Milo then, to repel force by 
force, also purchased a band of gladiators, and daily conflicts 
occurred in the streets. 

The senate, resolved not to be thus bullied, directed the 
magistrates to summon well-affected voters from all parts of 
Italy. They came in great numbers from every town and 
district. Pompeius, who was then at Capua, exerted him- 
self greatly in the affair. Encouraged by their presence the 
senate passed a decree in proper form for Cicero's restora- 
tion ; but Clodius still was able to prevent its ratification by 
the people. The senate then met on the Capitol, (May 25 ;) 
Pompeius spoke highly in praise of Cicero; others followed 
him; Metellus, who had been playing a double part all 
through, ceased to oppose, and a decree was passed, Clodius 
alone dissenting. The senate met again the next day ; and 
Pompeius and the other leading men, having previously 
addressed the people, and told them all that had been said, 
the law was made ready to be laid before the centuries; yet, 
strange to say! Clodius, though deserted by all, was still 
able to cause a delay of two months. At length (Aug. 4) 
the centuries met on the Field of Mars, and, by a unanimous 
vote, Cicero was recalled. 

* These are always called the oper<E, (operatives.) They were the 
common workmen of the city, members of the unions, {sodalitdtes, see 
p. 393,) freedmen, slaves, «Stc. 

34 



898 HISTORY OF ROME. 

That very day Cicero sailed from Dyrrhachium and landed 
at Brundisium ; the people poured out from every town and 
village as he passed to congratulate him, and all ranks and 
orders at Rome received hmi at the Capene gate. Next day 
he returned thanks to the senate and people ; and to prove 
his gratitude to Pompeius, he was the proposer of a law, 
giving him the superintendence of the corn trade for a term 
of five years,* and Pompeius in return made him his first 
legate. The senate decreed that Cicero's house and villas 
should be rebuilt at the public expense. Cicero then as- 
serted that, as Clodius had become a plebeian in an illegal 
manner, all the acts of his tribunate were equally so, and 
should be annulled. But here he was opposed by Cato, 
whose vanity took alarm, and who fear^^d lest he shoul-d lose 
the fame of the ability with which he had conducted the 
robbery of the king of Cyprus ; and this produced a coolness 
between him and Cicero, who also was disgusted, and with 
reason, with the conduct of several of the other leaders of 
the aristocratic party, at which we need not be surprised 
when we find them, purely to annoy Pompeius, aiding Clo- 
dius so effectually that he was choscm a^dile without opposi- 
tion. This pest of Rome immediately accused Milo of the 
very crime {dc ri) of which he had been accused himself 
Pompeius appeared and spoke for Milo, and it came to a 
regular engagement between their respective partisans, in 
which the Clodians were worsted and driven off tlie Forum. 
Pompeius saw that Cra.ssus was at the bou;)m of all the 
insults offered him, and that Bibulus, Curio, and others of 
the nobles were anxious to destroy his influence, and Cicero 
agreed to join him and repel force by force if needful. 

Cicero at this time abstained as much as he could from 
public affairs, attending entirely to the bar. To understand 
his conduct we must keep his known character in view, in 
which vanity and timidity were prominent ; but he was also 
grateful, placable, and humane. He had all his life had a 
strong personal affection for Pompeius, and he was now full 
of admiration for the exploits of CirsftT in Gaul, while he was 
disgusted with the paltry conduct of the leading aristocrats. 
Hence we find him, at the request of Caesar or Pompeius, 
employing his eloquence in the defence of even his personal 

* On the motion of the tribune C. Messius it was added that Pom- 
peius should have as extensive powers at were committed to him in 
the Piratic war. . . .. . 



SECOND CONSULATE OF POMPEIUS AND CRASSUS. 399 

enemies, and doing things for which we sometimes must 
pity, sometimes despise him. It is pleasing, however, to 
behold the triumph of his eloquence in the defence of his 
friend Sextius, whom the Clodians had the audacity to prose- 
cute de vi, for not having died, we may suppose, of his 
wounds.* Cicero also carried a motion in the senate that, 
as there was not money in the treasury to purchase the 
Campanian lands, which by Caesar's law were to be divided, 
the act itself should be reconsidered. Finding, however, 
that this was highly displeasing to Ciesar and Pompeius, and 
that those who applauded him for it did it because they ex- 
pected it would produce a breach between the latter and 
him, he thought it best to consult his interest, and therefore 
dropped it. 



CHAPTER IX.f 

SECOND CONSULATE OF POMPEIUS AND CRASSUS. PARTHIAN 

WAR OF CRASSUS. HIS DEFEAT AND DEATH. ANARCHY 

AT ROME. DEATH OF CLODIUS. POMPEIUS SOLE CONSUL. 

TRIAL AND EXILE OF MILO. GALLIC WARS OF C^SAR. 

It was Caesar's custom to return after his summer cam- 
paigns in Gaul to pass the winter in his Cisalpine province, 
in order to keep up his intercourse with Rome. He came 
in the present winter (696) to Luca, (Lucca,) on the verge 
of his province, whither Pompeius, Crassus, and such a 
number of the Roman magistrates repaired, that one hun- 
dred and twenty lirtors have been seen at a time at his gates. 
It was here privately agreed by the triumvirate that JPom- 
peius and Crassus should stand for the consulate, and that, 
if successful, they should obtain a renewal of Caesar's govern- 
ment for five years longer. As the present consuls, Cn. 
Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, and L. Marcius Philippus, 
were adverse to the triumvirate, the tribune C. Cato was 

* Like Scaevola, see above, p. 344, note. 

t Appian B. C. ii. 17 — 2ii. Dion, xxxviii. 31, to the end; x.vxix. ^ 
— 5,24 — 54; xl. 1 — 57. Caesai Gallic Wars. Plut., Pompeius, Cras- 
sus, and CiEsar. 



400 HISTORY OF KOME. 

direclcd to impede all elections for the rest of the year ; and, 
in consequence of his opposition, the consular elections were 
held by an interrex in the beginning of the next year, (697.) 
Pompeius and Crassus were chosen without opposition, for 
M. Cato's brother-in-law, L. Dornitius Ahenobarbus, who 
alone ventured to stand, was, we are told,* attacked by their 
party as he was going out before day to solicit votes : the 
slave who carried the torch before him was killed ; others 
were wounded, as was Cato himself; Dornitius fled home, 
and gave up his canvass. Cato then stood for the pr^tor- 
ship ; the consuls, aware of the trouble he would give them 
if elected, made every effort to prevent him. They bribed 
extensively for his opponent P. Vatinius, and procured a 
decree of the senate that the ])ra)tors should enter on their 
office at once, instead of remaining private men for sixty 
days, as was the usual course. The first century, however, 
when the election came, voted for Cato. Pompeius, who 
presided, pretended that he heard thunder, and put off the 
election ; and the consuls took care to have Vatinius chosen 
on the following one. The tribune C Trebonius then by 
their directions proposed a bill, giving them when out of 
office the provinces of Syria and the Spains for five years, 
with authority to raise what troops Xhcy pleased ; this law, 
though strongly opposed in the senate, was carried, and 
then Pompeius proposed and carried the one he had prom- 
ised C;Bsar. 

The consuls having drawn lots for their provinces, Syria, 
as he coveted, fell to Crassus; and Pompeius was equally 
well pleased to have the Spains, which, as being at hand, he 
could govern by his lieutenants, while he himself, under 
prete.xt of his office of inspector of the corn-market, might 
remain at Rome and enjoy the domestic happiness in which 
he so much delighted. The triumvirs not thinking it neces- 
sary to interfere, L. Dornitius and Ap. Claudius were elected 
consuls, and Cato one of the praetors, for the following year, 
(693.) 

Crassus, though nothing was said in the law about the 
Parthians, made little secret of his design to make war on 
them ; and Ciesar, it is said, wrote encouraging him to it. 
Many, however, were or affected to be shocked at the injus- 
tice of making war on a people who had given no just cause, 
and the tribune C. Ateius Capito was resolved to preven* his 

* Plut. Cato, 41. 



PARTHIAN WAR OF CRASSUS. 40} 

ieparture Crassus begged of Pompeius to see him out of 
the city, as he knew he should be opposed. Pompeius com- 
plied with his request, and the people made way in silence ; 
but Ateius meeting them, called to Crassus to stop, and when 
he did not heed him, sent a beadle to seize him ; the other 
tribunes however interposed. Ateius then ran on to the 
gate, and kindling a fire on a portable altar, poured wine 
and incense on it, and pronounced direful curses on Crassus, 
invoking strange and terrible deities. 

Heedless of the tribune's imprecations, Crassus proceeded 
to Brundisium and embarked, though the sea was rough and 
stormy. He reached Epirus with the loss of several of his 
ships, and thence took the usual rout*; over land to Syria. 
He immediately crossed the Euphrates, and began to ravage 
Mesopotamia. Several of the Greek towns there cheerfully 
submitted ; but instead of pushing on, Crassus returned to 
Syria to winter, thus giving the Parthians time to collect 
their forces. He spent the winter busily engaged in ansass- 
ing treasures : to a Parthian embassy which came to com- 
plain of his acts of aggression he made a boastful reply, 
saying that he would give an answer in Seleucia ; the eldest 
of the envoys laughed, and showing the palm of his hand 
said, " Crassus' hairs will grow there before you see Se- 
leucia." 

The Roman soldiers, when they heard of the numbers of 
the Parthians, and their mode of fighting, were dispirited ; 
the soothsayers announced evil signs in the victims ; C. 
Cassius, the qu.-Bstor, and his other officers advised Crassus 
to pause, but in vain. To as little effect did the Armenian 
prince Artabazes, who came with six thousand horse and 
promised many more, counsel him to march through Arme- 
nia, which was a hilly country and adverse to cavalry, in 
which the Parthian strength lay : he replied that he would 
go through Mesopotamia, where he had left many brave 
Romans in garrison. The Armenian then retired, and 
Crassus passed the river at Zeugma, (699;) thunder roared, 
lightning flashed, and other ominous signs, it is said, ap- 
peared ; but they did not stop him. He marched along its 
left bank, his army consisting of seven legions, with nearly 
one thousand horse, and an equal number of light troops. 

As no enemy appeared, Cassius advised to keep along tne 
••iver till they reached Seleucia; but an Arab emir, named 
Agbar, (Akbar, i. c Great,) who had been on friendly terms 
with the Romans when Pompeius was there, now came and 

34* YY 



402 HISTORY OF ROME 

joined Crassus, and assuring him that the Parlhiaiis were 
rollectincr their most valuable property with the intention of 
flying to Hyrcania and Scythia, urged him to push on with- 
out delay. But all he said was false ; he was come to lead 
the Romans to their ruin : the Parthian king Orodes had 
himself invaded Armenia, and hit- general, Surena, was at 
hand with a large army. Crassus, liowevei, gave credit to 
the Arab ; he left the river and entered on the extensive plain 
of Mesopotamia. Cassius gave over his remonstrances : the 
Arab led them on, and when he had brought them to the 
place arranged with the Parthians, he rode off, assuring 
Crassus that it was for his advantage. That very day a 
party of horse, sent to reconnoitre, fell in with the enemy 
and were nearly all killed. This intelligence perplexed 
Crassus, but he resolved to proceed ; he drew up his infantry 
in a square, with the horse on the flanks, and moved on. 
They reached a stream, where his oflicers wished him to h;dt 
for the night, and try to gain further intelligence; but he 
would go on, and at length they came in sight of the enemy. 
Surena, however, kept the greater part of his troops out of 
view, and those who appeared had their armor covered to 
deceive the Romans. At a signal the Parthians began to 
beat their numerous kettledrums ; and when they thought 
this unusual sound had thrilled the hearts of the Romans, 
they flung off" their coverings, and appeared glittering in 
helms and corselets of steel, and pouring round the solid 
mass of the Romans, showered their arrows on them, numer- 
ous camels being at hand laden with arrows to supply them. 
The light troops vainly essayed to drive them off"; Crassus 
then desired his son to charge with his horse and light troops. 
The Parthians, feigning flight, drew them on, and when they 
were at a suflicient distance from the main army, they turned 
and assailed them, riding round and roun<l so as to raise such 
a dust that the Romans could not see to defend themselves. 
When numbers had been slain, P. Crassus broke through 
with a part of the horse and reached an eminence, but the 
persevering foe gave them no rest. Two Greeks of that 
country proposed to P. Crassus to escape with them in the 
night, but he generously refused to quit his comrades. Be- 
ing wounded, he made his shield-bearer kill him ; the Par- 
thians slew all that were with him but five hundred, and 
cutting off his head set it on a spear. 

Crassus was advancing to the relief of his son when the 
rolling of the Parthian^ drums was heard, and they carae 



DEFEAT OF CRASSUS. 403 i 

exhibiting the head of his son. The spirits of the Romans 
were now quite depressed ; Crassus vainly tried to rouse them, | 

crying that the loss was his not theirs, and urging them 
to renewed exertions. The Parthians after harassing them 
through the day retired for the night. Cassius and the le- 
gate Octavius, having vainly tried to rouse their general, who j 
was now sunk in despair, called a council of the officers, i 
and it was resolved to attempt a retreat that night. The 1 
wailing of the sick and wounded who were left behind in 
formed the Parthians, but it not being their custom to fighr. 
at night they remained quiet till morning. They then tooK j 
the deserted camp and slaughtered four thousand men wliom | 
they found in it, and pursuing after the army cut off the | 
stragglers. The Romans reached the town of Carrh^, in j 
which they had a garrison. Surena, to keep them from re- 
treat, made feigned proposals of peace ; but finding that he 
was only deceiving them, they set out in the night under the ) 
guidance of a Greek : their guide however proved treacher- 
ous, and led them into a place full of marshes and ditches. : 
Cassius, who suspected him, turned back and made his es- - 
cape with five hundred horse ; Octavius with five thousand | 
men, having had fiiithful guides, reached a secure position i \ 
among the hills, and he brought off Crassus, who was assailed | \ 
in the marshes by the Parthians. Surena, fearing lest they | [ 
should get off in the night, let go some of his prisoners, in i I 
whose hearing he had caused to be said that the king did not [ | 
wish to carry things to extremities; and he himself and his i \ 
officers rode to the hill with unbent bows, and holding out I [ 
his hand he called on Crassus to come down and meet him. \ \ 
The soldiers were overjoyed, but Crassus put no faith in him ; 
at length when his men, having urged and pressed, began to 
abuse and threaten him, he took his officers to witness of 
the force that was put on him, and went down accompanied 
by Octavius and some of his other officers. The Parthians 
at first affected to receive him with respect, and a horse was 
brought for him to mount ; but they soon contrived to pick 
a quarrel, and killed him and all who were with him. The 
head and right hand of Crassus were cut. off; quarter was 
then offered to the troops, and most of them surrendered. 
The loss of the Romans in this unjust and ill-fated expedi- 
tion was 20,000 slain and 10,000 captured. The Parthians, 
it is said, poured molten gold down the throat of Crassus, in 
reproach of his insatiable avarice. They afterwards made 
irruptions into Syria, which Cassius gallantly defended 
against them. 



404 HISTORY OF ROME. 

When the news of Crassus' defeat and death reached 
Rome, the concern felt for the loss of the army was consid- 
erable, that of himself was thought nothing of; yet this waa 
in reality the greater lops of the two, for he alone had the 
power to keep Cresar and Ponipeius at unity, as Julia, whom 
they both agreed in loving as she deserved, and who was a 
bond of union between them, had lately died in childbirth, 
to the grief not merely of her father and husband, but of the 
whole Roman people. 
j Affairs at Rome were now indeed in a state of perfect an 

archy ; violence and bribery were the only modes of obtain- 
ing office. In 09H, all the candidates for the consulate were 
\ \ prosecuted for bribery ; and C. Mcmmius, one of them, ac- 

1 ' tually read in the senate a written agreement between him- 

[ < self and a fellow-candidate Cn. Domitius Calvinus on one 

I \ part, and the consuls L. Doniifius and Ap. Claudius on the 

5 \ other, by which the two former bound themselves, if elected 

I f through the consuls' inthience, to pay them each 40,000 

S } sesterces unloss they produced three augurs to declare that 

I I they were present when the curiate law was passed, and two 

? I consulars to aver that they were present when the consular 

[ I provinces were arranged, which would give the ex-consuls 

ij ^ the provinces they desired, — all utterly false.* By these 

I i and other delays the elections were kept off for seven months, 

I f Pompeius looking quietly on in hopes that they would be 

H obliged to create him dictator. Many spoke of it as the 

5 5 only remedy ; and though they did not name, they described 

I ] him very exactly as the fittest person ; but Sulla had made 

[ p the name of dictator too odious : others talked of consular 

I ? military tribunes. Cn. Domitius Calvinus and M. Valerius 

I i Messala were, however, chosen consuls at the end of the 

? t seven tnonths, (tiW.) 

i \ The next ypar (700) T. Annius Milo was among the can- 

i \ didates, and he bribed to a most enormous extent. Clodilis 

1 ) stood for the prretorship, and between his retainers and those 

I I of INIilo and the other candidates scenes of tumidt and 

J I bloodshed occurred in the streets almost daily. Pompeius 

f I and the tribune L. JMunatius Plancus purposelv kept the pa- 

' tricians from meeting to appoint an interrex to hold the elec- 

tions. During this time Milo, who was dictator of his native 
place Lanavium, had occasion to go thither to appoint a 
chief-'irrest ; Ciodius, who had been »: harangue the magis 

• Cicero ad Att. iv. 18 



DEATH OF CLODIUS. 405 ! 

i 
I 

trates at Aricia, where he had a great deal of influence, hap- : 

pened to be returning just at this time, and he met Mile ' 

near Bovillae. Milo was in his carriage with his wife, the j i 

daughter of Sulla, and a friend, and lie was attended by a * | 

numerous train, among which were some of his gladiators : i j 

Clodius was on horseback, with thirty armed bravos, who 1 | 

aljvajs accompanied him. Two of Milo's people followed t ? 

those of Clodius and began to quarrel with them, and when ! i 

he turned round to menace them, one of them ran a long i 

sword through his shoulder. The tumult then became gen- ' | 

eral ; Clodius had been conveyed into an adjoining tavern, :' f 

but Milo forced it, dragged him out, and killed him out- l \ 

right ; his dead body was thrown on the highway, where it | | 

lay till a senator, who was returning to the city from his \ i 
country seat, took it up and brought it with him in his litter. | 

It was laid in the hall of Clodius' own house, and his wife ; t 

Fulvia with floods of tears showed his bleeding wounds to \ I 

the rabble who repaired thither, and excited them to ven- \ I 

geance. Next morning Clodius' friends, the tribunes CI. ( | 

Pompeius Rufus and L. Mnnatius Plancus, exposed it on the • | 

Rostra, and harangued the populace over it. The mob i I 

snatched it up, carried it into the senate-house, and making i I 

a pyre of the seats burned it and the house together. They l ^ 

then ran to Milo's house intending to burn it also, but they \ t 

were beaten off" by his slaves. '[. | 

The excesses committed by the mob having injured the 
Clodian cause, Milo ventured to return to the city, and to .go 

on bribing and canvassing for the consulate. The tribune ; l 

M. Ccelius, whom he had gained, having filled the Forum 1 1 

with a purchased mob, led Milo thither to defend himself, in [ | 

hopes of having him acquitted by them as by the people , '* | 

but the adverse tribunes armed their partisans and fell on { I 

and scattered them. Milo and Coelius were forced to fly in N 

the dress of slaves ; the rabble killed, wounded, and robbed { i 

without distinction ; houses were broken open, plundered, | I 

and burnt, under the pretext of seeking for the friends of { ! 

Milo. These excesses lasted for several days, and the senate | [ 
at length decreed that the interrex, the tribunes of the peo- 
ple, and Pompeius, should see that the republic sustained no 

injury ; and finally, as there seemed an absolute necessity l 
for some extraordinary power, to avoid a dictatorship, and to 
exclude Cssar (who was spoken of) from the consulate, it 
was resolved on the motion of Bibulus, with the assent of 
Cato, to make Pompeius sole consul. 



U 



5 <■ 



406 HISTORY F ROME. 

Pompeius, as soon as he entered on his office, had two 
.aws passed, one against violence, the other against bribery. 
He himself selected the persons who were to act as judges; 
regulated the number of pleaders in a cause; gave two hours 
to the prosecutor to speak, three to the accused to reply, 
and forbade any one to come forward to praise the accused. 
To insure prosecutions for bribery, he promised a pardon to 
any one found guilty of it if he convicted two others of an 
equal or lesser degree, or one of a greater. 

These preparations being made, the prosecution of Milo 
commenced. L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the consul of the 
year 098, was chosen president by the people, and a jury, 
one of the most respectable we are assured that Rome ever 
beheld, was appointed. Milo and Ccelius had recourse to 
every means to prevent a conviction. The former was 
charged with having seized five persons who had witnessed 
the murder of Clodius. and kept them in close custody for 
two months at his country seat ; the latter with taking by 
force one of Milo's slaves out of the house of one of the 
Triumviri Capitales.* Cicero was to plead Milo's cause. 
On the first day the tumult was so great that the lives of 
Pompeius and his lictors were endangered; he had therefore 
soldiers placed in various parts of the city and Forum, with 
orders to strike with the flat of their swords any that were 
making a noise ; but this not sufficing, they were obliged to 
wound and even kill several persons. Wiien quiet was re- 
stored, Cicero advanced to speak. He was received with a 
loud shout of defiance by the Clodian faction ; and the sight 
of Pompeius sitting surrounded by his officers, and the view 
of the temples and places around the Forum filled with 
armed men, so daunted him, that he pleaded with far less 
than his usual ability Milo was found guilty, and he went 
into exile at Masilia. 

Other offenders were then prosecuted. P. Plautius Hyp- 
saeus was found guilty of bribery, as also were P. Sextius, 
C. Memmius, and M. Scaurus. This last then accused, 
under the late law, Pompeius' own father-in-law, Q. Metel- 
lus Scipio.f Pompeius was weak enough to become a sup- 

1 * The best account of the death of Clodius, and trial of Milo, ia 

fiven by Asconius, in his arguinenti to tl»e notes on Cicero's oration. 
Ve have followed this writer chiefly in the preceding narrative, 
t Pompeius was now tnarrj^d to Scipio's daughter Cornelia, the 
widow of the younger GraSsus; a yoUrio'lady of the highest mentai 
endowments and of great beauty and virtue. 



GALLIC WARS OF CiESAR. 407 

pliant for him, and hi sent for the three hundred and sixty 
persons who were on the jury-panel, and besought them to 
aid him. When Memmius saw Scipio come into the Forum 
surrounded by those who would have to try him, he gave 
over the prosecution, lamenting the ruin of the constitution. 
Rufus and Plancus when out of office were prosecuted for 
the burning of the senate-house, and Pompeius again was 
weak enough to break his own law by sending a written 
euloory of Plancus into the court. Cato, who was one of the 
jury, said that Pompeius must not be allowed to violate his 
own law. Plancus then challenged Cato ; but it did not 
avail him, as the others found him guilty. 

Pompeius, having acted for some time as sole consul, made 
his father-in-law his colleague for the five months that re- 
mained of his consulate. He had his own command in 
Spain extended for another term of five years, but he gov- 
erned his province, as before, by legates; and to soothe 
Caesar, he had a law passed to enable him to sue for the 
consulate without coming to Rome in person. To strengthen 
the laws against bribery, it was enacted that no consul or 
praetor should obtain a province till he had been five years 
out of office ; and to provide for the next five years, it was 
decreed that the consulars and praetorians who had not had 
provinces should now take them. Cicero, therefore, much 
against his will, was obliged to go as proconsul to Cilicia ; 
his government of it was a model of justice and disinterested- 
ness, and proves how he would have acted if free at all times 
to follow his own inclinations, and, we must add, if less under 
the influence of vainglory and ambition. We must now 
turn our regards to Caesar and his exploits in Gaul. 

While such was the condition of affairs at Rome, this 
great man was acquiring the wealth and forming the army 
by means of which he hoped to become master of his coun- 
try. He has himself left a narrative of his Gallic campaigns 
which, though of course partial,* is almoa> our only author 
ity for this part of the Roman history. 

Fortune favored Caesar by furnishing him with an early 
occasion of war, though his province was quite tranquil 
when he received it, (694.) The Helvetians, a people of 
Galfic race, who dwelt fr( m Mount Jura far into the Alps, 
resolved to leave their m )untains and seek new seats in 

* Here, as in the Punic wars ve have reason to regret that the lions 
were not painters ! 



403 HISTOKY OF ROME. 

Gaul ; and having burnt all their towns and vil ages, they 
set forth with wives and children to tlie number of ;]5(>,000 
souls. As their easier way lay through the Roman province, 
they sent, on hearing that Cie.sar had broken down the 
bridge over the Rhone at Geneva, and was making prepara- 
tions to oppose them, to ask a free passage, promising to do 
no injury. Caesar, who had not all his troops with iiim, gave 
an evasive answer, and meantime ran a ditch and rampart 
from the Leinan lake to Mount Jura. The Helvetians then 
turned, and going by Mount Jura entered the country of the 
Sequanians and ^Eduans ; but Caesar fell on them as they 
were passing the Arar, (Saone,) and defeated them ; he 
afterwards routed them again, and finally compelled them 
to return to their own country, lest the Germans should 
occupy it. 

The yEduans, who were ancient allies of Rome, then com- 
plained to Ca?sar that their neighbors, the Arvernians and 
Sequanians, having in their disputes with them invited aGer- 
man chief named Ariovistus {Htcr-furst, 'Army-prince?') 
to their aid, he had occupied a part of the land of the Se- 
quanians, and now menaced the freedom of all the surround- 
ing peoples ; their only hopes, they added, lay in the Ro- 
mans. This invitation was, as they knew, precisely what 
Ca?sar desired ; he promised aid, and as in his consulate he 
had had Ariovistus acknowledged as a king and friend of the 
Roman people, and he now wished to put him in the wrong, 
he sent to require him to meet him at a certain place. The 
German haughtily replied, that if Caisar wanted to speak 
with him he should come to him. Cssar, further to irritate 
him, desired him to give back the hostages of the allies of 
Rome, and not to enter their lands or to bring over any more 
auxiliaries from Germany. Ariovistus replied by seizing on 
the Sequanian town of Besontion, (Besan^on.) On learning 
that the powerful nation of the Suevians were sending troops 
to Ariovistus, Caesar resolved to march against him at once. 
But his soldiers were daunted by what they heard of the 
strength and ferocity of the Germans, till he made a speech 
to reassure them, in which he declared that with the tenth 
legion alone he would prosecute the war. At the desire of 
Ariovistus a conference was held, at which however nothing 
could be arranged ; and while it was going on, news (true 
or false) was brought to ^tesar that the Germans had at- 
tacked the Romans; this broke off the conference; Caesar 



GALLIC WARS OF C^ISAR. 



409 



refused to renew it; and a battle taking place, Ariovistus 
was defeated, and forced to recross the Rhine. 

Cajsar then retired for the winter to Cisalpine Ciaul, under 
the pretext of regulating the province, but in reality to keep 
up his communication with Rome, and acquire new friends 
there. As he had left his troops in the country of the Se- 
quanians, the Belgians, a powerful people, who Were a mix- 
ture of Germans and Gauls, and dwelt in the north-east of 
Gaul, fearing for their independence, resolved to take up 
arms. The Germans on this side of the Rhine joined them, 
and they invaded (695) the states in alliance with the Ro- 
mans. Caesar lost no time in repairing to the defence of his 
allies; and the Belgians finding that the yEduans had in- 
vaded their country, and moreover, being in want of supplies, 
returned home; but they were fallen on and defeated with 
great loss by a division of Caesar's troops, and he himself 
entering their country took the town of Noviodunum, 
(Noyon,) and obliged the Suessiones, (Soissons,)* Bellava- 
cans, (Beauvais,) and Ambianians (Amiens) to sue for peace. 
He then entered the territory of the Nervians, (Ilainault.) 
This people, the bravest of the Belgians, attacked him by 
surprise, routed his cavalry, and killed all the centurions of 
two legions ; the camps on both sides were taken, and Caesar 
himself was for some time surrounded with his guards on a 
hill : victory, however, was finally on the side of the Romans, 
and the Nervians sued for peace. The Atuaticans, when 
they saw the military machines advanced against their walls, 
submitted ; but they resumed their arms, and Caesar took 
and plundered the town, and sold 53,000 of the inhabitants. 
Caesar's legate, P. Crassus, who (we are not told why) had 
led a legion against the Venetans (Vannes) and other neigh- 
boring peoples on the Ocean, now sent to say that they had 
submitted. The legions were then placed for the winter in 
the country of the Carniites, (Chartres,) Andes, (Anjou,) 
and Turones, (Tourraine,) and Caesar returned to Italy. 
On the motion of Cicero the senate decreed a supplication 
of fifteen days for these victories, — tke longest ever as yet 
decreed. 

During the winter P. Crassus, who was quartered with 
the seventh legion in the country of the Andes, being in 
want of corn sent some of his officers to apply for some to 



• * As In France the name of the people is usually retained onlj ia 
that of the town, we give this last. 

35 zz. 



410 HISTORY OF ROME 

the Venetans and the adjoining peoples. The Venetana 
however detained the envoys, in order to get back their 
hostages in exchange, and the rest followed their example. 
Coesar, when he heard of this, sent directions to have ships 
of war built on the Ligeris, (Loire,) and ordered sailors and 
pilots to repair thither from the province, and in the spring 
(01)0) he set out to take the command in person. The 
Venetans were a seafaring people, their towns mostly lay 
on capes, where they could not easily be attacked, and 
their navy was numerous. The contest Cajsar saw must be 
on tiie sea, and his fleet therefore entered the ocean. The 
Roman ships of war were, as usual, impelled by oars, while 
thosie of the enemy, which were also much higher, were 
worked hv sails. At first the advantage was on the side of 
the Gauls; but Csesar had provided a number of scythes set 
on poles, with which the Romans laid hold on the rigging 
of the Gallic ships, and then urging on their own, thus cut 
the cordage, and caused the sails to fall. This device, like 
that of the ravrns in the old times, gave the Romans the 
victory : a sudden calm that came on was also greatly in 
their favor. The Venetans were forced to sue for peace, 
and as they had only detained his agents, Caesar was merci- 
fully content with putting their whole senate to death, and 
selling the people for slaves. 

As the Morinians and Menapians of the north coast (Pi- 
cardy) had been in league with the Venetans, Caesar invaded 
their country, which abounded in woods and marshes ; but 
the approach of the wet season obliged him to retire. Hav- 
ing put his troops into winter quarters, he set out to look 
after his affairs in Italy, and had the meeting at Luca with 
Pompeius and Crassus above related. During this summer 
P. Crassus, who had been sent ijito Aquitaine to keep it 
quiet, or rather, as it would appear, to raise a war, routed 
the Sotiates, (Sos,) forced their chief town to surrender ; 
and defeated a large army of the adjoining peoples, and the 
Spaniards who had joined them. Shortly after he left Gaul 
to join his father in Syria, taking with him 1000 Gallic 
horse. 

Tribes of Germans named Usipetes and Tencterians hav 
ing crossed the Rhine and entered the Menapian country, 
CsBsar feared lest their presence might induce the Gauls t« 
rise, and hastened (697) to oppose them. Some negotiations 
took place between them, during which (if we may credit 
Cffisar) a body of eight hundred German horse fell on. ao4 



GALLIC WARS OF C^SAR. ''411 

even put to flight with a loss of seventy-four men, five thou- 
sand Roman cavalry ; and they then had the audacity to 
send an embassy, in which were all their principal men, to 
the Roman camp to justify themselves and to seek another 
truce. But Caesar was even with them ; he detained the 
envoys, and, having thus deprived them of their leaders, fell 
Dn and slaughtered them ; and most of those who escaped 
were drowned in the Rhine and Meuse as they fled. Being 
resolved that Gaul should be all his own, CfEsar thought it 
would be well to show the Germans that their country too 
might be invaded. Accordingly, under the pretext of aiding 
the Ubians against the Suevians, he threw a bridge over the 
Rhine, and having ravaged the lands of the Sicambrians, 
who had retired to their woods, he entered the country of 
the Ubians ; then hearing that the Suevians had collected all 
their forces in the centre of their territory, and waited there 
to give him battle, he returned to the Rhine, having, as he 
says, accomplished all he had proposed. This run into 
Germany had occupied but eighteen days ; and as there was 
a pTirt of the summer remaining, he resolved to employ it in 
a similar inroad into the isle of Britain, whose people had 
been so audacious as to send aid to the Gauls when fighting 
for their independence against him : moreover, the invasion 
of unknown countries, like Germany and Britain, would tell 
well at Rome. He accordingly had ships brought round 
from the Loire to the Morinian coast, (Boulogne,) and 
putting two legions on board he set sail at midnight. At 
nine next morning he reached the coast of Britain ; but as 
the cliffs (Dover) were covered with armed men, he cast 
anchor, and in the evening sailed eight miles further down, 
(Deal,) and there effected a landing, though vigorously op- 
posed by the natives. The Britons soon sent to sue for 
peace; and they had given some of the hostages demanded 
of them, when a spring-tide having greatly damaged the 
Roman fleet, they resolved to try again the fate of war. 
They fell on the seventh legion as it was out foraging, and 
Caesar had some difficulty in bringing it off; they afterwards 
assailed the Roman camp, but were repulsed, and Cccsar, 
who had neither cavalry nor corn, and who wanted to get 
back to Gaul, readily made peace on their promise of send- 
ing a double number of hostages thither after him. He then 
departed ; and having written the wonderful news to Rome, 
a supplication of twenty days was decreed. ' '* 

As but two of the British states sent the hostages. Cxsar 



412 HISTORY OF ROME. 

resolved to make this a pretext foj a second invasion of their 
island. When, therefore, he was setting ont ns usual for 
Italy, he directed his legates to repair the old and build new 
ships : and on his return in the spring (698) he found a 
fleet of twenty-eight long ships and six hundred transports 
ready. He embarked with five legions and two tiiousand 
Gallic horse, and landed at the same place as before. The 
Britons retired to the hills; and Caisar, having left some 
troops to guard his camp, advanced in quest of them. He 
found them posted on the banks of a river, (the Stour,) about 
twelve miles inlands. He attacked and drove then) off; but 
next day, as he was preparing to advance into the country, 
he was recalled to the coast by tidings of the damage his 
fleet had sustained from a storm during the night. Having 
given the needful directions, he resumed his pursuit of the 
Britons, who laying aside their jealousies had giveii the su- 
preme command to Cassivelaunus, king of the Trinobanlcs, 
(Essex and Middlesex ;) but the Roman cavalry cut them up 
so dreadfully when they attacked the foragers, that they 
dispersed, and most of them went to their homes. Ca;sar 
then advanced, and having forced the passage of the Thames 
invaded Cassivelaunus' kingdom, and took his chief tov.-n ; * 
and having received the submissions and hostages of various 
states, and regulated the tributes they should (Ijut never did) 
pay, he returned to Gaul, where it being now late in autumn, 
he put his troops into winter (jiiarters. The Gauls, however, 
who did not comprehend the right of Rome and C<esar to a 
dominion over them, resolved to fall on the several Roman 
camps, and thus to free their country. The eighth legion 
and five cohorts who were quartered in the country of the 
Eburones (Liege) were cut to pieces by that people, led by 
their prince Ambiorix ; the camp of the legate Q. Cicero 
was assailed by the Eburones and the Nervians, and only 
saved by the arrival of Caesar in person, who gave the Gauls 
a total defeat. The country became now tolerably tranquil ; 
but C.-Esar, knowing that ho should have a war in the spring, 
had three new legions raised in Italy, and he prevailed on 
Pompeius to lend him one which he had just formed. 

The most remarkable event of the following year (699) 
was Caesar's second passage of the Rhine to punish the 

* The British towns were merely fastnesses in the winds withoiit 
•ny walls; their dwellings were mere cabins. The BriUiis wei» 
mach brkind the Gauls in civilization. 



GALLIC WARS OF C^SAR. 413 

Germans for giving aid to their oppressed ne ghbors. He 
threw a bridge over the Rhine a little higher up the river 
than the former one, and advanced to attack the Suevians; 
but learning that they had assembled all their forces at the 
edge of a forest and there awaited him, he thought it ad- 
visable to retire, fearing, as he tells us, the want of corn in 
a country where there was so little tillage as in Germany.* 
Having broken down the bridge on the German side, and 
left some cohorts to guard what remained standing, he then 
proceeded with all humanity to extirpate the Eburones, on 
account, he says, of their perfidy. He hunted them down 
every where ; he burned their towns and villages, consumed 
or destroyed all their corn, and then left their country with 
the agreeable assurance that those who had escaped the 
sword would perish of famine. Then, having executed more 
majorum a prince of the Senones, and thus tranquillized 
Gaul, as he terms it, he set out for Italy to look after his 
interests there. 

The next year (700) there was a general rising of nearly 
all Gaul against the Roman dominion. The chief command 
was given to Vercingetorix, prince of the Arvernians, (Au- 
vergne,) a young man of great talent and valor. Ceesar 
immediately left Italy, and crossing Mount Cebenna, (Ce- 
vennes,) though the snow lay six feet deep on it, at the head 
of his raw levies entered and ravaged the country of the 
Arvernians, who sent to recall Vercingetorix to their aid. 
Then leaving M. Brutus in command, Ctesar departed, and 
putting himself at the head of his cavalry, went with all 
speed to the country of the Lingones, (Langres,) and there 
assembled his legions. Vercingetorix then laid siege to 
Gergovia, in the country of the Bituriges : Cresar hastened 
to his relief; on his way he took the towns of Vellanodunum 
(Beaune) and Genabum, (Orleans,) and having crossed the 
Loire, laid siege to Noviodiinum, (Nouan,) and on its sur- 
render advanced against Avaricum, (Bourges,) the capital 
of the country, and one of the finest cities in Gaul. Vercin- 
getorix, who had raised the siege of Gergovia, held a council, 
in which he proposed, as the surest mode of distressing the 
Romans, to destroy all the towns and villages in the country. 
This advice being approved of, upwards of twenty towns 
were levelled ; but, at the earnest entreaty of the Bituriges, 
Avaricum was exempted ; a garrison was put into it, and 

* We may suspect that he feared something else also 
35* 



414 HISTORY OF ROME. 

the Gallic army encamped at a moderate distance from the 
town in order to impede the besiegers. Avaricum never- 
tlieless was taken after a gallant defence : the Romans spared 
neither man, woman, nor child ; and of forty thousand in- 
hal)itants eight hundred only escaped. Caesar then laid 
siege to a town also named Gergovia; but, though he de- 
feated the Gallic armies, he was obliged lo raise it on account 
of the revolt of the vEduans. Some time after, Vercingeto- 
rix, having attacked Cajsar on his march, and being repulsed, 
threw himself into Alesia, a strojig town in the modern 
Durgundy, built on a hill at the confluence of two rivers. 
The Gauls collected a large army and came to its relief; 
but their forces were defeated, and the town was compelled 
to surrender. Vercingetorix was reserved to grace the 
conqueror's triumph, to whom a supplication of twenty days 
was decreed at Rome. 

In the next campaign (TOl) Caesar and his legates sub- 
dued such states as still maintained their independence. As 
the people of Uxellodunam (in Querci) made an obstinate 
defence, Cajsar, (his lenity being, as we are assured, so 
well known that none could charge him with cruelty,) in 
order to deter the rest of the Gauls from insurrection and 
re.-;istance, cut off the hands of all the men, and then let 
them go, that all flight see them. The following year, 
(702,) as all Gaul was reduced to peace,* he regulated its 
affairs, imposing an annual tribute; and, having established 
his dominion over it, he prepared to impose his yoke on his 
own country. 

The military talent displayed by Ca;sar in the conquest of 
Gaul is not to be disputed, and it alone would suffice to place 
him in the first rank of generals. But is it to be endured 
that a man should obtain praise and renown for slaughtering 
iiniocent nations in order to be enabled to overthrow the 
constitution of his country ? We are told that he took or 
received the submission of SOO towns, subdued 300 nations; 
defeated in battle 3,000,000 of men, of whom 1,000,000 
were slain, and 1,000,000 taken and sold for slaves ;t and 
all this misery was inflicted that Csesar might be great! 

* " Ubi sotitudinem faciunt, pacem adpellant," said the Caledonian 
warrior. Tacit. Agric. 30. 

i Appian, Celt. 2 Pliny, H. N. vii. 25. 



COMMENCE JtfENT OF THE CJVIL WAR 4L 



CHAPTER X.* 

COMMENCEMENT OF THE CIVIL WAR. C^SAR AT ROME 

CjESAR's WAR IN SPAIN. SURRENDER OF MASSILIA, 

Cesar's civil regulations. — military events in epi- 

RIJS 

There were now in the Roman world two men, C.-ssar 
and Pompeius, of weight and influence far superior to all 
others ; there were also two parties in the state, one for 
maintaining the constitution as it was, the other for revolu- 
tion ; it was therefore hardly possible that each party should 
not range itself under its appropriate chief, and a civil 
contest ensue. 

At the elections in 701t the consuls chosen for the fol- 
lowing year were L. .^milius Paulus and M. Claudius Mar- 
cellus; M. Coelius was one of the aediles, and C. Scriboniua 
Curio one of the tribunes, — -all hitherto of the aristocratic 
party , but C.-esar had secretly purchased Paulus and Curio, 
and he had also gained over Ccelius. On the first of March 
(702) a motion which had long been meditated was made 
by the consul Marcellus for regulating the consular prov- 
inces, and therefore requiring Csesar to resign his command ; 
Curio, who was now openly on Caesar's side, declared his 
approbation of it, provided Pompeius did the same. To this 
the senate would not consent, and Curio then put his nega- 
tive on every other resolution. Pompeius was resolved that 
Caesar should not be consul, unless he resigned his army and 
provinces, and Caesar was persuaded that there was no safety 
for him if he left his army; for Cato and his friends had 
already menaced him with a prosecution for his illegal acts 
in his consulate. He however gave up two legions, to be 
sent to Syria ; but they were retained by Marcellus, and 
kept near the city. 

Pompeius was at this time as eager for war as Caesar pos- 
sibly could be. The zeal and anxiety shown by the people 

* Crosar, Civil Wars. Dion, xl. 58, to the end ; xli. 1—52. Ap- 
pian, B. C. ii. 2() — 65. Velleius, ii. 48 — 51. Suetonius, Jul. Caesar, 
Plutnrch, Lives of Ctesar and Pompeius. 

t At the elections of the preceding year Cato stood for the consulate 
but as he would neither bribe nor court the electors he was of course 
Mnsuccessful. 



416 HISTORY OF ROME. 

of Italy, on occasion of an illness he had this year in Ca n« 
pania, gave him the most exaggerated ideas of his influei ce 
over them, and he was completely misled by the accounts 
he received of the ill-humor of Caesar's legions and the dis- 
affection of his provinces. He therefore derided those who 
expressed apprehension, and when some one said tliat if 
Caesar entered Italy there were no troops to oppose him, he 
replied, " Wherever I but stamp with my foot legions will 
rise up." 

On the first of January, 703, Curio came with a letter 
from Cesar, saying that he would lay down his command if 
Pompeius did the same ; otherwise he would march into 
Italy, and avenge himself and the republic. The consuls, 
C. Marcellus and L. Lentulus Crus, would not allow the 
senate to take the letter into their consideration ; and after 
some debate it was agreed to declare Caesar a public enemy 
if he did not disband his army against a certain day. The 
tribunes M. Antoniiis and Q. Cassius Longinus, sworn allies 
of Caesar, put their negative on this decree, and nothing was 
then decided on. Pompeius expressed his approbation of 
the conduct of the consuls and more resolute mendjers of the 
senate, and his veteran officers now began to flock from all 
sides to Rome in hopes of a war. The contest meantime in 
the senate Avas continued till the seventh day, when the 
consuls menaced the two tribunes, and it is even said ordered 
them to leave the house ; and a decree was made that the 
consuls and other magistrates should take care that the 
republic sustained no injury. That very night Antonius and 
Cassius, disguised as slaves, left Rome in a hired carriage, 
and hastened to join Cresar, and they were followed by Curio 
and Ccelius. 

The senate was then, on account of Pompeius, held with- 
out the city, and he expressed his entire approbation of what 
had been do^ie, and said that he had ten legions in arms, 
and that he knew Caesar's troops to be discontented. It was 
resolved that troops should be raised all through Italy, Pom- 
peius be supported with money out of the treasury, and 
governors be sent out to all the p 'ovinces. War in effect 
was declared asiinsf Cresar. 

Cfpsar w.Ts at Ravenna with bu one legion when he heard 
of the proceedings against him. He forthwith assembled his 
soldiers and complained to them of the treatment he had 
received from the senate, and dwelt particularly on the indig- 
nities offered the trilsunes. The soldiers having declared 



COMMENCEMENT OF THE CIVIL WAR. 417 

their resolution to stand by him, he sent off orders to his 
legates in Transalpine Gaul to make all haste to join him 
with their troops, and he then set forward for Ariminum. 
It is said that he sent his cohorts on secretly before him with 
directions to occupy that town, the first in Italy, and that he 
himself, to obviate suspicion, having spent the day in view- 
ing the exercises of gladiators, sat down as usual to supper 
in the evening. When it grew dark he rose and went out, 
telling the company he would return presently. But he had 
desired some of his friends to set forth, and he himself 
mounting a hired horse took at first the contrary way, then 
turned and directed his course for Ariminum. When he 
came up with his troops at the Rubicon, a stream which 
divided Italy from Gaul, he halted and paused for some time, 
reflecting on the consequences of the step he was about to 
take. He debated the question with C. Asinius Pollio and 
his other friends : at length, bidding adieu to reflection, he 
cried out, "Let the die be cast!" he passed the bridge, 
followed by his troops, and at dawn entered and took pos- 
session of Ariminum, where he found Antonius and Cassius, 
whom he produced in their servile disguise to the soldiers, 
and expatiated on the wrongs they had sustained. He sent 
Antonius with five cohorts to seize Arretium ; others to 
Pisaurum, (Pesaro,) Fanum and Ancona, and Curio to 
Iguvium, (Agubbio,) while he himself remained to levy more 
troops. His principal legate T. Atius Labienus left him at 
this time, and went to join Pompeius and the senate, who 
were much animated by his arrival and the report he made 
of CcEsar's forces. 

When the intelligence of Ca;sar's advance reached Rome, 
Pompeius, the consuls, and the senate retired with the utmost 
celerity to Capua, not even taking the money out of the 
treasury. P. Lentulus Spinther threw himself into Asculum 
with ten cohorts ; L. Domitius repaired to Corfinium, in 
order to impede Caesar's progress. Pompeius and the con- 
suls meantime went on with the levies in the colonies; but 
the names were given slowly and reluctantly, and Pompeius 
now began to distrust his strength. It was therefore re- 
solved to try the way of accommodation, and the praetor L. 
Roscius and the young L. Caesar were sent to Caesar to learn 
his demands. These were that Pompeius should retire to 
his province, the new levies be disbanded, and the garrisons 
withdrawn ; Cnesar would then disband his troops, give up 
his provinces, and come to Rome to stand for the consulate 

AAA 



418 HISTORT OF ROMIC. 

in the usual manner. These terms were accepted, even 
Cato consenting, provided Caisar withdrew his troops from 
the towns he had seized. With this last condition he de- 
clined to comply, alleging that he should not be safe if he 
did so. Various efforts were made to no purpose : letters 
were written and published in justification of either side, but 
war now seemed inevitable. Pornpeius, who relied on his 
army in Spain, and on the troops of the East, sought only to 
gain time ; Ca;sar, who had but one army, saw that his only 
hopes lay in despatch. Leaving Auxiinuni, therefore, where 
he now was, he advanced with his single legion through 
Picenum to the town of Cinguluni, vvliich opened its gates 
when he appeared. He was here joined by his twelfth 
legion, and he weiit on to Asculum, which Lentulus quitted 
at his approach. Lentulus being deserted on his retreat by 
most or his men, joined L. Vibullius Rufus with the re- 
mainder, and their united force amounting to thirteen co- 
horts, they led it by forced marches to Corfiuium and joined 
Domitius. While Caesar was advancing toward this (own, 
Pompeius, who had reason to fear that he could not fully 
rely on the two legions he had with him, and seeing that the 
consular levies were not ready, wrote pressing Domitius to 
evacuate Corfinium, and to join him with the troops under 
him, as these were considered well affected ; but Domitius 
chose to judge for himself, and when Caisar appeared under 
the walls he wrote urging Pompeius to advance, and by 
getting in Ca.\sar's rear to cut off his supplies. Pompeius 
replied, declaring it to be out of his power, and again desir- 
uig him to try and join him if possible. Domitius dissembled 
(he contents of this letter, and assured his men that Pom- 
peius was coming to their aid. But they observed that his 
looks did not correspond with his words, and they found 
that he was planning to make his escape. They mutinied, 
made him a prisoner, and sent deputies to surrender them- 
selves and the town to Ca;sar. Next morning Csesar had 
Domitius, Lentulus, and the other Iea<lin<T Pompeians brought 
before him, and after gentiv reproaching them with their 
opposition to him gave them their liberty and their property. 
He made the soldiers take the military oath to him, and, 
without loss of time, he set out for Apulia in pursuit of Pom- 
peius, who, having lost the better part of his army through 
Domitius' obstinacy, retired from Niiceria, where he then 
was, to Brundisium : for he had all along intended to pass 
over ttid transfer the war to Greece. Caesar made all haste 



COMMENCEMENT OF THE CIVIL WAR. 419 

to impede him, and on the ninth of March he sat down be- 
fore Brundisium with six legions. Pompeius had but twenty 
cohorts in the town, as he had sent thirty with the consuls 
over to Dyrrhachium. Caesar attempted to shut him up by 
running moles across (he mouth of the harbor ; but the 
consuls having sent back the shipping, Pompeius, on the 
seventeenth of March, embarked, and brought off his troops 
in a very masterly manner and departed, thus abandonino- 
Italy to his rival. 

Cicero greatly blames Pompeius for quitting Italy ; yet 
what could he have done ? He was deceived in all his ex- 
pectations of the public spirit of the people, his troops were 
all deserting, Cajsar had eleven veteran legions and abun- 
dance of cavalry, the lower orders were in his favor or longed 
for a change, and the higher classes are thus described by 
Cicero himself: "I do not understand," says he to Atticus 
" what you mean by patriots, {bonos ;) I know of none; 1 
mean I know of no order of men deserving that appellation. 
Take them man by man they are very worthy gentlemen, 
but in civil dissensions we are to look for patriotism in the 
constituent members of the body politic. Do you look for 
it in the senate? Let me ask you by whom were the prov- 
inces left without governors 1 Do you look for patriotism 
among the farmers of the revenue ? Alas ! they never were 
steady, and now they are entirely devoted to Caesar. Do 
you look for it in our trading or our landed interest? They 
are fondest of peace. Can you imagine that they have any 
terrible apprehension of living under a monarchy, they to 
whom all forms of government are indifferent, provided they 
enjoy their ease?"* Italy therefore could not be main- 
tained ; but Pompeius' error lay, some thought, in not going 
to Spain, where he had a veteran army and a brave popula- 
tion well affected to him. He certainly seems to have relied 
too much on the ability of his lieutenants there, and it may 
have been his plan (had not Caesar's celerity disconcerted it) 
to coop him up in Italy, and overwhelm him by a combined 
attack from the east and the west. At all events he had not 
shipping to convey his troops to Spain, and if he had gone 
thither Greece and the East would probably have been lost. 
But the great error of Pompeius and his party lay in their 

* Cic. to Att., vii. 7. He says elsewhere. " I have had a great deal 
of talk with our townsmen, and a great deal with our country gentle- 
men in these quarters, and take my word for it they have no concern 
but eibout their lands, their farms, and their money. 



420 HISTORY OF ROME. 

having given Cresar's cause the semblance of justice and 
self-defence; the term 6f his command was not expired when 
they req lircd him to resign his provinces, and they refused 
to let him stand for the consulate when absent, in contraven- 
tion of PoTnpeius' own law to that effect. Cajsar in fact had 
no alternative between victory and ruin ; be had no doubt 
voluntarily placed himself in that situation, but he was in it, 
and could not now recede. When we see such men as 
Asinius Pollio on his side, we may be sure that his cause 
was not so bad in the eyes of his contemporaries as it may 
seem in ours. In fact it is a mockery to dignify with the 
name of constitution the anarchy that had reigned for some 
years at Rome ; people plainly saw that CcEsar or Pompeius 
must be master of the republic, and hence the indifference 
of which Cicero complains, and in which he partly shared. 

As the want of shipping prevented Ca;s:ir from following 
Pompeius, he resolved to turn his sttength without delay 
against the army in Spain. Lest in his absence Pompeius 
should, as it was expected, try to starve Italy by stopping tlie 
supplies of corn, he took measures for securing Sicily, Sar- 
dinia, and Africa. Curio was sent to the former island, with 
directions when he h;id gained it to p.iss over to Africa; the 
legate Valerius to the btter, the people of \^'hich declared for 
him as soon as he appeared. Cato, to whom the senate had 
given charge of Sicily, at first made preparations for defence ; 
but finding that Pornpeius had abandoned Italy, he said he 
would not encrage the island in a war, and retired at the 
.ipproach of Curio. Having settled Sicily, Curio passed with 
two legions over to Africa, where he had some success 
against P. Atius Varus, who commanded there for the sen- 
ate ; but his army was soon after cut to pieces and himself 
slain by the Iroopfs of .Tuba king of NiJmidia. 

CfTsar proceeded from Brundisium to Rome ; the people 
of the towns on the way, some through love, some through 
fear, poured forth to congratulate him. He came to Rome, 
atid, having assembled such of the senate as were attached 
I J him, or w^ho had not courage to refuse, he detailed his 
wronirs; as he affected to consider them ; dwelt on tnc cruelty 
and insolence, as he termed it, of those who had circum- 
scribed the tribunician power ; and begged of them to aid 
him in governing the republic, adding, that if they would 
not he would do it by himself He proposed that some one 
should be sent to treat with Pompeius: the senate ap])roved, 
but no one was willing to go, as Pompeius had declared that 



CJISAk's war in SPAIN. 421 1 

• . ■■ I 

I 

he should regard those who staid at Rome as rauch his | 

enemies as those in Caesar's camp. Caesar then, having ' 
committed the charge of Rome to the praetor L. iEmilius 
Lepidus, and the command of the troops in Italy to M. 
Antonius, prepared to set out for Spain. He would not, 

however, imitate the foily or good faith of his opponents by } 

leaving the treasury untouched ; and when the tribune L. i 

Metellus, relying perhaps on the horror Cssar had expressed ! 

at the violation of the sacred authority of the tribunes, ven- ■ 
tured to oppose him and referred to the laws, he told him 

that this was no time to talk of laws, that he and all who | 

had opposed must now obey him. When he came to the j 

door of the treasury the keys were not to be found ; he then ( 

sent for smiths to break open the doors: Metellus again | 

opposed; but Caesar threatened to slay him, and " Knowi, ' 
young man," added he, " that this is easier to do than to 

say.',' Metellus then withdrew, and the asaertor of the laws \ 

took mil all the money,, even the most sacred deposits. This ! 
conduct disgusted the people so much that Caesar did not • i 

venture to address them as he had intended, and he left ] 

Roine after a stay of only six or seven d,ays. | 

When he came into Gaul he found that the citizens of > 

Massilia. had resolved not to admit him into their town, ! 

wishing, as they said, to remain neuter; but when L. Do- | 

mitius, to whom the senate had given the province of Cisal- \ 

pine Gaul, appeared before their port they received him. S 

Caesar then laid siege to the town, having had some ships I 

built for the purpose at Aries ; and leaving the conduct of [ 

the siege to, C. Treboniiis, ^nd the command of the fleet to i 

D,. Brutus, he hastened on to Spain, having previously sent i 
C. Fabius with three legions to sj^eure the passes of the 

Pyrenees. On his way, to make sure of the fidelity of his i 

troops, he borrowed al};the money he could from his officers i 

and (listributed it among the soldiers, thus binding both to i 

him by the ties of interest \ 

Pompeius had three legates in Spain, L. Afranius, M. Pe- ; 

trmus, and M. Terentius Varro, and their troops amounted ! 

to seven legion?. When they heard of Caesar's approach, i 

they agreed that Varro should remain with two legions in I 
Ulterior Spain, while Afranius and Petreius^ with the re- 
maining five, should oppose the invader. They therefore 
encamped on an eminence between the rivers Cinga (Cinca) 
and Sicoris, (SegrCj) near the town of Ilerda, (Lerida,) in 
which they had placed their magazines; and a; bridge ovet 

' 36 



422 HISTORY OF ROME. 

the Sicoris kept up their communication witl) the coun.ry 
beyond it, whence they drew their supplies. When Fabiua 
arrived, some skirmishing took place between him and the 
Pompeian generals, without any advantage on either side. 
CiBsar, when he came, encamped at the foot of the hill on 
which the enemy lay, and forthwith made a bold attempt to 
seize an eminence in the plain between it and the town, as 
• he possession of it would enable him to cut off their com- 
munication with the town and bridge. Afranius, aware of 
his design, had sent some troops to occupy it ; the Caesari- 
ans were driven off; they were reenforced, and chased the 
Afranians to the walls of lierda : the engagement lasted five 
hours, and Afranius finally remained in possession of the 
eminence, which he took care to fortify. Soon after a flood 
iu the Sicoris carried away two bridges which Caisar had 
thrown over it; his communications being thus cut off, 
famine l>egan to prevail in his camp, while the enemy had 
abundance of every thing. Having vainly endeavored to 
repair the bridges, he gave orders to build a number of cora- 
clcs, or boats of osier covered with raw hide, such as he had 
seen in Gaul, which he conveyed in wagons twenty-two 
miles up the river, and passed a legion over in them ; and, 
having secured a hill on the other side, he then threw a 
bridge across. As he was greatly superior in cavalry the 
advantage was now on his side, and several of the native 
peoples declared for him. This bridge 'seing too far off, he 
set about rendering the river fordable by cutting canals from 
it; and he had nearly completed his project, when Afranius 
and Peireius, having resolved to transfer the war to Celtibe- 
ria, set out for the Ebro, where they had a camp fortified 
and a bridge of boats constructed. As the Sicoris was still 
too deep for his infantry to pass without hazard, Caesar sent 
over his cavalry to pursue and harass them ; but his infantry 
soon growing impatient, he was obliged to let them attempt 
the passage, though the stream was very rapid and the water 
above their shoulders. He placed two lines of cavalry in 
the .stream, one above to break the force of the current, the 
other below to stop those who might be carried away, and 
they thus got over without the loss of a single man. They 
came up with the enemy about three in the afternoon, and 
thus obliged them to encamp earlier than they intended. 
Next day both parties sent out tb examine the country, and 
they found that all depended on whiqh should first secure 
the passes in the hills betw'^ri them and the Ebro. Cresar's 



SURRENDER OF MASSILIA. 423 

superior celerity however overcame all difficulties, and wheri 
the Afraniaus came in view of the passes they found his 
legions in array before them. They halted on a rising 
ground ; Caesar's officers and soldiers were urgent with him 
to attack them, but hoping to make them surrender by cut- 
ting off their provisions he allowed them to regain their 
camp. He then encamped clo^e by them, having secured 
the passes to the Ebro. 

Conferences now took place between the soldiers of the 
two armies ; the Afranians proposed to join Caesar if the 
lives of their generals were spared, and some of their princi- 
pal officers went to treat with him. The pien of both armies 
visited one another in their tents, and every thing seemed 
on the point of being arranged, when Petreuis, arming his 
slaves, with some Spanish cavalry, forced his men to break 
off all conference, and put to the sword all the Caesarians 
whom he could find. He then went through the camp im- 
ploring the soldiers to have pity on him and Pompeius, and 
not thus to give them up to the vengeance of their enemy. 
He made the whole army renew their military oath, and 
ordered them to produce all the Caesarians in their tents that 
they might be put to death ; some obeyed, but the greater 
part concealed their friends and let them go in the night. 
Caesar, as he was wont, followed a different and a nobler 
course ; he sought out the Afranians and sent them back 
uninjured. The Ponipeian generals now endeavored to re- 
turn to Ilerda, but they were so closely followed and harassed 
by the troops of Caesar, that they were obliged to halt and 
encamp on a hill, round which Ciesar commenced drawing 
lines ; and he at length cut them off so completely from 
water and forage that they were obliged to propose a surren- 
der. He only required them to disband their forces and to | | 
quit Spain ; these terms were joyfully accepted : one third 3 | 
of the army, as having possessions in Spain, was discharged \ | 
on the spot, the rest on the banks of the Var in Gaul. In 
Southern Spain Varro, finding the people of all the towns in 
favor of Ci-Esar, resigned his command and left the province, 
the whole of which joyfully submitted to Cajsar. 

Meantime Massilia was assailed and defended with equal 
energy and perseverance. At length however the works 
raised against the city were so numerous and powerful, that 
the people sent deputies offering a surrender, but requiring 
a truce till the arrival of Caesar. The truce was granted, 



424- HISTORY OF ROME. 

but we are told they broke it : it was however again re 
newed, and when Caesar came he obliged them to deliver up 
all their arms, ships and money, and receive a garrison of 
two legions into their town. He spared the town, he said, 
out of regard to its antiquity and renown, not for any merits 
its people had toward him. 

While CiEsar was at Massilia he beard that, pursuant to 
his directions, Lepidus had a decree passed by the people for 
nominating him dictator to hold the elections. He did not 
however set out yet for Rome, but remained some time to 
regulate Cisalpine Gaul, and while he was there a muiiny 
broke out in the ninth legion at Placeiitia. The soldiers, 
probably as they had not yet gotten 'the plunder promised 
them, demanded their dismissal. Ciesar coolly addressed 
them, reproaching them with their ingratitude and folly ; 
and telling them he never should want for soldiers to share 
his triumphs, said he would dismiss them, but that he would 
first punish them by decimation. They threw themselves at 
his feet imploring pardon ; their officers interceded ; C'EEsar 
was for some time inexorable ; at length he agreed to pardon 
all but one hundred and twenty of the most guilty, and these 
being given up he selected thirty of the most turbulent for 
execution. He then went to Rome to hold the consular 
elections, and had himself and P. Servilius Isauricus chosen 
consuls ; Trebonius and Coelius were two of the new prietors. 
Antonius and others of his partisans, who were overwhelmed 
with debt, urged him to a total abolition of debts ; but CjEsar, 
who wished to found an empire for himself, would establish 
no such precedent. He passed a law, directing that the 
property of debtors should be estimated at the value it bore 
before the war, and transferred to their :>reditorrf, adding 
that the interest which had been paid shoidd be deducted 
from the principal ; by which the creditors lost about a fourth 
of their money. Caesar then had all those who had been 
condemned for bribery under Pompeius' law, and who had 
resorted to him, re.'^tored to their civic rights, — r Milo, the 
slayer of his friend Clodius, was however excepted ; he also 
restored the sons of those who had been proscribed by Sulla. 
Having th6n held the Latin Holydays he laid down his dic- 
tatorship a«id set out for BrutMlisium, where, on the first of 
January, (704,) he entered on his office of consul. 

Pompeius meantime had been makihg every effort to 
collect a large fleet and army. Ships' came from all the 



MII-ITARS! EVENTS IN EPIRUS. 425 

ports of Greece and Asia, and a numerous navy was as- 
sembled, the cliief command of which was given to Caesar's 
former colleague Bibulus. His army consisted of nine Ro- 
man legions, besides the auxiliaries of Greece, Macedonia, 
and Asia. He had received large sums of money from the 
kings, princes, and states of the East ; he had collected great 
quantities of corn for the support of his army, which he 
intended should winter in the towns of the coast of Epirus, 
while his fleet cruised in the Adriatic to prevent Cajsar's 
passage. Toward the end of the year, the consuls having 
assembled the senators, two hundred in number, who were 
with them at Thessalonica, and declared them to be the true 
senate, Pompeius was made commander in chief of the 
armies of the republic, and the consuls and other magistrates 
were directed to retain their offices under the titles of pro- 
consuls, etc. 

Caesar found twelve legions and all his cavalry at Brun- 
disium, but the legions had been so reduced by fatigue and 
sickness that they were very incomplete. The ships which 
had been colJected barely sufficed to transport seven legions 
(only 20,000 men) and six hundred horse; but with these 
he embarked, and eluding Bibulus landed at a place named 
Pharsalus, in Epirus ; he then sent back the ships for the 
rest of his troops, but Bibulus met them and took thirty, and 
then strictly guarded the whole coast, Caesar received the 
submissions of the towns of Oricum and Apollonia ; and 
most of the states of Epirus declared for him. He was ad- 
vancing against Dyrrhachium, when, hearing that Pompeius 
was rapidly marching to its defence, he halted and encamped 
on the banks of the river Apsus, whither Pompeius came, 
and encamped also on the other side of that river. Accord- 
ing to Caesar's own account he was so anxious for peace, 
that immediately on landing he had sent off L. Vibullius 
Rufus, whom he had twice made a prisoner, proposing to 
Pompeius that they should both disband their armies and 
submit to the decision of the senate and people. Vibullius 
had gone off with all speed, more with the intention of in- 
forming Pompfeius of Caesar's landing than of pn^moting 
peace, and it was only in his camp on the Apsus that Pom^ 
peius heard of these proposals, to which however he refused 
to listen. Caesar also tells us that as the soldiers of the two 
armies used to converse together across the river, he directed 
his legate P. Vatini»is to go and call outj askihg if citizens. 
36 * B B B 



426 i." HI5TORY OF RUME. 

might not send to citizens to treat of peace, a thing Pom- 
peius had not refused to robbers and pirates. He was heard 
in silence, and told that A. Varro would come tlie following 
day to treat- Next day a great number appeared on both 
sides, and Labienus advanced and began in a low voice to 
confer with Vatinius ; a shower of missiles, which woundeo 
several of the Ca;sarians, broke off the conference, and 
Labienus then cried, " Give over talking of accommodation ; 
there can be no peace unless you briug us Ceesar's head." 

While CuBsar was lying on the Apsus, his friend Ccelius, 
whom he had left one of the prretors at Rome, displeased 
that he had not been able to get rid of all his debts, began to 
raise dibturbances. He commenced by opposing Trebonius 
in every way he could ; and this not succeeding, he proposed 
two laws, the one for exempting from rent all the tenants of 
the state, the other for a general abolition of debt. At the 
head of the multitude he then attacked Trebonius, and 
wounded some of those about him : the senate in return 
forbade him to execute the functions of his office. He then 
left Rome under the pretence of going to Ciesar, but he had 
secretly written to his old friend Milo urging him to come 
and raise some disturbance in Italy ; and Milo, having col- 
lected his gladiators and what other forces he could, had laid 
siege to the town of Cosa, near Thurii. Coilius proceeded 
t(y join him, but Milo had been killed by a stone flung from 
the walls; and CoBiius, attempting to seduce some Gallic 
and Spanish horse that were in Cosa, was slain by them. 

Ca3sar's great object now was to get over the rest of his 
troops, and Pompeios was equally anxious to prevent their 
passage. Bibulus had lately died of an illness caused by 
cold and fatigue ; but Libo and others kept the sea, and 
impeded the transport. Some months had now passed, and 
as the wind had frequently been favorable for them, Cfcsar 
thought there must be some fault on the part of M. Antoniu? 
and Q,. Fufius Calenus, who commanded at Brundisium, ana 
he wrote to them in the most peremptory terms. He even, 
it is said, resolved to pass over in person, and disguising 
himself as a slave he embarked in a fishing-boat at the mouth 
of the Apsus ; but the sea proved so rough that the fishermen 
feared to go on ; Ctesar then discovered himself, saying to 
„\ie master, " Why dost thou fear ? thou carriest Caesar ! " 
and they made another attempt ; but the sea was so furious 
that he was obliged to let them put back again. 



MILITARY EVENTS IN EPIRUS. 427 

At length Antonius put to sea, and succeeded in landing 
near Lissus. Cresar and Pompeius, when they heard of his 
arrival, both put their trbops in motiort, the one to join, the 
other to attack hlTi. Antonius kept within his entrench- 
ments till Caesar came up. Pompeius then retired; CfEsar 
followed him ; and h-aving offered him battle in vain, set out 
for Dyrrhachium. Pompeius delayed for one day, and then 
took a shorter route for the same place, and encamped on a 
hUl named Petra near it, close to the sea. As there were 
hills at a little distance near Petra, Cjesar raised forts on 
them, proposing to circumvallate Pompeius' camp. Pom- 
peius, to oblige him to take in a greater space, also formed 
a line of forts, inclosing an extent of fifteen miles, so as to 
yield him forage for his cavalry ; and he received abundant 
supplies by sea, while Caesar's men were obliged to live 
chiefly on a root, named chara, for want of bread. But the 
forage soon began to run short with Pompeius' army ; and as 
CcBsar had turned the streams, the want of water also was 
severely felt. At length Pompeius made a bold and judicious 
attack on the enemy's lines, and forced them; and in the 
action which ensued he gained the victory. Csesar then 
resolved to transfer the war to Macedonia, and he set out for 
that country, closely followed by Pompeius. After a pursuit 
of three days Pompeius changed his course, and taking a 
nearer route arrived the first in Macedonia, where he whs 
near surprising Caesar's general Cn. Domitius Calvinus. 
CjEsar entered Thessaly and took the town of Gomphi by 
assault, and then advanced and encamped near the town of 
Metropolis. Pompeius entered Thessaly a few days after, 
and joined his father-in-law Scipio, who lay at Larissa ; and 
the two armies finally encamped opposite each other on the 
ftver-memorable plain of Pharsalus. 



42B .HIETORY OF BONK 

CHAPTER XL* 

BATTLE OP PHARSALIA, *+— BLIGHT AND DEATH OF POMPEIUS. 

HIS CHARACTER. CjCSAR's ALEXANDRIAN WAR. THE 

PONTIC ^VAB.. AFFAIRS OF ROME. MITINY OF CALSAR's 

LBGIOMS. AFRICAN WAR. DEATH OF CATO. HIS CHAR- 
ACTER (JjESAR's TRIUMPHS. REFORMATION Ob THE 

CALENDAR, SECOND SPANISH WAR. BATTLE OF MUNDA. 

HONORS BESTOWED ON CJESAR. — - CONSPIRACXJ' iWQAINST 

HIM. HIS DEATH.' HIS CHARACTER. « i . !»' 

, ■. . . . I 

The two armies now lay in sight of each other ; that of 
Pompeius, which consisted of fortj'-five thousand men, of 
which tnorethan a sixth was cavalry, was superior in number 
but inferior in quality. Caesar's army, of twenty»two thou- 
sand men, only one thousand of whom were cavalry, were 
all hardy veterans, used to victory and confident in them- 
selves and their leader. 

The superior number of tlieir troops and their late suc- 
cesses had rai(ped the confidence of the Pompcinn leaders, 
and nothing, we are told, could exceed their in.solence ; they 
contended with one another for the dignities and priesthoods 
in the state, and disposed of the consulate for several years 
to come. Scipio, Lentulus Spinther, and L. Domitius had 
an angry contest for the chiet-j)riesthood with which Ciesar 
was invested, for of his defeat not a doubt was entertained ; 
and when Pompeius acted with caution, he was accu.sed of 
protracting the war out of the vanity of seeing such a num- 
ber of consular^ aj»dprajtorians under his command. Pro- 
scriptions and confiscations vwero resolved on; in short, says 
Cicero, " excepting Pompeius himself and a few other.'', 
(I speak of the principal leaders,) they carried ( n the war 
with such a spirit of rapaciousness, and breathed such prin- 
ciples of cruelty in their conversation, that I could not think 
even of our success without horror. To this I nnist add 
that some of our most dignified men were deeply involved in 

• CoBsar, Civil Wars. Hirtius' and others' Books of the Alexan- 
drian, African, and Spanish Wars. Dion, x\\. T).\, to the end ; xlii., 
xliii., and xliv. .Appian, ii. 5(), to the end. Suetonius, Jul. Ceesar 
Plutarch, Lives of Foinpeius, Coesar, Cato, and Brutus. 



:!' 



BATTLE OF PHARSALTA. <48(5 

debt; and, in short, there was nothing good arr mg thfehi 
bill their cause." * 

Poiripeius, who was superstitious by nature, had been 
greatly encouraged by accounts of favorable signs :n the en- 
trails of the victims and such like sent him by the haruspices 
from Rome, and he resolved to risk a general engagenieni. 
He drew up his army at the foot of the hill on which he was 
encamped ; but Caesar, unwilling to engage him to a disad- 
vantage, pi-epared to decamp. Just, hovvever, as the order 
was given, seeing that Pompeius had advanced into the plain, 
he changed his mind, and made ready to engage. The right 
wing of the Pompeians, commanded by Lentulus, rested on 
the river Enipeus. Pompeius himself, with Domitius, com- 
manded the left; his father-in-law, Scipio, the centre ; the 
horse and light troops were all on the left. Csesar's right 
was commanded by himself and P. Sulla; his left by M. 
Antonius ; the centre by Domitius Calvinus : to strengthen 
his cavalry, he had mingled through it some of his most 
active foot-soldiers; and he placed six cohorts separate from 
his line, to act on occasion against the enemy's horse. 
Pompeius had directed his men to stand and receive the 
enemy's charge, hoping thus to engage them when out of 
breath with running; but the Csesarians, when they found 
that the enemy did not advance, halted of themselves, and, 
having recovered their breath, advanced in order and hurled 
their j'j/Za. They then fell on sword in hand ; the Pompeians 
did the same ; and while they were engaged, their horse ' od 
light troops having attacked and defeated Cresar's cavalry 
were preparing to take his infantry in flank, when he made 
the signal to the six cohorts, who fell on and drove them off 
the field. It is said that CjEsar had directed his men to aim 
their blows at the faces of the horsemen, and that the young 
Roman knights fled sooner than run the risk of having their 
beauty spoiled.! The six cohorts then took the Pompeian 
left wing in the rear, while Cjesar brought his third line, 
which had not been yet engaged, against it in front. It 
broke, and fled to the camp. Pompeius, whose whole reli- 
ance was on his left wing, now despairing of victory, retired 
to his tent to await the event of the battle. But Csesar soon 
led his men to the attack of the camp, which vas carried 

* Cic. ad Divers, vii. 3. Cicero always speaks witii horror an^ 
apprehension of the success of the Pompeians. 

J i This is not very likely; the young Roman kniglits could have 
formed but a small part of a body of 7000 horse. 



430 ' HISTORY OF ROME. 

after an obstinate resistance from the cohorts which had 
been left to guard it. Pompeius, laying aside his general's 
habit, mounted a horse, and left it by the Decuman gate. 
Ca'sar found the tents of Lentulus and others hung with ivy, 
fresh turves cut for seats, tables covered with plate, and all 
the preparations for celebrating a victory. Leaving some 
troops to guard the two camps, he followed a body of the 
Porupeians who had lied to a hill, but they abandoned it and 
made for Larissa; he however got between them and that 
town, and finally forced them to surrender. His own loss 
in this battle, he tells us, was only 200 men and 30 centuri- 
ons ; that of the Pompeians was 15,000, of whom but 6000 
were soldiers, the rest being servants and the like : upwards 
of i24,000 were made prisoners. He granted life and liberty 
to all ; and finding, it is said, in Pompeius' tent the letters 
of several men of rank, he imitated the conduct of Pompeius 
in Spain, and burned without reading them. L. Domitius 
had been slain in the pursuit ; Labienus fled with the Gallic 
horse to Dyrrhachium, where he found Cicero and Varro 
with Cato, who commanded there; they passed over to Cor- 
ey ra, and being joined l)y the young Cn. Pompeius and other 
commanders of the fleet, held a council ; but as they could 
decide on nothing, they separated, and went different ways. 
Labienus, Scipio and some others sailed to Africa to join 
Varus and king Juba ; Cato and young Pompeius went in 
quest of Pompeius; Cicero returned to Italy, intending to 
seek the victor's clemency. 

We must now follow the unhaj)py fompeius Magnus. 
He rode with :iI)Out thirty followers to the gates of Larissa, 
but would not enter the town lest the people should incur 
the anger of Ca'sar. He then went on to the Vale of 
Ten\pe, and at the mouth of the Peneus got on board a 
merchantman which he found lying there; thence he sailed 
to the mouth of the Stryinon, and, having gotten some money 
from his friends at Amphipolis, proceeded to Mytilene in 
Lesbos, where he had left his wife Cornelia. Having taken 
lier and his son Sextus on board, and collected a few vessels, 
he proceeded to Cilicia, and thence. to Cyprus. He had 
intended going to Syria, but finding that the people of An- 
tioch had declared for Ctesar, as also had the Rhodians, he 
gave up that design ; and having gotten money from the 
publicans and some private persons, and collected about twc 
thousand men, he made sail for Egypt. 

It is said that he had consulted with his friends whether 



FLIGHT OF POMPEIUS. 431 

he should seek a refuge with the king of the Parthians, or 
retire to king Juba in Africa, or repair to the young king of 
Egypt, whose futher had been restored to his throne through 
his influence some years before.* The latter course was 
decided on, and he sailed for Pelusium, where the young 
king (who was at war with his sister Cleopatra, whom their 
father had made joint heir of the throne) was lying with his 
army. Potnpeius sent to request his protection, on account 
of his friendship for his father. The king's ministers, either 
fearing that Pompeius, by means of the troops which had 
been left there by Gabinius, might attempt to make bimself 
master of the kingdom, or despising his fallen fortunes, 
resolved on his death. They sent AchHlas, a captain of the 
guard, with Septimius, a former Roman centurion, and some 
others, in a small boat to invite him to land. He was re- 
quested to come into the boat, as the shore was too oozy 
and shallow for a ship to approach it. He consented, and 
directing two centurions and his freedman Philip and a slave 
to follow him, and having embraced Cornelia, he entered 
the boat, and then turning round repeated the following 
lines of Sophocles : 

He who unto a prince's house repairs 
Becomes his slave, though he go thither free.t 

They went on some time in silence ; at length Pompeius, 
turning to Septimius, said, "If I mistake not, you and I 
have been fellow-soldiers." Septimius merely nodded as- 
sent; the silence was resumed; Pompeius began to read 
over what he had prepared to say to the king in Greek. 
Meantime the boat approached the shore ; Cornelia and his 
friends saw several of the royal officers coming down to 
receive Pompeius, who, taking hold of Philip's arm, rose 
from his seat. As he rose, Septimius stabbed him in the 

^ Ptolemaeus Auli'ltb promised CfEsar COOO talents for himself and 
Pompeius, for having him acknowledged as king of Egypt by the 
senate. He was forced by his subjects to fly when he oppressed them 
by raising that sum. He came to Rome ; Pompeius wished to liavo 
tlie profitable task of restoring him ; but the laws and Sibylline oracles 
were alleged by his opponents, and PtolemtEus being obliged to leave 
Rome for having poisoned the ambassadors sent thither by his subjects, 
Pompeius gave him letters to Gabinius, the governor of Syria, who, 
on being promised by him 10,000 talents, set the laws and oracles at 
nought, marched his troops out of his province, and replaced him on 
the throne of Egypt. 

1 " OcTig f( nQnc TiQarvor fimoQu'tfai 
Kiivov 'art Sovkog, xnv iicvSiQo? ftoXtj. 



432 HISTORY OF ROME. 

baek ; Achillas and a Roman named Salvius then strnck 
him : Pompeius drew his gown before his face, groaned, and 
died in silence. Thos-e on sliip-board gave a loud, piercing 
cry of grief, and set sail without delay, pursued by some 
Egyptian vessels. The head of Pompeius was cut off; his 
trunk was thrown on the beach, where his faithful freedman 
staid by it, and. having washed it in the sea, collected the 
wreck of a fishing-boat and prepared a pyre to burn it. 
While he was thus engaged, an old Roman who had served 
under Pompeius came up, and saying that the honor of 
aiding at the obsequies of the greatest of Roman generals 
compensated him in some sort for the evils of an abode in a 
foreign land, assisted him in his pious office. 

Such was the end of Cn. Pompeius Magnus, in the fifty- 
eighth year of his age. In his person he was graceful and 
dignified ; he spoke and wrote with ease and perspicuity, 
and was always heard with attention and respect. In pri- 
vate life his morals were remarkably pure, unstained by the 
excesses which disgraced Ca'sar and so many others at that 
time ; of the amiability of his character tliere can be no 
stronger proof than the fact of his having gained the entire 
and devoted affection of two such women as Julia and Cor- 
nelia, both so many years younger than himself. The public 
character of Pompeius is far less laudable; his love of sway 
was inordinate ; he could not brook a rival ; he would, how- 
ever, be the freely chosen head of the republic, and in such 
case would have respected and maintained the laws. Not 
succeeding in this course he was led to the commission of 
several illegal acts, and he formed that fatal coalition with 
Cajsar, for whom neither as a statesman nor as a general 
was he a match, and who, during their union, always exerted 
over him the power of a superior mind, and that mostly for 
evil. Pompeius was by no means mclined to cruelty; yet 
Cicero feared, and with reason, that his victory would have 
been more sanguinary than that of Caesar ; for though his 
natural humanity might have kept him from imitating Sulla 
as ho threatened, he had not Cajsar's energy to restrain the 
violence of his followers. Caesar, we must allow, was better 
fitted for empire ; Pompeius was by far the better man. 

Ciesar, on learning that Pompeius was gone to Egypt, 
made all the speed he could to overtake him, and thus end 
the war. He arrived at Alexandria with two legions, (.'3200 
foot and SOO horse :) the head and ring of Pompeius were 
presented to him ; he shed some tears (counterfeit, we maj 



Cesar's Alexandrian war. 433 

well suspec*) over them, and caused the head to be burnt 
with costly 5pices. He then set about regulating the affairs 
of Egypt, and he summoned Ptolemfeus and his sister before 
him.* The superior influence of Cleopatra was soon ap- 
parent, and Pothinus, the young king's minister, seeing the 
small number of the Roman troops, sent to desire Achillas 
to advance with the army from Pelusium. This army con- 
sisted of eighteen thousand foot and two thousand horse, all 
good troops, several of them being Romans left by Gabinius, 
and Caesar found it necessary to act on the defensive. 
Achillas made himself master of all the town except the 
palace which Caesar had fortified. A great struggle was 
made for the port, as with the shipping there the blockade 
of the palace might be made complete. Caesar however 
succeeded in burning all the ships in it ; unfortunately the 
flames extended, and the magnificent library of the kings 
was nearly all consumed. He then secured the island of 
Pharos, at the mouth of the port, and the mole leading to it. 
Ganymedes, the successor of Achillas who had been slain, 
then mixed sea-water with that of the Nile in the aqueducts 
which supplied Cnesar's quarters ; but this evil he obviated 
by sinking wells. In a naval action in the port, Caesar, with 
only a few ships, gained the advantage ; but, in an attempt 
to retake the mole and island, which the Alexandrians had 
recovered, he lost about eight hundred men and some ships, 
and he had to throw himself into the water and swim to a 
merchantman for safety.! 

The Alexandrians now sent to demand their king who was 
in his hands, and C.-esar, seeing no use in detaining him, let 
him go, and the war was then renewed more fiercely than 
ever. Meantime Mithridates, an officer whom Caesar had 
sent to levy troops in Syria, was advancing with a large army 
to relieve him, but as he had to go round the Delta, the 
young king despatched a part of his. army to oppose him. 
These troops, however, were defeated ; the king hastened 
with the rest of his army to their aid, and Caesaic Jit the same 
lime joined Mithridates. He now resolved to try and ter- 

'*, It is said that, to escape Irer brother's troops, Cleopatra had her- 
self wrapped up in a bale of bedclothes, and thus conveyed into Alex- 
andrfa. 

t He held, it is said, on this occasion, his papers with one hand over 
the water to save them from being welted. It is rather strange that 
he should have had papers in his hand, or even about him, in such » 
hot enga^jment. 

37 rco 



431 HISTORY OF ROME. 

miiiate the war by an attack on the Egyptian camp, which 
wa^ on an eminence over the Nile, one of its sides beii g 
defended by tlie steepness of the ground, the other by a 
morass. While the attack was carried on in the front of the 
camp, some cohorts climbed up the steep of the liill, and fell 
on the enemy's rear. The Egyptians fled on all sides, 
mostly to the iVile, and the king trying to escape was drowned 
in the river. Cajsar returned to Alexandria, whose inhabi- 
tants came forth, preceded by their priests, to implore his 
mercy. He gave the crown to Cleopatra and her younger 
brotiier, leaving them the greater part of his troops to pro- 
tect them, and then set out for Syria. After his departure 
Cleopatra was delivered of a son, who was said to be his, 
and was named C;Esarion. 

When the civil war broke out, Pharnaces, the son of 
Mithridates the Great, resolved to seize the occasion of re- 
covering his paternal dominions. He speedily regained 
Pontus, and then overran Lesser Armenia and Cappadocia. 
Deiotarus, the king of the former, applied for aid to Cn. 
Domitius, who commanded for Ca3sar in Asia ; and after 
some fruitless attempts at negotiation, Domitius collected 
what troops he could, and advancing to Nicopolis gave 
Pharnaces battle , but he was defeated and forced to retire. 
Cfpsar was meantime hastening from Egypt ; for though he 
had learned that things were in the utmost confusion at 
Rome, he resolved not to quit Asia till he had reduced it to 
peace. Though his force was small, he decided on giving 
battle without delay, and he advanced to within five miles 
of Pharnaces' camp, which was on a hill, and commenced 
fortifying another hill in its vicinity. Pharnaces, relying on 
the number of his troops, and recollecting that it was in this 
very place his father had defeated Triarius, crossed the 
valley, and leading his army up the hill, attacked the Roman 
troops. The battle was long and dubious; at length the 
riffht wing of the Romans was victorious, the centre and left 
were soon efjually successful; the enemy was driven down 
the hill and pursued to his camp, wliich was speedily taken : 
Pharnaces himself escaped, but nearly his wh( le army was 
slain or taken. "I came, I saw, I conquered," {Veni, vidi, 
vici,) were the terms in which Cresar wrote to announce 
this victory, which ended the Pontic war. 

Having regulated the affairs of Asia, Caesar set out for 
Italy : nt Brundisium he was bet by Cicero, whom he re- 
ceived very kindly; he then went on to Rome, vhich he 



AFFAIRS OF ROME. 43t5 

found in a state of distraction. For Caesar, having been 
created dictator after the battle of Pharsalia, had seiit M. 
Antonius, liis master of the horse, to govern Italy in his 
absence; and P. Cornelius Dolabella, another of his friends, 
being made one of the tribunes, had revived the laws of 
CcbIius for the abolition of debts and rents. Antonius, who 
like Dolabella was imnrersed in debt, was at first willing to 
support him, but he finally sided with the senate and two of 
the other tribunes in opposing him. The people were of 
course for Dolabella, and such conflicts took place, during 
an absence of Antonius, between debtors and creditors, that 
the Vestals found it necessary to remove the sacred things 
to a place of safety. When Antonius returned the senate 
gave him the usual charge to see that the state suffered no 
injury. Dolabella, on the day of proposing his laws, had the 
Forum batricadoed, and even wooden towers erected to keep 
off all opponents ; but Antonius came down with soldiers 
from the Capitol, broke the tables of the laws, and seizing 
some of the more turbulent flung them down from the Tar- 
peian rock. When Caesar arrived he took no notice of what 
had occurred; he however steadily refused the abolition of 
debts, but remitted the interest that had accrued since the 
war began, and he also remitted to those who paid under 
2000 sesterces rent, a year's rent at Rome, a quarter's 
throughout Italy. To gratify his friends, he let them have 
good bargains at the sales of the properties of Pompeius and 
others which he confiscated ; he increased the number of 
priesthoods and prsetorships, and placed several of his officers 
in the senate. Having had himself aud his master of the 
horse, M. Lepidus, (for he continued to be dictator,) chosen 
consuls for the following year, he was preparing to pass over 
to Africa, when a mutiny broke out among his veteran le- 
gions, who were disappointed at not having yet gotten the 
rewards that had been promised them. It began with his 
favorite tenth legion. C. Sallusttus, (the historian,) whom 
he sent to assure them that when the war was ended they 
should have 1000 denars a man, besides the lands and money 
already due to them, was obliged to fly for his life. They 
marched from Campania to Rome, plundering and murder- 
ing on their way, and cam6 and posted themselves on the 
Field of Mars. Caesar, in spite of his friends, went out, and 
mounting his tribunal demanded what had brought them 
thither and what they wanted. They were disconcerted, 
and merely said that they bad hoped he would give them 



\ i 



436 HISTORY or rome. 

their discharge in consequence of their wounds and length 
of service. " I give it you," said he, < nd then aided, " and 
when I hnve triumphed w>th other soldiers I will still keep 
my word with you." He was retiring ; his officers stopped 
him, and begged him to be less severe, and to speak to tl>em 
again. He addressed them, commencing with Quirites ! 
and not as usual Commilitdnes ! This totally overcame them; 
they cried out they were his soldiers, and would follow him 
to Africa or any where else if he would not cast them off; 
he then pardoned them, and passed over at their head to 
Sicily, though it was now far in the winter. 

The Pompeians, aided by king Juba, were now in great 
force in Africa. Cato, having met Pompeius' ships, with 
Cornelia and Sex. Pompeius at Cyrene, landed all his troops 
there, and marching them over land to the African province 
joined Scipio and the other leaders. The chief commnivd 
was given to Scipio as being a consular, and Cato tiM>k the 
government of the town of (Jtica. 

C;esar, having assembled six legions in Sicily, set sail from 
Lilybaeum with a part of them (about t^OOO men) and landed 
near Adruinetum. JIaving failed to take that town, lie pro- 
ceeded to another named Ru«pina, which he reached on the 
first January, (TOf) ;) he thence advanced to Leptis, but he 
■soon returned in order to go and look after his fleet, which 
had steered bv mistake for Utica. Having been joined by 
the troops on board the fleet he encamped at Iluspina, and 
some days after engaged a numerous arnVy, chiefly Numidi- 
ans, commanded h\ Labienus. The battle lasted from be- 
fore mid-day to sunset, and the advantage tvas on the side of 
Labienus. At? Scipio and Juba were said to be approaching 
with eight legions and three thousand horse, Cffsar fortificH 
his camp with the greatest care, and sent to Sicily and else- 
where for supplies. When Scipio came he offered battle 
repeatedly; but Cresar, taught by the experience of the late 
action, steadily refused to fight ; endeavoring at the same 
time to gain over Scipio's troops and (he people of thfe 
cotmtry, in which he is said to have had some sncce*!S. 
After some tiine he found himself stronrr enough to offer 
battle , but Scipio had now prudently resolved to protract 
the war. Caesar then decamped at midnight, and went and 
laid siege to the town of Thapsus. Scipio and Juba fol- 
lowed him thither, and forming two camps about eight miles 
from his, attempted to throw succors into the town ; failttig 
in this, they resolved to give him battle, though Cato, it *- 



AFRICAN WAR. 43"3 

Siiid, strongly advised against it. Scipio moved down to the 
seaside, and having thrown up some intrenchnients drew his 
ariliy out before them with his elephants on the wings. 
Caesar also drew out his nine legions. While he was hesi- 
tating whether to attack or not, a trumpeter sounded on the 
right wing; the troops then charged in spite of their officers : 
the elephants, not being well trained, turned on their own 
men when assailed, by the missiles, and rushed into the camp. 
Scipio's troops broke and fled to their former camp, and then 
to that of Juba ; but this also being forced they retired to a 
hill, whither they were pursued and slaughtered by CcEsar's 
veterans. Ten thousand was the number of the slain ; the 
loss of the victors was but fifty men. Caesar then leaving 
three legions to blockade Thapsus, and sending two against 
a towfj named Tisdra, advanced with the remainder toward 
Utica. 

Cato, who commanded in this town, had fornled a council 
of three hundred of the Roman traders who resided in d. 
When the news of the defeat at Thapsus arrived, he assem- 
bled his council and tried to animate them; but finding 
them inclined to have recourse to Caesar's clemency, he gave 
up all hopes of defending the town, and sent word to that 
effect to Scipio and Juba, who were now in the neighbor- 
hood. Soon after the cavalry which had fled from Thapsus 
arrived ; Cato went out to try and engage them to stay, but 
while he was away the three hundred met and determined 
on a surrender : when he heard this he prevailed on the 
cavalry to stop for one day, and he put the gates and citadel 
into their hands; his object being to get time to send away 
the Roman senators and others by sea. Having closed all 
the gates but one leading to the port, he got ships and every 
thing ready for those who were to go. Meantime the cavalry 
had begun to plunder; but he went to them, and by giving 
them money prevailed on them to leave the town : he then 
went down to the port to see his friends off. He afterwards 
arranged his accounts, and commended his children to his 
quaestor la. Caesar. In the evening he bathed and supped as 
usual with his friends, discussing philosophical questions ; 
and, having walked after supper he retired to his room, 
wher€, it is said, he read over Plato's dialogue named 
Phtedo, which treats of a future state and the immortality of 
t »e soul, and it is added slept soundly. Toward morning he 
Blabbed himself with his sword : the sound of his fall being 
heard, his friends ran to the room, and his surgeon went to 
37* 



438 HliTORY OF ROME. 

bind up the wound ; but he thrust him from hin"., tore it 
open, and instantly expired. 

Thus died M. Porcius? Cato, in the forty-eighth year of his 

age, a man possessed of many noble and estimable qualities, 

but joined with some defects, among which his vanity and 

j his obstinacy were conspicuous. He was certainly patriotic, 

I and was for maintaining the constitution ; but it may be 

doubted if personal iiatred to Ca-sar was not the secret 

source of many of his apparently most patriotic actions. 

i His politics were of too Utopian a cast ever to be really 

j useful ; for such is our nature that the politician must kno^y 

how to yield to circumstances if he would do good. We 

may therefore admire, but should never think of imitating, 

the character of Cato. - 

Caesar soon arrived at Utica, where he granted their lives 
to L. Ca:;sar and the other Romans ; as for the three hun- 
dred, he said he would content hin)self with confiscating 
their properties for their crime in supplying Varus and 
Rcipio with money ; he however most graciously let them 
>fF for a sum of two hundred millions of sesterces, to be 
paid in the course of six years to the republic — that is, to 
himself. 

King Juba had set out with Petreias for his town of 
Zama; he found the gates closed against' him, and he and 
his companion, seeing no hopes, agreed to kill one another 
in a single combat ; Petreius died at once, Juba was obliged 
to employ the hand of a slave. Afranius and Fausttis Sulla 
were met and made prisoners in Mauritania, as they were 
making for Spain with the cavalry from Utica, by Sitius, a 
lloman rondottiere who had declared for Ca>sar, and Caesar 
put them and L. Caesar to death. Scipio, on his way to 
Spain, being obliged to put into the port of Hippo, where 
Sitius' freebooting squadron lay, was attacked by it.' Hav- 
ing seen most, of his vessels sink, he stabbed himself, and 
when one of Sitius' soldiers on boarding asked where was 
the general, he calmly replied, " The general is safe." 
C-Esar went from Utica to Zama, where he so^d the property 
of king Juba, and seized that of the Romans who resided 
there. He converted the kingdom into a province, giving 
Cirta to Sitius. On his return to Utica he seized and sold 
the property of all who had been centurions under Juba 
and Petreius, and he fined all the towns in proportion to 
their means; he, however; did not allow his soldiers to pil- 
lage any of them. He then set sail homewards, leaving 



CJSSARS TRIUMPHS. 439 

C. Sallustius as proconsul to govern the new province of Nu 
midia, by whom it was plundered in a merciless manner.* 

On Caesar's arrival in Rome honors of every kind were 
decreed to him by his obsequious senate. They had already 
resolved that forty days should be devoted to the celebration 
of his African victory ; that he should be dictator for ten 
years, inspector of morals for three ; that his chariot should 
be placed on the Capitol opposite the statue of Jupiter, and i I 

his statue standing on a brazen figure of the world with the I | 

inscription " Caesar the semigod." Having addressed the | | 

senate and the people, and assured them of his clemency and j ] 

regard for the republic, he prepared to celebrate his tri- | \ 

umphs for his various conquests ; and in one month he tri- ) | 

umphed four times, the first triumph being for Gaul, the | \ 

second for Ptolemaeus of Egypt, the third for Pharnaces | 

of Pontus, and the fourth for Juba of Numidia. The first | | 

was the most splendid ; but as the procession went along i | 

the Velabrum the axle of the triumphal car broke, and in | | 

consequence of the delay he could not ascend the Capitol I | 

till dark, when forty elephants, ranged on his right and left, I s 

bore lights, and he went up the steps on his knees. In the j | 

second triumph were seen pictures of the deaths of Pothinua 5 | 

and Achillas, and the Pharos on fire ; the third displayed ci | i 

tablet with Veni, vidi, vici ! on it. The money borrte in | | 

triumph is said to have amounted to 65,000 talents, and the | j 

gold crowns to have been 2822 in number, and to have | | 

weighed 2414 pounds. He feasted the people at 22,000 || 

-ables placed in the streets ; and to 150,000 citizens he gave j] 

ten pecks of corn, ten pounds of oil, and 400 sesterces 
apiece. There were public games of all kinds, sham-battles, [ 

hunting of wild beasts, horse and chariot races, the Trojan 
game, etc.. To reward his veterans he gave them each 
24,000 sesterces, double the sum to the centurions, the 
quadruple to the tribunes ; and he assigned them lands, but 
not in continuous tracts, in order that present possessors 
might not be disturbed. 

Caesar now turned his thoughts to legislation. He con- 
fined the judicial power to the senators and knights; he 
reduced by a census the number of citizens who received 
corn to about one half; he sent eighty thousand citizens 
away as colonists ; he enacted that no freeman under twenty 

* Dion, xliii. 9. He was prosecuted for extortian the next year, but 
Cffisar saved him ; hence his apologists say that it was for Ctesar, not 
for h.niself, that he had pillaged the province. 



440' 



HISTORY OF ROME. 



or over forty years of age should be more than three years* 
out of Italy, and no senator's son at all, unles:? in the retinue 
of a magistrate ; that all graziers on the public lands should 
not have less than a third of their shepherds freemen. He 
granted the freedom of the city to alt physicians and pro- 
fessors of the liberal arts; he made or renewed various 
sumptuary laws ; and he encouraged maniage, and gave 
rewards to those who had many children. 

As a means of securing his power he abolished all the 
clubs and unions except the ancient ones ; for however use- 
ful they might have formerly proved in forwarding his own 
views, l)e knew them to be totally incompatible with all 
regular government. Judging also by his own experience, 
he enacted that no praetor should hold a province for more 
than one year, no consul for more than two. He further 
reserved to him.self the appointment of one half of those who 
were to be elected to offices in the state, and at the approach 
of the elections he always notified to the people whom he 
would have chosen.* 

It was at this time also that Caesar made his celebrated 
reformation of the calendar. The Roman year had been 
the lunai- one of 354 days, and it was kept in accordance 
with the solar year by intercalating months in every second 
and fourth year. The pontiffs were charged with this of- 
fice ; but they exercised it, it is said, in an arbitrary manner, 
from motives of partiality, and the year was now more than 
two months in arrear. Caesar therefore added 07 days be- 
tween November and December of this year, which with the 
intercalary month of 23 days made an entire addition of 90 
days; and he divided the year into months of 30 and 31 days, 
directing a day to be intercalated every fourth year, to keep 
it even with the course of the sun. His agent in this change 
was an Alexandrian named Sosigenes. 

Towards the end of the year Cnssar was obliged to return 
to Spain, where the sous of Pompeius with Labienus and 
Varus had collected a force of eleven legions, and had driven 
Trebonius, who commanded there, out of Bnetica. In twenty- 
seven days he travelled from Rome to the neighborhood of 
Corduba, and after various movements the two armies met 
(March 17th, 707) on the plain of Munda. Cn. Pompeius, 
who commanded in chief, had the advantage in position and 

* The following was the form of his con^r- d'ilire : " Caesar, dictator 
i!!i tribui Commendo tibi ilium et ilhiin, utvestro suffmgio vnatn dig 
«itatem teneant." (Suet. Jul. Ces. 41.^ 



SECONU SPANISH WAK. 441 

numbers and he was so near gaining the victory, that (Jaesar, 
it is said was about to put an end to himself. He alighted 
from his horse, took a shield, and advancing before his men 
declared that he would never retire. This action excited 
them to renewed exertions ; and just then a Moorish prince 
in Caesar's army having fallen on Pompeius' camp, Labienus 
sent five cohorts to protect it ; Caesar cried aloud that the 
enemy was flying ; this roused the courage of one side and 
excited the fears of the other, and after a severe contest 
victory remained with Caesar. Labienus, Varus, and 30,000 
men, among whom were 3000 knights, lay slain on the side 
of Pompeius ; the victors had 1000 killed and 500 wounded. 
Caesar declared that in his other battles he had fought for 
victory, in this for his very life : it was the last conflict of the 
Civil War. Cn. Pompeius fled to Carteia, where his fleet 
lay ; but finding the people inclined to Cssar, he put to sea 
with thirty ships. Didius, who commanded Caesar's fleet at 
Gades, pursued him, and when he was obliged to land for 
water attacked and burned several of his ships. Pompeius, 
who was wounded, fled from one place to another : and 
being found in a cavern in which he had taken shelter, he 
was put to death, and his head, like his father's, brought to 
Caesar. Sex. Pompeius, who commanded in Corduba, fled 
to' the mountains of Celtiberia. Munda was taken after a 
siege of three weeks; Corduba, Hispalis, (Seville,) Gades, 
and the other towns opened their gates. Caesar, in order to 
raise money, heavily fined some places, sold privileges to 
others, and even plundered the temple of Hercules at Gades ; 
and having thus collected all the money he could, he set out 
on his return to Rome, leaving C. Asinius Pollio as legate in 
Spain. 

Cassar celebrated his triumph on the 1st of October, but 
though a magnificent it was a melancholy sight to the peo- 
ple, who regarded it as a triumph over themselves. The 
senate however was never weary of heaping honors on him. 
He was made perpetual dictator and inspector of morals, 
given the pr<vti6)ncn of Imperator, and the cognomen of Fa- 
ther of his Country ; his statue was placed among those of 
the kings on the Capitol and in all the temples and towns ; it 
was carried with those of the gods at the Circensian games, 
and there was a. pulvinar, or state-couch, for it as for theirs ; 
he had a flamen and Luperci like Quirinus, and the month 
Quinctilis was named Julius after him. He was allowed to 
wear a laurel crown constantly to have a golden seat in the 

D D D 



142 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Benate-house aid Forum, etc. Friends and enemies con- 
curred ill heap ng these honors on him, the former out of 
zeal, the latter it is said in the hope of making him incur 
the hatred of the people. 

Insatiate of fame and impatient of, repose, Caesar had al- 
ready resolved on a war with the Parthians, and he now sent 
his legions before him into Macedonia. Meantime he was 
forming varioii.s magnificent ])rojects for his own glory and 
the benefit of the people. lie proposed to rebuild Carthage 
and Corinth and several Italian towns, to cut across the 
isthmus of Corinth, to drain the Pomptine marshes, to let off 
the Fucine lake, to dig a new bed for the Tiber from Rome 
to ♦he s'^a, to form a large port at Ostia, to m#ke a causeway 
over the Apennines to the Adriatic. He employed the 
•earned Varro to collect books for a public library, and he 
Droposed reducing the mass of the Roman laws to a mod- 
erate compass. ' 

It was thus that Ca;sar meditated improving the empire 
which he had acquired by his sword ; he moreover proclaimed 
an amnesty, replaced the statues of Sulla and Pompeius 
which had been thrown down, and dismissing his guards 
went attended only by lictors. But, in tlie intoxication of 
power he did not sufficiently spare the feelings and preju- 
dices of those over whom he ruled. lie introduced Gauls 
into the senate, he set his slaves over the mint and the revenue, 
he did as he pleased with all the high offices; he would use 
such language as this, " There is no republic ; Sulla was an 
idiot to lay down the dictatorship. Men should speak more 
respectfully to me, and consider my word to be law." When 
the whole senate v^aited on him one day with a decree in his 
honor, he did not even deign to rise from his seat to receive 
them. Finally, like Cromwell, not content with the solid 
power of a king, he longed, it is said, for the empty title, 
and various modes of feeling the pulse of the people on this 
subject were employed. As he was returning (708) from 
keeping the Latin Holidays on the Alban Mount, some voices 
in the crowd called him King, and some one placed a diadem 
and a crown of laurel on one of his statues. Seeing that 
the people was not pleased, he replied, " I am Cajsar, not 
king ; " but he deprived of their office two of the tribunes 
when they imprisoned the man who had crowned his statues 
A few days after, on the festival of the Lupercalia, (Feb. 15,) 
Antonius, then his colleague in the consulate and one of the 
new Luperci, ran up to him as he was seated in state on th» 



CONSPIRACY iGAlNST C^LSAR. 443 

Rostra arid placed a diadem on his head ; a few hirr^d voicw 
applauded : Ctesar rejected it, and a general shout of applause 
ensued ; the oflTe^: was repeated with the same effect. CjBsar 
then rose, desiring the diadem to be placed on the statue of 
Jupiter as the only king of the Romans. It was also rumored 
that it was found in the Sibylline books that the Parthians 
could only be conquered by a king, and that therefore Cotta, 
one of the keepers of them, was to propose making Caesar 
kirhg. 

But at this very time there was a conspiracy formed to 
deprive Cresar of life and empire. The members of it were 
sixty in number, some of them his adherents, others those 
who bad fought against him, to whom he had given their lives, 
and even promoted them to honors. Among the latter were C 
Cassius and M. Junius Brutus. Of these Cassius had, as we 
have seen, been Crassus' legate in the Parthian war ; he had 
commanded a division of Pompeius' fleet, and meeting Caesar 
on his way to Egypt had b'een pardoned by him, and was 
now one of the city prsetors. He was a man of very con- 
siderable talent, but of rather a harsh atld stern temper. 
Brutus was the nephew of Cato, to whose daughter he was 
now married, having divorced his former wife Claudia for 
that purpose. After the battle of Pharsalia he fled 'to 
Larissa, whence he sent his submission to Caesar, who joy- 
fully received him, arid when he was going to Africa set him 
over Cisalpine Gaul, and had now inade him one of the city 
praetors. His sister Junia was the wife of Cassius. A 
mistaken sense of patriotism may have been, and probably 
was, the motive which actuated these and some others ; * and 
even Cesar's own partisans who shared in the conspiracy, 
such as D. Brutus and Trebonius, may have acted from the 
same motives, for though they fought for CaBsar against 
Pompeius, it does not follow that they approved of the 
overthrow of the constitution. C. h.nd P. Servilius Casca, 
Tillius Cimber, and Minucius Basilus, also of the Caesarian 
party, were among the conspirators. C'n. Domitius and 
Q.. Ligarius were Pompeians who engaged in the plot. 

Cassius is said to have originally contrived the plot ; those 
to whom he communicated it advised him strongly to 
engage Brutus in it if possible on account of his name and 
influence, and Brutus when sounded readily^ entered into it. 

• In the case of Brutus, no one who reads his letters to Cicero and 
Atticus can doubt of it. How he rises in moral dignity in these letters 
over Cicero ! 



144 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Brutus was further urged, it is said, by hints such as theaQ; 
on his tribunal he fQuiid written^ " Brutus, dost thou sleep?,' 
and " Thou art not a true Brutus ! " and on tlie statue pf 
the elder Brutus was written, " Would there were a Brutus 
now ! " Knowing the tiniidity of Cicero's character, and cer- 
tain of his support when the deed was done, the conspira- 
tors did not niake liini privy to their design ; but it is said 
they had had some thoughts of admitting Antonius, who was 
offended with C.-esar for ha\ il^V made him p;iy for Pompei,us' 
property which he had bought,>but Trebonius had diverted 
them from it. It was then warmly debated among them 
whether they should not kill Antonius and Lepidus along 
with CiEsar, but the two Brutuses declaring strongly against 
such an act as unjust and impolitic, it was imprudently given 
up. The place and time of performing the deed were also 
matter of debate, as they were resolved that this act of 
public justice, as they deemed it, should be done in the face 
of day : some proposed the Field of Mars, others the Via 
Sacra or the entrance of the theatre; but as (he senate were 
to meet in the Curia of Pompeius on the ides of March, that 
place and day were finally fixed on. It is said moreover 
t))at Cffisar knew that there was a conspiracy against him, 
but that he disdained to take any precautions, saying that 
he would rather die at puce by treachery than live in fe^r 
qF it ; that he had lived long eupugh, and that the state 
would be a greater, laser than he by his death. 

On the morning of the ides (15th) of March, Brutus and 
Cassius s<it calmly in the Forum to administer justice, with 
daggers concealed under their gowns. Caesar, who felt him- 
self indisposed, and whose wife is said to have had ominous 
dreams, was thinking of upt, going to the senate, but D 
Brutus urging him he ascended his litter and set out : on 
the way, we are told, Artemidorus, a Greek philosopher, 
handed him a paper with an account of the plot, desiring 
him to read it immediately ; but he went in with the paper 
in his hand.* Popillius Ltenas, who a litUe before had 
intimated to Brutus and Cassius his knowledge of the plot, 
went up; and spoke earnestly to hiiYi ; the conspirators, who 
did uPt hear what he said, were in alarm, and laid their 
hands on their daggers. At length Popillius retired, ai»d Capi- 
sar advanced and took his seat; the conspirators gathered 

* It is also said that SpurinDa,an aruspex.had warned him to beware 
of the ides of March ; and now eeeing him he said, " Well, the ides of 
March are come." " Yes, but they are not past ! " replied i^puriana. 



DEATH AND CHARACTER OF CjESAR. 445 

round him ; Cimber began to plead for his brother who waa 
in exile, the others joined earnestly in the suit: Caesar was 
annoyed at their importunity ; Cimber then gave the ap- 
pointed signal by seizing his gown and pulling it off his 
shoulder. " This is violence," cried Gajsar. Casea instantly 
stabbed him under the throat. Caesar rose, ran his writintf* 
style into Casca's arm, and rushed forwaru ; but another and 
another struck him ; then despaii ing of life he thought only 
of dying with dignity, and wrapping his gown arouljd him, 
he fell, pierced by three-and-twenty wounds, at the foot of 
Pompeius' statue.* Brutus then waving his bloody dacrorer 
called aloud on Cicero, and congratulated him on the recov- 
ery of the public liberty. t He was going to address the 
assembly, but the senators fled out of the house in dismay. 
Thus perished, in his fifty-sixth year, C. Julius Caesar, 
the greatest man Rome, we would almost say the world, 
ever beheld. Equally the general, the statesman, the ora- 
tor, and the man of letters and taste, | he must have shone 
in any station and under any form of society. His courage 
was not merely physical, it was moral ; his eloquence was 
simple and masculine ; his taste pure and elegant. He was 
clement, generous, and magnanimous ; but he was also 
insatiably ambitious: and though not cruel, (as no really 
great man is,) he could shed torrents of blood without re- 
morse when he had any object to gain; and though he 
enforced the laws when he had the supreme power, he had 
trampled on them with contempt when they stood in his 
way. To say that Caesar overthrew the liberties of his 
country, Unless we dignify anarchy with the name of liberty, 
we hold to be incorrect ; and had his motive been the love 
of Rome, and not the gratification of his own ambition, we 
might even feel disposed to praise him. But he cared not 
for his country; the love of fame alone actuated him; in- 
stead of staying in Rome, and seeking to promote the hap- 
piness of those who were become his subjects, he was now 

'•* 'Some writers say that when Brutus struck, Caesar cried out in 
Greek, " And thou, my son ! " Caesar, it is well known, had an in- 
trigue with Servilia, Brutus' mother, but he was only rifteen years 
older tjian Brutup, and so could not well have been his farher. 

t Cic. Phil. ii. 12. 

t His solicitude about his dress and his personal appearance was a 
curious trait in Coesar's character. No honor that was decreed hirn 
gave him more pleasure than that of Wearing a laurel wreath, as it 
helped to conceal his baldness. Suet. Jul. Cses. 45. "-* 

as 



446 HISTORY OF ROME. 

on the point of running, in imitation of Alexander, to at- 
tempt the conquest of the East, leaving the supreme ^ower 
at liome in the hands of such men as Antonius and Dola- 
bella. According to the old Valerian law,* Caesar was 
legally slain ; we are not justified in ascribing any but pa- 
triotic motives to most of the conspirators : but if his assas- 
sination was an act of justice, according to the ideas of those 
times, never was there a more useless, a more pernicious 
act of justice performed. 



CHAPTER Xll.t 

AFFAIRS AT ROME AFTER C^SAR's DEATH. ^- HIS FUNERAL. 

CONDUCT OF ANTONIUS. OCTAVIUS AT ROME. — QUARREL 

BETWEEN HIM AND ANTONIUS. MUTINENSIAN WAR. 

C.iiSAR MADE CONSUL. THE TRIUMVIRATE AND PRO.SCRIF- 

TION. DEATH OF CICERO. HIS CHARACTER. -^ ACTS OF 

THE TRIUMVIRS. WAR WITH HRUTU3 AND CAS^fUS. 

B.^TTLE OF PHILIPPI. DEATH OF BRUTUS AND CASSI.US. 

ANTONIUS AND CLEOPATRA. -~ C^SAR's DISTRIBUTION OF 

I ANDS. PERL'SIAN WAR. RETURN OF ANTONIUS TO ITALY, 

WAR WITH SEX. POMPKIIS. PARTHIAN WAR. RUP- 
TURE BETWEEN CiESAR AND ANTOMUS. BATTLE OF ACTI- 

UM. LAST EFFORTS OF ANTONIUS. DEATH OF ANTONIUS 

AND CLEOPATRA. SOLE DOMINION OF C;«SA4t- — CON- 
CLUSION. •-,: (.J \)i: 

The terror of the senate at the assassmation of Caesar was 
shared l)y the |)eople, and tlie conspirators not knowing how 
they might finally act, and aware of the great luimber of 
soldiers that were in and about the city, deemed it their 
safest course to retire to the Capitol, whither several of the 
senate and the nobility repaired to them. The dead body 
of Cffisar, which lay in the senate-house, was placed in his 
litter by three of his slaves and taken home. Antonius 
fled ana concealed himself; Lepidus retired to the troops 

. • See above, p. 33. 

t Dion, xlv.-li. Appian, B. C. iii-v. Veil. Pat. ii. 59-39, Plut 
Cicero, Brutus, Antonius. 



AFFAIRS AT ROME AFTER C^iSAR's DEATH. 447 

which he had in the island of the Tiber,* and transported 
them without delay over to the Field of Mars. 

The next day passed in conferences and negotiations. 
Brutus and Cassius came down and harangued the people 
in the Forum, and were heard with respect; but when the 
prajtor L. Cornelius Cinna began to accuse Ciesar, the people 
showed such anger that the conspirators deemed it prudent 
to return to the Capitol ; and Brutus, expecting to be be- 
sieged, made those who had joined them tliere retire, not 
to shiire in the danger. On the third day (the 17th) Anto- 
nius,t as consul, assembled the senate in the temple of 
Earth, (Tellus,) to make the final arrangements with the 
conspirators. Cicero proposed an amnesty, like th.at at 
Athens in the time of the Thirty ; to which all agreed. An- 
tonius moved that the conspirators should be invited to join 
them, and he sent his son to the Capitol as a hostage for 
their security. They came down, and Cassius supped that 
evening with Antonius, Brutus with Lepidus. Antonius 
also moved that all Caesar's acts should be confirmed ; this 
was opposed ; but on his assurance that it should only ex- 
tend to those acts which were public and known, that only 
one exile was to be restored, and no immunities granted to 
any towns or countries, it was passed, with a restriction 
that nogrant which was to take place after the ides of March 
should be valid. It was finally resolved that Caesar's fune- 
ral should be solenmized at the public expense, a measure 
to which Brutus had agreed, though Cassius opposed it; 
and Cicero's prudent friend, T. Pomponius Atticus, had de- 

* He was preparing to set out with them for Spain, of which Cnesar 
had given hiin the government. 

t As Antonius becomes now an actor of so much importance, we 
will sketch his previous history. He was grandson of tlie great orator, 
(see p. 343,) and son of the Antonius who commanded against tlie 
pirates, (p. 300, 361.) In his youth lie was riotous and debauclied, and 
squandered his patrimony before he assumed tiie toga. His step-father 
was Catilina's associate Lentulus ; after whose death lie joined Clodius, 
and shared in the violence of his tribunate. He then went abroad, and 
became commander of the horse under Gabinius in Syria, and had his 
part in the restoration of PtolemEBus, (p. 431 .) On his return, his debts 
driving him from Rome, he went to Gaul to Caesar, who aided iiim 
with his money and credit in his suit for the qua^storship ; and Cicero, 
to oblige Caesar, exerted himself so strenuously in his favor, that An- 
tonius attributed his success to him, and, to prove his gratitude, attempted 
to kill Clodius in the Forum. As soon as he was made (lutcstor, he went 
back to CsEsar, without waiting for an appointment from the senate ; 
he afterwards returned, and was chosen one of the tribunes; and we 
have seen how useful he proved to Cceaar. 



448 HISTORY OF ROME. 

clared that if there "was a public funeral all was lost. \l 
this time also Cicero's son-in-law, P. Dolabella, whom ». se* 
aar had nominated to be consul in his place, entered of liim- 
self on the office • an»] Lepidus took in like manner the high 
priesthood vvhicl Caesar had held. The following day che 
thanks of the senate were given to Antonius for his pruaent 
conduct, and provinces decreed to (he principal conspirators. 

Caesar's will was now opened and read at the house of 
Antonius, and it was found that he had adopted and made 
his principal heir C. Octavius, the grandson of his sister ; that 
he had bequeathed the citizens 300 sesterces apiece, and 
left them his gardens near the Tiber. The funeral ihen 
took place. A small temple adorned with gold was raised 
in front of the Rostra, and his body placed in it on an ivory 
couch, the robe in which be had died being hung over it; 
the pyre meantime was formed in the Field of .Mars, whither 
all who chose were directed to carry their spices and perfumes 
to be burnt on it. Antonius then ascended the Rostra; he 
directed the decrees of the senate in Cesar's honor to be 
read, and the oath taken by the senators not only not to 
make any attempt on his life, but to defend it at the hazard 
of their own. He then briefly addressed the people.* The 
magistrates and those who had borne office under Caesar 
took up the body to carry it to the Field of Mars ; but the 
rabble, who had been excited by verses distributed among 
them, would not allow them to proceed, some insisting that 
it should be burnt in the temple of the Capiloline Jupiter, 
others ii> the curia of Pompeius, in which he was slain. 
Suddenly two armed soldiers advanced with lighted tapers 
and set fire to the bier ; the crowd broke up all the seats and 
got brushwood and every thing else that came to hand to 
feed the flames ; the musicians and players threw on them 
their dresses, the veterans their arms, the women their own 
and their children's ornaments to honor Caesar. The mob 
then attempted to set fire to the houses of the conspirators, 
and they murdered C. Ilelvius Cinna, a tribune, and one ol 
CiPsar's friends, mistaking him for his namesake the praetor, 
and carried his hef^d about on a spear. 

The conspirators now found it advisable to leave Rome; 
but Antonius, not feeling himself yet strong enough to act 
as he intended, still wore the mask of moderation. He 

* Suetonius. Jul. Caesar, 84. Others say he displayed Ceesar'fl 
blot>dy robe and excited the people to vengeance ; but this cannot hav» 
been, as it was his policy now to keep fair with the con«pirators. 



CONnUCT OF ANTONIUS. 449 

ipoke highly of Brutus and Cassius, obtained leave for them, 
t'hough prajtors, to stay away from the city, and had a de- 
cree passed abolishing forever the name and office of dic- 
tator. As the mob had erected an altar with a pillar on the 
spot where they had burnt Caesar's body and offered sacri- 
fices on it, he seized and put their ringleader to death ; and 
Dolabella afterwards demolished the pillar and altar, and 
executed several of the most riotous of the mob. 

Antonius, having made a tour through Italy to collect the 
veterans and draw them toward Rome, assembled the senate 
on the 1st of June; when as none ventured to appear but 
his own partisans, he had what decrees he pleased passed. 
Pretending fear on account of the decrees in favor of the 
republic, he asked for a guard to protect him, and when it 
was granted, he surrounded himself with six thousand vet- 
erans. He then had the execution of Ciesar's acts com- 
mitted to the consuls, and as he had Cresar's papers and his 
secretary Faberius in his hands he now could forge and do 
as he pleased. He therefore recalled exiles, granted immu- 
nities to whom he chose and who could pay for them,* and 
thus amassed a large quantity of money. Calpurnia, Csb- 
sar's wife, had, in her first terror, given up to him all the 
ready money that Caesar had left behind him, amounting to 
100,000,000 sesterces, and he seized the public treasure of 
700,000,000 sesterces which Caesar had .placed in the tem- 
ple of Ops. He thus had been enabled to pay off his own 
debts of 40,000,000 sesterces, purchase over his colleague 
Dolabella, and gain the soldiery to his side. As Sex. Pom- 
peius was again in arms, Antonius and Lepidus, aware of 
the annoyance he might give them, had a decree passed 
restoring him to his estates t and honors, and giving him 
the command at sea with as full powers as his father had 
enjoyed. 

The young C. Octavius, a youth of nineteen years of age, 
was at Apollonia pursuing his studies at the time of Caesar's 
death : the officers of the troops about there waited on him 
with a tender of their services, and some of his friends ad- 



* Though Cajear hated no man more than Deiotarus, Antonius re- 
stored him his dominions, in compliance, as he said, with the will of 
Csesar The price paid by the king was 10.000,000 sesterces : the bar- 
gain was made by his assents with Fulvia the wife of Antonius. 

t Ii may give some idea of the wealth of the Roman nobles to know 
that Pompeius' property (independent of his plate and jewels) waa 
valued at 700,000,000 sesterces, or £5,651,037 of our money. 
38* E E E 



450 UISTORY OF ROME. 

vised him to accept them ; hut this course did not suit his 
naturally cautious temper, and he only said that he would 
go to Rome and claim his uncle's estates. In the present 
posture of affairs even this course seemed too hazardous to 
many of his friends, and his mother Atia and her husband L. 
Marcius Philippus wrote to dissuade iiiin from it. He how- 
ever persisted, and on his landing at Brundisium, the vete- 
rans flocked to him complaining of Antonius" tardiness to 
avenge the death of Cassar. He thence proceeded to join 
his mother at Cumre, and there he was introduced to Cicero, 
whom he assured that he would be always governed by his 
advice. Octavius then set out for Rome ; when he came 
near the city crowds of Caesar's friends met him and attended 
him on his entrance. Next day, having had his claim duly 
registered, he went to M. Antonius and demanded posses- 
sion of his uncle's money and assets, that lie might pay the 
legacies. Antonius made a brief reply, telling him he wag 
young arid did not know what he was about ; he impeded 
him in getting his adoption confirmed by the curies ; and 
further, when Octavius, though a patrician, sought the 
tribunate vacant by the murder of Helvius Cinna, Antonius 
also opi)Osed him. 

Octavius, (whom we shall henceforth call Caisar,*) seeing 
he had no hopes of Antonius, turned to the senate and peo- 
ple; the former see^ned disposed to favor him against An- 
tonius, and he easily won the latter by a promise of even 
more money than Caesar had left them in his will, and of 
treating them with splendid shows. To perform these prom- 
ises he had to sell his own estate and his succession to 
his uncle's, and even those of his mother and his father-in- 
law, who now su|)ported him heartily. 

Brutus and Cassius soon after left Italy, regarding their • 
cause there as lost, and the chief hope of the republicans 
lav ni the increasing coolness between C.rsiir and Antonius. 
The latter did all in his power to gain the veterans; he 
estranged himself more and more from the republican party, 
which therefore looked to his rival, who, it is said, formed 
a design against his life, and sent some slaves to his house 
to assassinate him.t They both began to make preparations 



• By the rule of adoption, 1)18 name now became C. Julius Cmsar 
OctaviSnus. It is quite an error to call him henceforth Octavius ; we 
might as well call the younger Africanus iGniilius. 

t Suet. Ocluv. 10, 



QUARREL BETWISX OCTAVIUS AND ANTONIUS. 451 

for war, and Antonius ir the beginning of October set out 
for Brundisiuin to meet four legions which he had recalled 
from Macedonia. Cassar sent his agents to try to purchase 
the fidelity of these legions ; he himself went to solicit the 
veterans settled about Capua, and as he gave 500 denars 
a man, a number of them joined him. Antonius was but 
coolly received by the soldiers, and when he offered them 
100 denars each, they left his tribunal with contempt. In 
a rage he summoned the centurions whom he suspected to 
his quarters, and had them massacred in the presence of 
himself and his wife Fulvia. Caesar's agents took advantage 
of this to gain over the soldiers, and but one of the legions 
could be induced to follow Antonius to Rome ; the other 
three marched along the coast without declaring for either 
side. At Rome Antonius published several edicts in abuse 
of Caesar, Cicero, and others, and he had summoned the 
senate with the intention of having Caesar declared a public 
enemy ; but hearing that the three legions had declared for 
him, he left Rome in haste, and putting himself at the head 
of his troops set out for Cisalpine Gaul, which, though the 
province of D. Brutus, he had made the people decree to 
himself without asking the consent of the senate. 

Rome being now free from the presence of Antonius' 
troops, Cicero ventured to return to it ; and having received 
an assurance that Caesar would be a friend to Brutus, and 
seen that he allowed Casca, who had given the dictator the 
first blow, to enter on the tribunate to which he had been 
elected, he resolved to keep no measures with Antonius ; 
both in the senate and to the people he inveighed against 
him, extolling Caesar and D. Brutus, and calling on the 
senate to act with vigor in the defence of the republic* 
The remainder of the year was spent in making prepara- 
tions for war against Antonius, who was now actually be- 
sieging D. Brutus in Miitina. Caesar, with the approbation 
of Cicero, who had procured him the title of proprietor, 
marched after Antonius to watch his movements. 

On the first of January (709) the new consuls, A. Hir- 
tius and C. Vibius Pansa, entered on their office ; and in 
the senate, in spite of the eloquence of Cicero, the motion 
of Q,. Fufius Calenus to send an embassy to Antonius was 
carried, after a debate of three days. Three consulars, Sex. 

* The speeches, fourteen in number, delivered by Cicero against 
Antonius are called Philippics, after those of Demosthenes. 



'452 'I'/'fiT'/A nV'HISTORT OF ROME.; 1 .. !; , > 

Salpicius, L. Piso, and L. Philippus were sent. Meantime 
the levies Went on with great spirit, and an afniy under 
Hirtius took the field against Antonius. The embassy hav- 
ing been detained by the illness and death of Sulpicius, did 
not return till the beginning of February, when the senate 
was informed that Antonius refused obediehce unless they 
would confirm all the acts of his consulate, give lands 
and rewards to all his troops, and to himself the govern- 
ment of Transalpine Gaul for five years, with six legions. 
On the motion of Cicero, Antonius was then in effect, though 
not in words, declared a public enemy, and the people were 
ordered to assume the sagum, or military habit. As Brutus 
was closely pressed in Mutina, attempts were made in the 
senate to have the negotiations with Antonius renewed, but 
they were defeated by the forcible eloquence of Cicero; and 
Pansa at length set out about the middle of March to attempt 
the relief of Brutus. 

When Antonius heard of Pansa's approach he secretly 
drew out his best troops to attack him before he should join 
Hirtius. On the 15th of April, the day that Paiis^ was to 
enter Hirtius' camp, he found the horse and Hght troops of 
Antonius, who kept his legions out of view in an adjaipeni 
village, prepared to oppose him. A pa^rt qf his troops 
charged them without waiting for orders; Antonius brought 
out his legions ; the action became brisk and general ; and 
Pansa's troops were finally driven to their camp, which Anto- 
nius vainly attempted to storm; and as he was returning he 
was met by Hirtius and defeated with great loss, and another 
body of his troops, which attacked Hirtius' camp, was driven 
off by Cfesar, who commanded there. Three or four d-^ys 
after, Hirtius ami Cicsar made a vigorous attack on the ca'np 
of Antonius, who drew out his legions and gave them battf*> ; 
in the heat of the action Brutus made a sally frojn the town. 
Hirtius forced his way into the camp, but was ^lain near the 
prfftorhim ; Cajsar however completed the victory, and An- 
tonius fled with his cavalry toward the Alps. 

'Th6 consul Pansa, who li:id been severely wounded in tie 
first engagement, died the next day at Bononia, (Bologna,) 
whither he had been conveyed. The deaths of the two consuls 
"happened so very opportunely for Caesar, that he vvas accused, 
though certainly without reason, of having caused them.* He 
was now at the head of nearly the entire army, for the vete- 
•••I'ii- ' 

* Suet. Octav. U. 



C^SAR MADE CONSUL. 453 

rans would not serve under Brutus, who was thus unable to 
pursue Antonius; and as Caesar, having other views, would 
not follow him, he was able to f»rm a junction with his legate 
P. Ventidius, who was bringing him three legions, and to 
effect his retreat over the Alps. At Rome, on the motion of 
Cicero, all kinds of honors were lavished on the slain and 
living generals ; and, among the rest, the lesser triumph, 
named ovation, was decreed to Caesar. 

There were in this time two Roman armies in Gaul, the 
ox\e commanded by Lepidus, who had stopped there on his 
way to Spain, the other by L. Munatius Plancus, the con- 
sul elect. The former, though he had sent reiterated assur- 
ances of fidelity to the senate, joined Antonius when he came 
to the vicinity of his camp : the latter united his forces with 
those of D. Brutus; but when he found that Asinius PoUio 
had led two legions out of Spain to the aid of the rebels (for 
Lepidus had been also declared a public enemy) he took the 
same side, and even attempted to betray Brutus to them. 
Brutus endeavored to make his escape to M. Brutus, who 
was in Macedonia, but he was betrayed and taken and put to 
death by the soldiers whom Antonius had sent in pursuit 
of him, 

Cajsar, not content with the honors decreed him, demand- 
ed, it is said, a triumph, and on its being refused began to 
think of a reconciliation with Antonius. Though but a youth 
he then resolved to claim the consulate, and it is also said 
that he induced Cicero to approve of his project by flattering 
his self-love, holding out to him the prospect of becoming his 
collerigue and his director. As however no one could be 
found to propose him, he sent a deputation of his officers to 
demand it. The senate hesitated ; ,the centurion Cornelius, 
throwing back his cloak, showed the hilt of his sword and 
said, *' This will make him if you will not." Caesar himself 
soon appeared at the head of his troops ; two legions which 
were just arrived from Africa, and had been set to defend the 
Janiculan, went over to him; no opppsition could be made; 
an assembly of the people chose him and his cousin Q,. Pe- 
dius consuls, and they entered on their office on the I9th of 
the month Sextilis. CfEsar was now resolved to keep meas- 
ures no longer with the republican party. Pedius proposed 
a law for bringing to trial all concerned, directly or indi- 
rectly, in causing the dictator's death ; the conspirators were 
all impeached, and none of course appearing thfey were out- 
lawed. Sex. Pompeius, though he bad not had the slightest 



4.'i4 HISTORY OF ^OME. 

concern in the deed, was included in the sentence, at) the 
object pioposed was not to avenge the death of the elder, 
but to establish the power of the younger Caesar, who for 
this purpose now distributed to the citizens the legacies left 
ihem by his uncle. 

Having settled the aflairs of the city to his mind, Csesar 
set out with his troops to hold the personal interview, which 
had been long since arranged, with Lepidus and Antonius, 
who had passed the Alps for the purpose. The place of meet- 
ing was a small island in a stream named the Rhenus, (Reno,) 
about two miles from Bononia. Each encamped with five le- 
gions ill view of the island, which Lepidus entered the first 
to see that all was safe; and on his giving the signal, Csesar 
and Antonius approached and passed over to it from the 
opposite banks by bridges, which they left guarded each by 
three hundred men. Tliey first, it is said, searched each 
other to see that they had no concealed weapons, and then 
sat in conference during three days, the middle seat being 
given to Cajsar as consul. It was agreed among them, that 
under the title of Triumvirs for settling the Republic they 
should jointly hold the supreme power for five years, appoint 
to all offices, and decide on all public affairs; that Caesar 
should have for his province Afrii^ii, Sicily, and the other 
islands, Lepidus Spain and Narbonese Gaul, and Antonius the 
two other Gauls both sides of the Alps; that Ca?sar and An- 
tonius, each with twenty legions, should prosecute the war 
against Brutus and Cassius, and Lepidus <vith three have 
charge of the city; that finally, at the end of the war, eight- 
een of the best and richest municipal towns and colonies* 
of Italy, witb their lands, should be taken from their owners 
and given to their faithful soldiers. They then proceeded 
to the horrible act of drawing up a proscription list after the 
example of Sulla, which was to contain the names of their 
public and private enemies, and of those whose w«;alth exci- 
ted their cupidity. Antonius insisted on Cicero's being in- 
cluded ; Cajsar is said to have shrunk from this deed, but 
after holding out for two days he at length gave him up, as 
did Lepidus his own brother Pauhis, and Antonius his uncle 
L. Cjpsar. The list is said to have contained the names 
of 300 senators and 2000 knights.t Caesar as consul read to 



* Appian enumerates Capp^, Rhegiura, Venusia, Beneventuin, Nu 
eeni, Ariminum, and Hipponiuna. 

♦ Appian B. C. iv. 5. Livy says 130, Florus 140 se'nators. 



THE TRIUMVIRATE AND PROSCRH'TICN. 455 

the soldiers all the articles of their agreement but the pro- 
scription list; their joy was unbounded, and they insisted 
on a marriage between Csesar and Clodia, the daughter of 
Antonius' wife Fulvia by her first husband Clodius. 

The triumvirs having selected seventeen names of the most 
obnoxious persons, sent off some soldiers to murder them 
without delay. Four were met and slain at once, but the tu- 
mult made by the soldiers in searching after the others filled 
the city with such alarm that the consul Pedius had to run 
about the streets all night to quiet the people, and in the 
morning he published the names of the seventeen. He died 
the next day in consequence of his great exertions and unea- 
siness of mind. A few days after, the triumvirs arrived, and 
having had a law proposed by one of the tribunes for invest- 
ing them with their new office, entered on it on the 27th of 
November. They immediately published their proscription 
list, and the scenes of Sulla's days were renewed in all their 
horrors, and the vices and virtues of human nature had again 
full room for display. "The fidelity of the wives of the pro- 
scribed," says a historian,* " was exemplary, that of the 
freedmen middling, slaves showed some, sons none at all." 

M. Cicero, his brother and his nephew were among the 
first sought out. Cicero, who in reliance on Csesar had 
feared no danger, was at. his Tusculan villa when he heard 
that his name was in the fatal list. He set out with his brother 
and nephew for his villa at Astiira, which was on the coast 
near Antium, intending to make their escape by sea; but 
Q. Cicero having no money returned to Rome with his son, 
thinking he could remain concealed there till he had pro- 
cured what he wanted ; they were however betrayed by their 
slaves and both put to death. M. Cicero got on board a vessel 
at Astura, and sailed as far as Circeii, where he larrded. He I 

was perplexed how to act, and whether he should go to Brutus, 
Cassius, or Pompeius : at times he did not wholly despair of 
Cflesar ; at other times he thought of returning secretly to 
Rome, and entering Csesar's house kill himself on his hearth, 
and thus draw on him the vengeance of heaven ; death in fine 
he now regarded as his only refuge : t he however yielded 
to the entreaties of his slaves, and let them convey him by 
sea to his villa at Caieta; but he would go no further, de- 

• Veil. Pat. ii. 67. " So hard," he adds with respect to the sons 
• 18 the delay of a hope any how conceived ! " 
t Seneca, Suasor. 6. 



456 HISTCRY OF ROME. 

daring tTiat'n^ would die in the country he so often had' 
saved.* He went to bed and slept soundly, though a flock of 
crows, we are told, as if to warn him of his inipeuding fate, 
made a continual fluttering and crying about the house. His 
slaves, apprehending danger, made him get up, and placing 
him in a litter carried him through tiie woods toward the sea. 
The soldiers soon arrived at the villa, and finding him gone 
pursued after him. When they came up, his slaves prepared 
to fight in his defence, but he forbade them, and stretching 
his neck out of the litter, and regarding the soldiers with an 
air of resolution which almost daunted them, bade them do 
their office and take what they wanted. They struck off" his 
head and hands, and C. Popillius Lsnas the tribune, who 
commanded the party, a man whom Cicero had formerly de- 
fended on a capital cliarge, took them and carried them to 
Antoniug. The triumvir wa.s sitting in the Forum when he 
arrived; La;nas held up the bloody spoils when he came in 
sight, and he forthwith received the honor of a crown and a 
large sum of money. The head and hands were placed on 
the Rostra, where the sight of them drew tears from many an 
eye, and awoke many a sigh in the bosoms of those who 
called to mind the eloquence with which he had so often from 
that place defended the laws and liberties of his country. 
Such was the end, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, of 
the greatest orator, the most accomplished writer that Rome 
ever possessed. In his private character Cicero was every 
way amiable, and a just and benevolent spirit pervades all 
his writings; as a magistrate, whether at Rome or in the 
provinces, few were so upright or incorruptible; it is only his 
political character that is stained with blemishes. His vanity 
was insatiable, and any one who would minister to it could 
wield hinrat his pleasure; he had a cowardly dread of the ills 
of life, and lost all sense of dignity in his anxiety to escape 
them.t He wanted that firnmess, that fixedness of purpose, 
without which no statesman can be great ; he was ever vacil- 
lating, and to gratify his ambition, which was inordinate, he 
could even be base.f Though Caesar had caused his banish- 

* Liv. \n Scnec. Suasor. 

t " We have too gn-at a dread," sayB Brutus, " of death, of exile, and 
of poverty. I'hese Cicero looks upon as the chief ills of life; and as 
long as he can find people who will grant him what he desires, who 
will respect and applaud him, he has no objection to slavery, provided 
it be an honorable one." 

t One could hardly believe, had we not his own words for it, (Ad 
Att. i. 2J that he had thoughts of defi-nding Catilina, thoug^h he knew 



DEATH AND CHARAC'IKR OF CICERO 457 

raent he sought and obtained favors from him ; be flattered 
him grossly when in power, and yet he exulted at and applaud- 
ed his assassination. Cicero's patriotism had not the moral 
purity of that of Demosthenes ; we could believe that the lat- 
ter, provided he saw Athens great and flourishing, would have 
been content to have been one of her humblest citizens; to 
Cicero the republic was nothing if he was not the leading 
man in it, its animating spirit. To speak thus hardly of so 
great, so generally excellent a man is painful to us, but our 
regard for truth will not allow us to join in the unqualified 
eulogies which have been lavished on his memory. 

Numbers of the proscribed made their escape to Pompeius 
or to Brutus. Even Antonius showed some mercy; when 
Cicero's head was brought to him, he declared the proscrip- 
tion, on his part at an end; he let his uncle escape, and he 
erased Oom the list the names of the learned Varro, and of 
Cicero's triend T. Pomponius Atticus, and some others; we 
are however assured that he and his spouse Fulvia set in gen- 
eral but little bounds to their appetite for blood and plunder. 
Lepidus saved his brother. Caesar, whom as having few per- 
sonal enemies we should have expected to have been the most 
moderate, is said to have acted with more cruelty than his 
colleagues; but he was not actuated by revenge or the love of 
rapine, he went on the cool, deliberate principle of extermina- 
ting the aristocracy, and thus making room for his own pow- 
er. When at the end of the proscription Lepidus made in 
the senate a sort of apology for it, and held forth hopes of 
clemency in future, Csesar declared that he would not bind 
himself, but would still reserve the power of proscribing.* 

The triumvirs having satiated their vengeance next thought 
of raising money for the war. They had recourse to all 
modes of extortion ; they seized the treasures in the charge of 
the Vestals; they laid a heavy tax on four hundred women of 
fortune, and then on all the citizens who had above a certain 
property. They appointed the magistrates for several years 
to come; and having made Lepidus and Plancus consuls, 
Caesar and Antonius put themselves at the head of tht ir army 
and crossed over to Epirus. 

VVe must now follow Brutus and Cassias. After their do^ 



his character, and that his gM\U was as clear as the sun at noon day in 
the hoJ)Ps of that villain joining forces with him in their joint suit for 
the consulate. 

" Suelon. Octav. 27. :"■ t^' ■' 'iw^ 

39 FFF 



458 HISTORY OF ROME. 

parture from Italy they went first to Athens, vhere they weia 
received with great honors, and the va nglorious people 
decreed them statues to stand beside those of Harmodius 
and Aristogiton, the fancied founders of Athenian freedom. 
Brutus collected all the troops he could;* the three legions 
commanded by P. Vatinius went over to him ; Q. Hortensiua 
the propraetor of Macedonia, delivered it up to him, and when 
C. Antonius, whom his brother had appointed to it, came out, 
he was defeated and made a prisoner; and Brutus thus re- 
mained master of Greece, Macedonia, and Illyricum. 

Cassius proceeded to Syria. Dolabella, for whom hia 
colleague Antonius had obtained that government, had on 
his way through Asia treacherously seized and put to death 
with torture Trebonius, one of the conspirators, the governor 
of that province ; for this the senate had declared him a public 
enemy; but while they were deliberating whom to send 
against him, Cassius went to Syria, where all the troops 
declared for him ; and Dolabella being besieged in Laodieea 
put an end to himself Being now at the head often legions, 
Cassius was preparing to invade Egypt, when he was Sum- 
moned by Brutus to come to his aid against Antonius and 
CaBSiu. They met at Smyrna, and Cassius being of opinion 
that they should first reduce the Rhodians and Lycians, who 
had refused to pay contributions, he himself attacked and 
plundered the former, while Brutus turned his arms against 
the latter, whose town of Xanthus he took and burned, after 
slaughtering the men, women, and children without distinc- 
tion. Having levied contributions in all quarters, they met 
at Sardes, and thence crossed over to the Chersonese. t As 
P. Decidius Saxa and C. Junius Norbanus, whom the trium- 
virs had sent forward with eight legions, occupied the pass 
leading into Macedonia, Brutus and Cassius sent a detach- 
ment, under the guidance of a Thracian prince, by a circui- 
tous route through tlae mountains ; at the sight of which the 
triumvirs' legates fell back to Amphipolis, and tJie republican 
generals then came and encamped on an eminence near the 
town of Philippi. 

*, Cicero's eon and the poet Horace, who were studying at Athens, 
took ariris'oh this occnsinn and received commands from Brutus. 

f It is snid that at tlus tiino, a.s Brutus was sitting up late one night 
reading in his tont, ho beheld a strange and terrific figure standing by 
bim. He asked who he was, and why he was come ; the phantom re- 
plied, " I am thy evil genius ; thou wilt see me at Philippi ! " " I shall 
see thee then," said Brutus, and the figure vanished. This may be • 
fiction, but it is such a trick as fancy might have played. 



BArrLE OF PHILIPPI. 

Antonius, who was an active general when he chos<» to 
rouse himself, made all haste to save his legates, a; <1 on his 
arrival he encamped within a mde of the enemy. He was 
joined in a few days by Cajsar, and their united force was 
nineteen legions and thirteen thousand horse ; the other army 
had tlie same number of legions and twenty thousand horse; 
Antoiiius, as his army, being excluded from the sea, was in 
want of provisions, sought to bring on an action, which Cas- 
siiis, aware of his motive, steadily refused. At length how- 
ever the impatience of his troops, or, as some s;iy, of his 
officers and his colleague, obliged him to consent to give bat- 
tle. As Cssar was unwell, Antonius had the sole command of 
the other army, and he defeated the troops of Cassius which 
were opposed to him and took their camp ; but on the other 
side, CsBsar's troops were routed by those of Brutus, and their 
camp was taken. Cassius having vainly tried to rally his 
men retired to an eminence, and seeing a body of horse 
coming toward hiin he sent one of his friends, named Titin- 
ius, to know who they were. As they were part of Brutus' 
troops they received Titinius joyfully, and taking him amoftg 
them still advanced. Cassius, whose sight was imperfect, 
became convinced that they were enemies, and crying out 
that he had caused the capture of his friend, withdrew into a 
lonely hut and made a faithful freedman strike off his head. 
Titinius slew himself when he heard of his death, and Brutus 
on coming to the place wept over him, calling him the last of 
the Romans : lest his funeral should dispirit the soldiers, he 
sent his body over to the adjacent isle of Thasos. He then 
assembled and encouraged his troops, promising them a do- 
nation of "2000 drachmas a man. 

The loss on the side of the republicans had been eight 
thousand men, while that of the triumvirs was double the num- 
ber ; yet Antonius, as his troops lay in a wet marshy situation 
and were suffering from want of supplies, still offered battle, 
which Brutus, whose camp was well supplied, prudently de- 
clined : his fleet had also defeated that of the triumvirs, but 
of this he was ignorant. At length, urged by the impatience 
of his soldiers and fearing the effect of dissensions between 
his own men and those of Cassius, he led them out after a 
delay of twenty days, promising them the plunder of two 
cities if, they were victorious. Both sides fought with des- 
peration, but victory finally declared for the triumvirs. Bru- 
tus, having crossed a stream that ran through a glen, retired 
for the night to the shelter of a rock with a few of his friends, 



460 HISTORY or ROME. 

and looking up at the sky, now full of stars, he repeated two 
Greek verses, one of which, from the Medea of Euripides, 
ran thus :* 

Zeus ! may the cause of all these ills escape thee not ! 

He passed the night in enumerating and mourning oyer, thpse 
who had fallen. Toward morning he whispered Ins servant 
Clitus, who wept and was silent; he then drew his shield- 
bearer aside ; he finally besought his friend Yoluinnius to 
hold his sword for him to fall on it. Being refused by all, 
he continued to discourse with them some time longer, and 
then retired with his friend Strato and one or two others to 
a little distance ; he there threw himself on his sword, which 
Strato held for him, and e.xpired, Antonius, when he came 
U> where the body of Brytus lay, cast a purple robe over it 
and he sent his remains to his mother Servilia.t 

* Ziv, fill iu^oi o» xmvS (ig ai'rioj naxajv. 

Dion fxJvii. 49) and Florus (iv. 7) say th^^ b0.ji>9p«sfL^d/, tliesc ^ereea 
from the Hercules of the same poet : 

•Si TAifftoj' tt^tTi,, Xoyof a^' 1/09'' iyat di at 
'Hi fQyov rflxuvv av i' aq 'tS(jvXtvt(; Tv^if. 

, , "O vretclted, victue ! a mere word thou art„ but 1 

Practised thee as a real thing, while thou art nought 
',, But Fortune's slave." ' •' " '' ' 

t It was said that Brutus' wife Porcia, when she heard of his death, 
put an end to herself by swallowing burning coals, — a thing physically 
impossible. She might have smothered herself by inhaling the Aimes 
of charcoal ; but it appears Iron) the letters of Brutus atidhiv friends 
that she had died of disease before this time. 

As the charge of avarice is the greatest stain that has teen fixed on 
the character of Brutus, we will here relate the case which has given 
occasion to it. When Cicero was going out as governor of Cuicia, 
Brutus strongly recommended to him two persons named Scaptius and 
ilatinius, to whom the people of Salamis in Cyprus owed a largo sum 
of money. Cicero's predecessor, Ap. Claudius, who was Brutus' father- 
in-law, had given Scaptius a prefecture in Cyprus, which Brutus wished 
Ciceto to continue hiui in ; but Cicero, who had laid ii down aa a rule 
not to grant tliese Commands to traders ;uid usurers, refused ; particu- 
larly as he knew thnf Sc4iptiu8 had shut up the senate of Salami? in 
their house till five of them died of hunger. Moreover Scaptius de- 
manded 48 per cent., and Cicero in his edict had declared that he would 
allow of no more than 12 per cent, on any bonde. Brutus and AtticuB 
both wrote repeatedly to Cicero about, it, and the former at length con- 
fcseed th^t he was the ij^fil qr^ditor and the others were but hip agents. 
To Cicero's honor he stood firm, and would not jierniii such robbery 
and oppression when he conld prevent it. This affair is but 6rte proof 
among many ol the manner in which the Roman nobles oppressed tjiff 
prcTiaclalt. 



ANTONIUS IN ASIA. 

All wha had beea concerned in the death of C^sar 'fol- 
lowed the example of Brutus ; others made their escape to 
Tliasos, M. Vialerius Messala and Bibulus having collected 
about fourteen thousand men, sent to offer their, submission 
to the triumvirs. The victorious generals spent some days 
in glutting their vengeance and extirpating the friends of in- 
dependence; and we are assured that the cool, calculating 
Cssar far surpassed the brutal Antonius in cruelty and inso- 
lence.* They then made a new division of the empire; An- 
tonius getting all the provinces of the East ; CtBsar those of 
the west, exctept Africa, which was left to Lepidus • Italy, as 
their common country, remained unappropriated. Having 
made their arrangements, Antonius proceeded to levy money 
in the East for the soldiers' rewards, while Caesar undertook 
to put them in possession of the lands promised them in Italy 

Antonius went first to Greece, and spent some time at 
Athens, where he amused himself attending the games and 
the disputes of the philosophers, and having himself initiated 
in the Mysteries. He behaved with great mildness and was 
very liberal to the city. Leaving L. Censorinus to command 
in Greece, he passed with his army of eight legions and ten 
thousand horse over to Asia, where he disposed of public and 
private property at his will ; kings waited humbly at his doors, 
queens and princesses vied in offering him their wealth and their 
charms. He exacted from the unfortunate people the enor- 
mous sum of 200,000 talents, most part of which he squan- 
dered away in luxury. Meeting at Ephesus several of the 
friends of Brutus and Cassius, he granted their lives to all but 
two; he acted also with great generosity to the towns which 
had suffered for their attachment to the Caesarian cause. 
From Tarsus in Cilicia he sent to summon Cleopatra (who 
having murdered her young brother was now sole sovereign 
of Egypt) to justify herself for not having been more active 
in the cause of the triumvirs. She came, relying on her 
charms. At the mouth of the Cydnus she entered a barge, 
whose poop was adorned with gold arid whose sails were of 
purple; the oars, set with silver, moved in accordance with 
the sound of flutes and lyres. The queen herself, attired as 
Venus, lay reclined beneath the shade of a gold-embroidered 
umbrella, fanned by boys resembling Loves ; while her fe- 
male attendants, habited as Nereides and Graces, leaned 
against the shrouds and sides of the vessel ; and costly spices 

* Suet. Octav. 13. 

39* 



462 HISTORY >F ROME. 

and perfumes, as they burned before her, filled the surround- 
ing air with their fragrance. All the people of the city 
crowded to behold this novel sight, and Antonius was left 
sitting alone on his tribunal in the market. He sent to 
invite the fair queen to supper, but she required that he 
should come and sup with her. Antonius could not refuse; 
the elegance and variety of the banquet amazed him : next 
day lie tried, but in vain, to surpass it. The guileful en- 
chantress cast her spell over hini and twined herself round 
his heart. Cruel as fair, she obtained from him an order to 
drag her sister Arsinoe from the sanctuary at Ephesus, and 
put her to death. Her general Serapion, and an impostor 
who personated her elder brother, were likewise torn from 
sanctuaries and given up to her vengeance, and she then set 
out on her return to Egypt. Antonius, unable to live with- 
out her, gave up all his previous thouglits of war on the 
Parthians, and putting his troops into winter quarters, has- 
tened to follow her and abandoned himself wholly to luxury 
and enjoyment in her society. 

Meantime Ctesar came to Rome, (711,) and set about giv- 
ing his soldiers their promised rewards ; a ta.«k of no small 
difficulty and danger, for they demanded the towns which 
had been fixed on before the war, while the people of these 
towns required that the loss should be shared by all Italy, 
and that those who were deprived of their lands should be 
paid for them. Young and old, men, women, and children, 
they repaired to Rome ; they filled the Forum and temples 
with their lamentations; and the people there sympathized 
with their grief and mourned their wrongs.* Ca'sar, however, 
urging the tyrant's plea of necessity, went on distributing lands 
to his soldiery ; and he even borrowed money from the tem- 
ples to divide among them for the purchase of stock imd 
farming implements. This gained him additional favor with 
them, which was increased by the cries and reproaches of 
those whom he was robbing of their properties for them 
Like every army of the kind, they knew tiieir power over 
their chief, and exercised it with insolence, as the following 
instances will show. One day, when Caesar was present in 
the theatre, a common soldier went and took his seat among 
the knights ; the people murmured, and Ca;sar had him re- 
moved. . The soldiers took ofiencc at this, and surrounding 

* See the first and ninth of Virgil eclogues for affecting picture* 
of Uie evils of these confiscations 



CiESAR S DISTR. BUTION OF LANDS. 463 

him as he was going out. of the theatre demanded tlieir com- 
rade's release : they were obeyed ; he came ; but wlien he as- 
BLired them that he had not been in prison as they supposed, 
they reviled him as a liar and a traitor to the common cause. 
Again, Ciesar summoned them to the Field of Mars for a di- 
vision of lands. In their eagerness they came before it was 
day, and finding that he delayed, they began to grow angry. 
A centurion named Nonius reminded them of their duty to 
their general , they laughed and jeered at him, but gradually 
they grew warm and abused and pelted him ; he jumped into 
the river to escape, but they dragged him out and killed him : 
they then laid the body where Cajsar was to pass. When he 
came he took but little notice of it, afFecling to regard the 
crime as the deed of a few, and merely advised them to be 
more sparing of one another in future ; he then proceeded 
to distribute the land, to which he added gifts to both the de- 
serving and the undeserving. The soldiers were touched, 
they bade him to search out and punish the murderers. He 
said, " I know them ; but I will leave their punishment 
to their own consciences and to your disapprobation." A 
shout of joy was raised at these words. How different from 
the conduct of the old dictators and consuls, and their 
armies, when Rome had a constitution and freedom, and her 
troops served from duty and not for plunder, like these hordes 
of bandits who raised their leaders to empire over their fellow- 
citizens! 

Cajsar's situation was at this time rather precarious. Sex 
Pompeius was powerful at sea, Cn. Domitius was also at the 
head of a large fleet in the Adriatic, and they cut off the 
supplies of corn from Italy, where tillage was now neglected 
and discontent was general ; for the soldiers, not satisfies 
with what had been given them, seized on such pieces of lano 
as took their fancy, and Caesar did not dare to check them. 
Antonius' wife Fulvia, and his brother Lucius, who was now 
consul, resolved to take advantage of this state of things. 
They promised to protect those who had been deprived of their 
lands, and declared that the properties of the proscribed and 
the money raised by Antonius in Asia were quite sufficient 
for paying the soldiers what had been promised them ; and 
they ga\e out that Antonius was willing to lay down his 
power and restore the constitution. They required Ciesar at 
any rate to be content with providing for his own legions, 
and to leave those of Antonius to them; but Caesar, wh)se 
object was to attach the soldiery to ^limself, declined this, al 



16i HISTORY OF ROME. 

leging his agreement with Antonius ; aware liowever of the 
affection of the army for Antonius, and of the present enmity 
of the people of Italy to himself, he agreed to the terms which 
a congress of the officers of Antonius party proposed for 
ending the differences. He did not however execute them, 
and L. Antonius i -id Fulvia, affecting to fear for their lives, 
retired to Pra-nest*;, and scut to inform M. Antonius of the 
state of affairs. After another vain attempt at reconciliation 
both sides began to prepare for war. 

The good wishes, and in some cases the means and arms 
of the people of Italy were with L. Antonius; the remains of 
the Pompeian and republican parties joined him in the hope 
of restoring the republic, and hia brother's legions and colo- 
nies supported him ; but most of the veterans regarding 
CtEsar's cause ks their own were zealous in his favor. An- 
tonius' generaJs Pollio, Vcntidius, and Plancus do not seem 
to have exerted themselves as they ought, and L. Antonius, 
being obliged to throw himself into the town of Perusia, 
(Perugia,) was there besiege«l by Cus:ir. After a gallant de- 
fence, famine compelled him to surrender, (~12.) Caesar 
granted him and liis soldiers favorable terms, but for the 
Roman senators and knights, the remnant of the Pompeian 
or republican party who were in it, he had no mercy. " Thou 
must die," was his laconic, ruthless reply to every one who 
sued for mercy or sought to excuse himself. Nay, it is even 
said, that he reserved three lumdred captives of rank to sac- 
rifice to the nfanes of the dictator on the following ides of 
March.* The town of Perusia was destined to be plundered, 
but one of its citizens having set fire to his house th^< Whole 
city was consumed. 

This last effort of the republican party crushed their hopes 
forever, and it threw several more properties for confiscation 
into Caesar's hands; some indeed were of opinion that it was 
with a view to this that he had kindled the war.t Several 
persons, among whom was Julia the mother of the Antonii, 
sought refuge with Sex. Pompeius. Fulvia with her children 
and Plancus fled to Greece. 

M. Antonius was preparing to mj.rch against the Parthians, 
who had invaded Syria and taken and plundered Jerusalem, 
when he heard of the late events in Italy. He assembled two 
hundred ships and a large army and sailed to Athens, where 
DC met Fulvia, whom he blamed much for her recent conduct . 

• Sucton. Octav. 15. t Id. iU. 



RETURN OF ANTONIUS TO ITALY. 4J55 

and leaving her sick at Sicyon, where she died soon after, he 
proceeded toward Italy. Domitius joined him with his fleet, 
and Sex. Ponipeius (though Cajsar in the hopes of gaining him 
to his side had lately married Scribonia, the sister of his 
father-in-law Libo, a woman many years older than himself*) 
preferring an alliance with Antonius, sent his mother Julia 
to him, aiid a kind of treaty was concluded between them. 
When Antonius came before Brundisium he was refused ad- 
mittance ; he then blockaded the port, and sent calling on Pom- 
peius to invade Italy. Caesar came to the relief of Brundisium : 
but his soldiers were unwilling to fight against Antonius 
and the two armies sought to reconcile their leaders. C. Asin^ 
ius Pollio and C. Cilnius Mascenas on the parts of Antonius* 
and Cajsar, and M. Cocceius Nerva a common friend, came,t 
and, having conferred together, settled the terms of agree- 
ment. All past offences were to be forgotten ; Antonius, who 
was naw a widower, was to espouse Ciesar's half-sister Oc- 
tavia, a lady of great beauty, sense and virtue; and the divis- 
ion of the empire was to remain nearly as before. J 

Antonius sent Ventidius to conduct the Parthian war, 
while he himself remained in Italy. The chief object now 
was to come to some arrangement with Sex. Pompeius, who 
was actually starving Rome by cutting off the supplies of 
corn. Caesar, who was personally hostile to him, would not 
hear of accommodation till one day he was. near being stoned 
by the famishing multitude. This operated on his cautious, 
timid nature, and the two triumvirs had an interview with 
Pompeius at Cape Misenum, but his demands were so high 
that nothing could be arranged. The increasing distress 
obliged them to have another meeting, and it was agreed 
(713) that Pompeius should possess the islands and Pelopon- 
nesus, be chosen augur, be allowed to stand for the consulate 
in his absence, and to discharge its duties by deputy, and be 
paid 70,000,000 sesterces; that all who had sought refuge 
with him out of fear should be restored to their estates and 
rights, and all the proscribed (except the actual assassins) 
have liberty to return and get back a fourth of their estates. 

* Caesar, on the rupture with Fulvia, sent her back her davghter 
Clodia, having never consummated his marriage. 

t Horace (Sat. I. v.) has given a very agreeab e description of the 
journey of MiEconas, whom he accompanied from Rome to Brundisium 
on this occasion. 

t The blessings which. were to result from tl^is p^aue are, as Vopi 
has proved, the theme of Virgil's fourth eclogue. ' ' ,' ' ' '■' 

ade ■'■■ ' -^' 



HISTORY or ROME. 

On his part he was to allow the sea to be free, sm] to jiay up the 
arrears of corn due from Sicily. When the peace was con- 
cluded the chiefs entertained each other ; Poropeius gave his 
dinner on board his ship. At the feast, Menas, one of his 
officers, whispered him, saying, " Let me now cot the cable*, 
and you are master of Rome." Pompeius po4>dered a mp. 
ment : " You should have done it," sard he, " without telling 
me; I cannot perjure myself" Having been entertained in 
return he set sail for Sicily, and Csesar and Antonius went 
back to Rome; the latter soon after set out for Atb«n9, 
where he spent the rest of the year. 

The, following year (714) Ventidius, who had been suc- 
cessful against the Parthians, defeated and killed their brave 
young prince Pacorus, for which Antonius allowed him to 
have the honor of a triumph.* In this year al'so the war was 
renewed between C.-csar and Pompeius: and Meiia.s, the 
admiral of the latter, having deserted to Caesar, pot him in 
possession of Sardinia and Corsica. CcBsar assailed Sicily 
\vith two separate fleets, but both were destroyed by Pora- 
I peius; and Cajsar himself, who was on board of one of them, 

narrowly escaped being taken or drowned. The triumvirs 

Sow of themselves renewed their office for another five years, 
isdaining to consult the senate or people. The whole of 
the succeeding year (715) was devoted by Caspar tothe prep- 
arations against Pompeius, and a larfje fleet was built under 
the superintendence of the consul, M. Vipsanius Agrippa, a 
man of humble birth, but of great civil and military talents, 
ami wholly devoted to the service of Ca?sar.f 

I^arly in the following year (710) when Ca?sar was pre- 
paring to act against Pompeius, Antonius came with three 
hundred ships to Brundisium, under the pretext of assisting 
hi^i, but in reality with other views. Being refused admit- 
tance he sailed to Tarciitum, whence Octavia went to her 
ibrotheri and by her influence with his friends Agrippa and 
jVlaecenas, prevailed on hirh to agree to a meeting with An- 
jpnius The cautious Ca-sar appointed a place where there 
would be a river between them, but when they came to it, 

• Ventidius, who was the son of the general of the same name in 
tlie JVIarsic war, had himself adorned as a captive the triumph of 
^,qmpeiu^ Slfabo at the end of that war. 

f At this time the celebrated Julian Port was made, by running- a 
nl^rpng mole bet» 'een the Lucrine lake and the sea, with two passages tn 
it for ships, and ;utfing a shi^-canal from that like to lake Avier&us. 
' See Viry Goor, ii. l6l. Horace, De Art. Poet. 63. 



WAR WITH SEX. POMPEIUS. 461 

Antonius, more brave and more generous, jumped into a 
boat to cross o\er ; Caesar then, assuming the virtue he l»ad 
not, did the same ; they met in the middle, and then dis- 
puting which should pass over, Caesar prevailed, as he said 
*ie' would go to Tarentum to visit his sister. They soon 
arranged all matters : Antonius lent Caesar one hundred and 
twenty ships, and received in return twenty thousand soldiers 
for his Parthian war, and he then set out for the East, leav- 
ing Octavia in Italy. I 

Cjesar, having every thing t»w' prepared, resolved to make 
three simultaneous attacks oli Sicily. Lepidus was to invade 
it ffom Africa, Statilius Taurus with the ships of Antonius 
from Tarentum, Caesar himself and Agrippa from the Julian 
Port. Lepidus alone feffectdd a lauding; the other twa fleets 
were shattered by. a tempest. Pouipeius, affecting to view 
the peculiar favor of the sea-god ni this destruction of the 
hostile fleet by a summer-tempest, sacrificed to Neptune and 
the Sea, (Amphitrite,) styled himself their son^ and changed 
the color of his robe from purple to dark-h\ue, (coiruleus.) 
CsGsar declared that he would conquer in spite of Neptune, 
and forbade the image of that god to be carried at the nex,t 
CiTcensian games.* . i 

■ Lepidus had with him twelve legions and five thousand 
Numidian horse ; he sent orders to his remaining four le- 
gions to come and join him, but they were met on the pas- 
sage by Papias, one of Pompeius' commanders, and two of 
them destroyed ; the other two found means to join him 
some tinrve after. CcEsar's fleet having passed over to the 
Liparcean isles sailed thence under the command of Agrippa, 
and engaged that of Pompeius led by his admirals Papias, 
Menecrates, and Apollophanes, off Mylae. C-esar's ^hips 
vvere larger, those of Pompeius lighter and more active ; the 
former had the better soldiei's, the latter 'the better sailors, 
but Agrippa had invented grappling implements, somewhat 
like the old ravens. The fight was long and obstinate ; at 
length the Pompeians fled with the loss of thirty vessels. 
Agrippa sailed thence and made an ineffectual attempt an 
the town of Tyndaris. m -n 

CfBsar had gone to Taui'us' camp at Scylaceum, intending 
to pass over in the night from Rhegium to Sicily ; but he 
took courage 'when he heard of Agrippa's success, and hav- 

ng first prudently ascended a lofty hill to assure himself that 

->■'' ■■ <"'• i. .:i;!; ■.,; ■ • ; ,, :. tii)'-^ ■ ,11!'..' ''''^'fil 

• Suet. Octav. 1&. 



468 HISTORY OF ROVE. 

no enerriy was in sight, he went on board with what troops 
his ships could carry, leaving the rest with Messala till he 
could send the ships back for them. Being refused adinit-< 
tance into Taiirominiam he sailed further on, and landing, 
began to Encamp, but suddenly Pompeius was seen coining 
with a large fleet, and bodies of horse and foot appeared an 
all sides. Had Pompeius now made a general attack he 
might hafe gained a complete victory, but as it was evening 
he did not wish to engage, and his cavalry alone assailed the 
enemy. Dnring the night the C^sarians fortified their camp, 
and CcBsar leaving the command with L. Cornificius, and d** 
siring him to hold out to the last, embarked to return to Italy 
for succors; his vessel being hotly pursued he was obliged 
to get into a small boat to s*ave himself, and he escaped with 
difficulty. Pompeius next day fell on and destroyed the whoJe 
Caesarian fleet, and Cornificius soon began to be in want 
of provisions ; having vainly offered the enemy battle he re- 
solved to abaiKlon his camp and march for Mylai, and though 
harassed by the enemy's horse and light troo|)s, and suffer- 
ing from heat, thirst, and fatigue dnring five days, his troops 
effected their retreat. Agrippa had now taken Tyndaris, 
whither Caesar soon transported twenty-one legions, twenty 
thousand horse and five thousand light troops. Lepidus 
moved from Lilyba'um, and their united forces met before the 
walls of Messana. Pompeius seeing no hopes but in a gen- 
eral battle sent to propose a combat of three hundred ships 
a-si(le, and Ctesar, jealous of Lepidus, departed from his 
usual caution and accepted the challenge. The victory was 
complete on the side of Cassar. Pompeius' land army, with 
the exception of eight legions in Messana, surrendered, and 
he himself, with his seventeen sole remaining ships abandon- 
ing Sicily, passed ov«r to Asia, where raising a new war he 
was taken and put to deadi by P. Titius, one of Antonius' 
officers. 

Messana soon surrendered, and the whole island sub- 
mitted ; Cffl.sar then proceeded to deprive his colleague 
Lepidus of his oflice and power; and having ascertained 
the temper of his officers and men, he ventured to enter his 
camp with a few attendants. Lopidus being deserted by 
his troops WAS forced to assume the garb of a suppliant, 
and throw himself at the feet of Caesar, who, never wan- 
tonly crnel, and knowing how powerless he would remain, 
raised him, granted him his life, and allowed him to pass 



I I 



I t 



PARTHIAN WAR. 469 

tne rest of ais days at Cjrceii, retaining his dignity of high 
priest 

As Cffisar was preparing to return to Italy, a mutiny 
broke out, his troops demanding their discharge and re- 
wards equal to those of the victors at Philippi. He threat- 
ened and remonstrated in vain ; when he promised crowns 
and purple robes, one of the tribunes cried out that these 
were only fit for children, but that soldiers required monqy 
and lands. The soldiers loudly applauded ; Ccesar left the 
tribunal in a rage; the tribune was extolled, but that very 
night he disappeared, and was heard of no more. As the 
soldiers still continued to clamor for their discharge, C<Esar 
dismissed and sent out of the island those who had served 
at Mutina and Philippi. He then praised the rest, and 
gave them, 500 denars a man, raised by a tax on the Sicil- 
ians. On his return to Rome he was received with every 
demonstration of joy by the senate and peopl« ; ap^ aware 
now of the tyranny which the army would exercise over 
him if he continued to depend on it, he sought to gain the 
affections of the people of Rome and Italy. It was prob- 
ably with this view that he purchased fairly the lands which 
he required for his veterans. 

While Csesar was thus laying the foundation of hisfutujje- 
empire, Antonius was wasting his troops and his fame in | 

an inglorious war with the Parthians, Under pretence of 
aiding the king of Armenia, he entered that country with s 

an army of 60,000 legionaries, 10,000 horse, and 30,000 | 

auxiliary light troops ; and though it was, late in the sum- | 

mer, he passed the Araxes, and leaving his artillery on the 
frontiers under the guard of two legions, ijnarched agaiJist 
Praaspa, the capital of Media Atropatenia. Put the kings 
of Parthia and Media cut the two legions to pieces and 
destroyed the machines, and then came to the relief of 
Praaspa, where they so harassed the Romans by cutting off 
their supplies that Antonius was obliged to commence a 
retreat. Led by a faithful guide he kept to the mountains, 
followed closely by the Parthians ; his trooi>s suffered se- 
verely from famine and thirst; but at length they reached 
and got over the Araxes, having in the retreat sustained a 
loss of 20,000 foot apd 4000 horse. Instead of wintering 
in Armenia he set out for Syria, impatient to rejoin Cleo- 
patra , in the march to which he lost eight thousand more 
of his men. The queen came to Berytus to m«et him, and 
40 



470 HISTORY OF KOME. 

h6 -Vetut'neid with her to Alexandria, 'where they oass^d' tlW*- 

winter in feasting and revelry. "''M 

In the year 718, Aiitonhis, in alliance with t4ie king of 
the Medes, entered Armenia, and by treachery inade its 
king a prisoner. He defeated the Armenians when they 
took up arms, and on his return to Alexandria he tri- 
umphed after the Roman fashion, — a thing which gave the 
greatest possible offence to the people of Rome when they 
iieard of it. The next year (719) he marched again to the 
Araxes, and concluded arj alliance offensive and defensive 
with the king of Media, to whom he gave a part of Arme- 
nia. On his return to Egypt he acted with the greatest 
extravagance. He 'and Cleopatra sat in public on golden 
thrones, the one attired as Bacchus, the other as Isis ; * he 
declared her his lawful wife, and queen of Egypt, Libya, 
Cyprus, and Coele-Syria, associating with her Cajsarion, 
her son by CtEsar, and giving kingdoms to the two eons 
whom she had borne to himself The most unbounded 
luxury followed this degradation of the majesty of Rome. '"' 
When Antonius was setting out on his second expeditioii 
against the Parthians, (710,) Octavia obtained leave from 
her brother to go and join him ; but Antonius, urged by 
Cleopatra, sent word to her to return to Italy. Ca;sar, 
glad perhaps of the pretext for war, laid before the senate 
the whole of Antonius' conduct, (720,) who in revenge sent 
Octavia a divorce ; and, after various insulting messages 
and letters on botii sides, Antonius directed his general 
P. Canidius to march sixteen legions to Ephesus, whither he 
himself soon after repaired with Cleopatra; and here he 
was joined by the consuls Cn. Domitius and C. Sosius, and 
his other friends who had come from Italy. Domitius 
urged him in vain to send away Cleopatra; she gained 
over Canidius, and Antonius was unable to resist their joint 
arguments. He and she passed over to Samos, and spent 
their days in revelry, while the kings of the East were for- 
warding their troop;; and stores to Ephesus. From Samos 
they went to Athens, where they passed some time. 

CfEsar meantime was rnaking his preparations in Italy, 
for which purpose he was obliged to lay on heavy taxes. 
As the peoplfe were in ill humor at this, he sought by all 

* At 9pe pf these banquets Cleopatra dissolved aod .drank a f^Ki in 
jreatlince. Pfmy, H. N, ix. 35, 50 ' "'^ ' '"' »:"« '' 



HUPTURE BKTWEEN C^SaR AND ANTONIUS. 471 

means to render Antonius odious and contemptible in their 
eyes ; and Plancus, who deserted to him at this time, having 
informed him of the contents of Antonius' will, he forced 
the Vestals, iti whose custody it was, to give it up, and then 
most basely and dishonorably made it public. He had a 
decree passed depriving Antonius of the triumvirate and 
declaring war against Cleopatra, affecting to believe that she, 
not Antonius, was the real leader of the hostile forces. 

In the autumn Antonius sailed to Corcyra, but not ven- 
turing to pass over to Italy, he retired to Peloponnesus for 
the winter. 

The next year (721) Antonius occupied the bay of Am- 
bracia with his fleet; that of Caisar lay at Brundisium and 
the adjacent ports, whence Agrippa sailed with a division 
and took the town of Methone, (Modon,) and seized a large 
convoy. CcEsar then embarked his army, and landing at 
the Ceraunian mountains, marched and encamped on the 
north side of the bay of Ambracia ; the army of Antonius 
was on the south side ; and they thus lay opposite each 
other for some months. Meantime Agrippa took Patrae, 
Corinth and some other towns ; and Domitius and other 
leaders deserted to Caesar. 

Antonius' land forces amounted to 100,000 foot and 
12,000 horse, besides the auxiliaries ; his fleet counte,d 500 
ships. Caesar had 80,000 foot, 12,000 horse, and 250 ships ; 
his troops and sailors were both superior to those of his op- 
ponent ; his ships, though smaller in size, were better built 
and better manned. The great question with Antonius 
was, whether he should risk a land or a sea battle. Canid- 
ius was for the former, Cleopatra for tli^ latter, and the 
queen of course prevailed. Antonius selected 170 of his 
best ships, which were all he could fully man, and burned 
the rest ; with these he joined Cleopatra's 60 vessels, and 
he put 20,000 soldiers on board. On the 2d of September 
he drew up his fleet in line of battle before the mouth of 
the bay. Caesar's fleet, led by Agrippa, kept about a mile 
out to sea; the two land armies, the one from the cape of 
Actium, the other from the opposite point, stood as specta- 
tors of the combat, Antonius had directed his officers to '_ 
keep close to shore, and thus render the agility of the ene- [ 
my's vessels ot no avail ; but when about noon a breeze 
sprang up, his left wing, eager to engage, began to advance. 
Agrippa made his right wing fall back, to draw it on ; the 
engagement soon became general and both sides fought 



JJ 



472 .-;'n.::i. historx of kome. 

with great courage; but in the midst of the action, whether 
from fe;ir, treachery, or a conviction that the battle would 
be lost, Cleopatra, followed by all her ships, turned and fled 
for Egypt : and Anton ius, when he saw her going, left the 
battle and followed after her. The battle still lasted till five 
in the evening, when finding themselves abandoned by their 
leader, the naval forces accepted the offers of Caesar and 
submitted to him. The land army refused for seven days to 
listen to his solicitations ; but at length, being deserted by 
Canidius and their other leaders, they yielded to necessity 
and submitted. Caesar, having made offerings to Apollo of 
Actium, sent home his veterans with Agrippa ; he then pro- 
ceeded to Athens, and thence to Asia; but he was obliged 
to return to Italy in the middle of the winter, on account 
of the turbulence of the veterans, whom Agrippa could not 
keep in order. 

Wb^i^n Antonius overtook Cleopatra he went on board of 
her ship, but during three days he sat in silence, refusing 
to see her. At Tainaron in Laconia her women brougjit 
about a reconciliation, and Antonius having written to 
Canidius to lead the army to Asia, they sailed for Egypt ; 
they parted on the confines of Cyrene, but when Antonius 
found that the governor of this province also had declared 
fbr Caesar, it was with difficulty that his friends were able 
to keep him from destroying himself They brought him 
to Alexandria, where Cleopatra was busily engaged in a 
new project ; she had had some of her ships hauled over 
the Isthmus of Suez, intending to fly with her treasures to 
some unknown region ; but the Arabs, at the instance of 
Didius, who commanded for Cffisar in Syria, burned her 
vessels and thus frustrated her design. She then began to 
put her kingdom into a state of defence. Nevertheless, she, 
Antonius, and their friends, were resolved to die; mean- 
time they spent their time in feasting and revelry. 

Caesar, having staid but twenty-seven days at Rome, re- 
turned (722) to Asia, all whose kings submitted to him. 
An envoy from Antonius and Cleopatra came to him ; the 
latler resigning her crown, and only asking the kingdom 
of Egypt for her children ; the former requesting to be al- 
lowed to live as a private than at Athens. To Antonius he 
deigned no repFy ; the (^ueen \Vas assured of every favor if 
«4he banished or put him to dl^ath. Meantime he himself ad- 
vanced on the east and seizfed P^hrsiain, while Cn. Come, iui 
Outius made himself master of Peritonium on the west of 



DEATH or ANtOi^IlJ*. 4if3 

Egypt. Antonius flew to oppose this liast, biit w4s driven 
off wi*h loss. When Csesar drew nigh to Alexandria, An- 
tonius put himself at the head of his troops and gave him a 
check ; and emboldened by this success he drew out his army 
and his fleet on the 1st of August for a general engagement. 
His fleet was seen to advance in good order till it met that 
of Caesar ; it theiV turned round, and both together took a 
station before the port. Antonius' cavalry seeing this, also 
went over to Ca'sar ; his infantry was then forced to yield, 
and he himself returned in a rage to the town, crying that 
Cleopatra had ruined and betrayed him. 

The queen had a little time before had a kind of sepul- 
chre built near the temple of Isis, in which she placed her 
jewels and other valuables, and covered them with combus- 
tibles, with the intention, as she declared, of burning them 
and herself if driven to it. The knowledge of this had 
caused Caesar to send her various assurances of his respect 
and his kind intentions. She now shut herself up in the 
sepulchre, and caused a report to be spread of her death. 
Tins event revived the tenderness of Antonius ; he resolved 
riot to survive her ; he bade his faithful freedman Eros, who 
had engaged by oath to kill him, to perform his promise. 
Eros drew his sword, but plunged it into his own body and 
fell dead at his feet. Antonius then drew his own sword 
and stabbed himself in the belly ; he threw himself on his 
bed, where he lay writhing, vainly calling on his friends to 
despatch him. Meantime Cleopatra, having heard what had 
been done, sent to tell him she was alive, and to request 
that he would let himself be carried to her ; he assented, 
and as she would not have the door of her reireat opened, 
she and her maids drew him up by cords at a window. 
She laid him on her bed, and gave way to the most vio- 
lent transports of grief: Antonius sought to console her, 
begged of her to save her life if she could with honor, and 
among Caesar's friends recommended to her Proculeius. He 
then expired, in the fifty-third year of his age. 

The sword with which Antonius slew himself was bi'ought 
to Caesar, who, it is said, shed tears at the sight. Anxious 
to secure Cleopatra and hor treasure, he sent Proculeius to 
her : she refused to admit him ; he then returned to Caesar, 
who sent back Gallus with him with new proposals ; and 
while Gallus was talking to her at the door, Proculeius and 
two others got in at the window and made her prisoner 
CnJkir, \ heh he entered Alexandria, had her treated with tht 
40 * H H H 



474 BlfTORY OF J10M£. 

Utmost respect; and he allowed her tp soler lize the obse« 
quies of Antonius, which she performed with the greatest 
pi^^ificence. 

, Cajs^r soon afler paid her a visit ; she received him 
slightly arrayed, with her hair in disorder ; her eyes were 
red with weeping, and her voice faint and tremulous. She 
threw herself at his feet ; he Raised her, and sat beside her ; 
she atte^npted to excuse her previous conduct, and seemed 
as if s.he wished to live. Caesar made many promises ; it 
wap a trial of skill between two consummate actors ; the 
artful queen sought to catch him in the net of love ; the 
cold-blooded Cajsar wished to make her live to grace hij; 
triumph. He left her, certain that he had succeeded, but 
he was deceived. In a few days Cleopatra learned that she 
and her children were to be sent on to Syria before him ; 
she then resolved on death, and having obtained permission 
|o visit the tomb of Antonius, she embraced it and crowned 
it with flowers ; and then, as if her mourning was over, 
bathed and sat down richly arrayed to a splendid banqaet. 
While she was at table a peasant came with a basket of fine 
figs ; the guards suspecting nothing let him in. The queen 
took the basket, aware of its contents; she wrote a letter 
to Caesar requesting to be buried with Antonius ; and then, 
retaining in the room only her maids Charmion and Iras, 
applied to her arip an asp which had been concealed among 
the pretended peasant's figs. When those whom Cajsar 
sent to prevent her death arrived, they found her lying 
dead on her bed, Iras also dead at her feet, and Charmion 
just expiring in he act of arranging the diadem on the head 
of her mistress. Cajsar gave Cleopatra and her faithful 
maids a magnificent funeral, and buried her as she wished 
by the side of Antonius. He put to death her son Cassa' 
rion ; her two other sons adorned his triumph. 

Cleopatra died in the thirty-ninth year of her age ; the 
last of the Ptolemscan family. Her influence over Caesar 
and Antonius testifies for her beauty, talents, and accom- 
plishments ; but she was utterly devoid of principle, and 
capable of committing any crime. 

Ciesar reduced Egypt to the form of a province, and its 
wealth, when transported to Rome, enabled him to reward 
liis legions without the odium of robbing any more pro- 
prietors of their lands. He returned ta Italy the following 
year, (723,) and in the month of Sextilis (August) cele- 
brated three triumphs ; he then closed the temple of J^us, 



SOLE DOMINION OF CiESAK. 475 

which had stood open for two centuries. The sedate knew 
no end of heaping honors on him ; his name was inserted 
in the public prayers ; the consul and senate swore on the 
kalends of every January to obey his orders ; under the 
title of Imperator he held the command of the army ; and 
gradually all the chief offices of the state were united in 
his person. In 725 the senate, on the motion of L. Mu- 
natius Plancus, conferred oii him the title of Augusti's, 
a term hitherto only employed in a religions sense. He 
was now the sole master of the Roman world ; and during 
the space of nearly half a century it enjoyed beneath his 
sway a degree of peace and tranquillity such as it had never 
known before. ^mjo-m (, ■i-n. n 

:b9Vi9K3iq nyjd'aijri noiJf^q IbniB r. tuci 

Though the last period of the republic was of so unquiet 
a character, literature was cultivated with much ardor by 
persons of rank and fortune. The language, the philoso- 
phy, and the poetry of the Greeks wer.e familiar to every 
Roman of education ; a library formed an essential part of 
every respectable house, and its contents were chiefly Greek. 
Roman poetry was still imitative, and the drama the great 
object of imitation. L. Attius, the younger contemporary of 
Pacuvius, may be regarded as the last of that rough but vig-. 
orous race of poets who ventured to tread in the foot-prints of 
^-Eschylus and Sophocles. But the higher drama seems to 
have been as unattainable to ancient as to modern Italy. 
Attius' contemporary C. Lucilius followed Ennius in writing 
satires; of these he left several books, all of which have per- 
ished. In the time of Cicero, T. Lucretius Cafus put the 
physics of Epiciirus into verse ; and in no portions of Ro-/ 
man poetry is the true, the born poet, so discernible as in' 
those where liis ill-chosen subject allowed him to give free' 
course to his genius. C. Valerius Catullus was also a poet' 
of true genius ; grace, elegance, ease, and feeling strongly 
characterize many of his extant poems. 

Numerous histories also were written in; tnis period • I^., 
Calpurnius Piso and Ctelius Antipater in the time of the 
Grdcchi wrote histories of Rome, and they were followed by 
Gn. GelHus, Q,. Claudius Quadri^arius, Q,. Valerius Antias, 
(notorious for mendacity,) and C. Licinius Maeer, 'vitH: 
whom the series ^f annalists entl«. Histories of their owd 



476 . : ; A ■* rr BixroBT of boms^ > ' 

lives or times were written by C. Fannius, Sempronius 
Asellio, P. Rutiliiis, L. Cornelius Sisenna, Q. Catulus, L. 
Sulla, L. Luoulius, and others. C. Junius, named Grac- 
ohanus from his friendship with C. Gracchus, wrote a valu- 
able history of the constitution, which, thou^i lost, is medi- 
ately the chief source whence our knowledge of it is derived. 
The only historian of this period of whose works any perfect 
portions have reached us is G. Sallustius Crispus. This 
writer seems to have taken Thucydides as his model, but he 
can by no means stand a rivalry with the great Athenian. 
Caesar's narrative of his own wars is a perfect specimen 
of that species of composition to which it belongs. The 
various writings, oratorical, philosophical, and didactic, of 
Cicero, are well known and most justly admired. Of the 
numerous works of M. Terentius Varro, the most learned 
of the Romans, but a small portion has been preserved. 

We have thus traced the history of Rome from the tiine 
when she was only a village on the Palatine to that when 
she became the mistress of the world; a future work will be 
devoted to the history of the enormous empire of which she 
now only formed a part. In the progress of Rome to do- 
minion it is difficult not to discern the hand of a predis- 
posing cause ; the steadine.ss and perseverance of the Roman 
character; the preponderance of the aristocratic elements in 
r>er constitution at the time of her conflicts with her most 
powerful rivals; the advantage which the unity produced by 
a capital, as a fixed point, gave her over the brave but loose 
federation of Samnium, and her armies of citizens and allies 
over the mercenaries in the pay of Carthage ; and the cir- 
cumstance of all other states being in their decline when 
she engaged them, — ^all tend to show that the empire of the 
wofld was reserved for Rome. But in the attainment of 
this empire she was also destined to lose her own freedom. 
Neglecting to enforce her agrarian laws, and not being a 
coramercial stale, she possessed no middle class of citizens,* 



" L. Marcius Philippus, when proposing an agrarian law in his tribu 
imte, (MB,) asserted that there were not two thousand citizens who 
were possessed of property, (" tion esse in civitate duo millia hominum 
qui rem habere nL" Cicero, Off. ii. Ul.) Many of the leading families 
of both orders in the early ages of the republic must have died ?ff, or 
have dwindled into insignificance, in consequence probably of there 
being neither law nor custom of primogeniture. In the Fasti and 
biMory of the last centnry we rarely meet the names of *he Quinctfi 



CONCLUSION. 477 

without which there can oe no permanent liberty ; the Kor- 
tensian law placed all political power at the disposal of the 
lower order of the people ; the incessant foreign wars cor- 
rupted the genuine Roman character, and the constant 
influx and manumission of slaves further debased it. Mean- 
time the govetnmetit of provinces, the condb<',t of wars, and 
the farming of the public revenues, enabled some of the no- 
bility and the knights to acquire immense wealth, with which 
they purchased impunity for their crimes and the lucrative 
and influential offices of the state ; for the votes of electors 
w-ithoul property are always in danger of becoming venal. 
The consequence of this condition of society was, as we 
have seen, a century of turbulence and anarchy, ending in a 
despotism. 

.i .lift tn^sosq <'T ■■UVvrM)'ii ; ■<''<'>■ ; ,' 

ManJii, Fabii, Furii, Decii, Curii, and never those of the Horatii, Me- 
nenu, Veturu, Genucii, Icilii, Numitorii. The Virgilii of the late, are- 
prbbably the Virginii of tlie old Fasti; Atilius and AUnius (like Man 
jios and Mallius) are Derhaps the sarn^. 

/' i'! . ,■■() r •: I,', 



•liti iiaiit// "tm/ » '.nv^itm 



/lMiJ«yiiJ It ,]iuinoqnii }^< 
( viiiinJanoo -jd lilunrla ■.y.,:>iv.<ict.-i i. 3?. 
o f^iioijrn ntlJo III ■uiiiiiqriiiinl vtnava /■; 



1 aiSbiinu'?^ 



rrfr 


.>101'- 


-toil 


•m(j n^'lii inMiuiitnaq on an nr.o'noril Aouin luoriliw 

Miij 111 iM7/oq luuiiilt"! \iii rioaulq '«•;! m.iHii-ir 

nol JiuwKMrjni uriJ ;" »l«|<>-i«| oil) 1o i;»bto T>//"i 

.... j.ij Lkw! .t>)-)/;-ij;i!.t iiMtn.il •imiunr! "'^ [>".T.)irf 

CHfeOffiOI^OG.ICAL TABLE 




or 


' 


,!<, »o CONTEMPORARY mSTORY.i 'i "I'li "u; 





Note.— It would be impossible to present the reader, in this 
(able, with, a complete view of tlie contemporary history of a11 
nation*. The fulfilment of That design, thoujib hifjhly useful, 
would, of itself, occupy a volume. The reader may bo referred 
to a work, in which it has been carried out through the whole 
range of ancient History, entitled, "Comparative View of Ancient 
History, and Explanation of Chronological Eras," by the editor 
of this volume. What can be here done will be merely to 
present a view of the principal events wliich transpired in the 
most renowned among the nations of antiquity, at about the same 
time that the most marked events took jilace in the history of 
Rome. The details may be filled up by reference to the work 
already mentioned. It is most important, in the stu<ly of individual 
histories, that a knowledge should be constantly present of the 
contemporary events transpiring in other natiofis or members of 
the great human family. 



Yran 

of 
Rome. 


Yt.ri 
B. C. 


Erentft of Rome. 


Erenu of Oteec/-. 


Erenls of oihtr Nalloni. 


1 » 


721 
715 


Rome rounded ; Romii- ) 
lus king i 

1 


i 


Borchorls king of 


11 

to 


1 
First Messenian 
war. 

\ 


Egypt. 


30 
13 


I 


Israel destroyed hy 


39 


Nuina rompilius. 


1 


AssjTla. 



* See " Comparative View, &c., and Explanation of Chronological Eras," as above, 
p. 92, title " Fra of the Foundation of Rome ; '' and "Synchronous Table," in the same 
work, p. 116. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLt ' 



4'J9 



B. C. 



C7J 

640 

GIG 
605 

594 

578 
559 

534 

509 



452 

431 

404 
390 
356 j 

338! 
336 



280 
264 

201 
216 
197 

188 

130 
168 



133' 
133^ 

12! ! 
Ill; 

106 ' 
90 
88 
73 
88 



Crents of Rome. 



66 



Tullus Hostiliiis. 

Anciis Martius, 

L. 'i'arqiiinius Priscus. 

1 

Servius Tullius. 

L. Tarquiiiiiis Superbus. 
Royalty abolished 

Internal discontent ! 

Romans send to Greece / 
for laws ; whence 12 < 
tablets framed ( 

1 

Incursion of Gauls 

1 

i 

Pyrrhus of Epirus con- j 
tends with Rome .... \ 

Funic wars | 

Battle of CanniE. 

Asia Minor chiefly sub- 
ject to Rome. 

Conquest of Macedon... 

Rome masters of Greece. 
Destruction of Car- 
thage 

Macedon a Roman prov 
ince. 

Numantine war. 
Death of the Gracchi. 



Jugurthine war.. 

Social war 

Sulla and Mariua. 
Servile war 

Mithridatic war.. 



fiveota of Greece. 



Second Messe- 
nian war. 



Solon archon, of. 
Athens. 



Persian wars 
commence. 



Erentf of other NatioDi, 



Internal dissen- 
sions. 



Peloponneslan 
war 



Sacred wars. 



Alexander the 

Great 

Division of his 
e m pi re 

AchiEan league. 

Internal dissen 
sions 



Battle of Cor- 
inth, and fall 
of Greece. 



Judah subverted by 
Babylon ; 70 years" 
captivity begins. 



Babylon falls before 
Cyrus. 



3zra renipws ahcieiftt 
system of polity 
among the Jews. 



Palestine under Per- 
sia till time of Al- 
exander the G-?at; 
thence under hia 
Successors in Syria 



Ptolemy of Egypt con- 
quers Palestine. 



Parthia rises, under 
Arsaces. 

Jews stibject to Syria. 



Jews, under Macca 
bees, throw off Syi 
ian yoke 



Egypt in continual 
turmoil 



480 



CQRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



686 



rs7 



691 


63 


C96) 


53 


to [ 




701 \ 


51 


700 


4ti 


7;a 


44 


711 


43 


710 


42 


723 


31 



"1 



ETcnU of Rome, 



Catiline's conspiracy.... 

Gaul reduced. 

Battle of Pharsalia. 
Death of Cesar, 
'rniiinvirate of Octavia- 

niK, Antonius, and Le- 

ipidus. 
Battle of Tbilippi. 
Battle <if Actiiim. 



Octavinnus first emperor 
of Rome, under tbe 
oaiDe cf A ufuMHS. 



ErenU of Ore«ee. 



Etcdu of other Hailoak 



Syria a Roman prcT- 

irice. 
Jerusalem opened Ic 

Pompey. 



Egypt • Rooum fNH- 



■■inl i 



HISTORY 

OF 

THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 



ACCESSION OF AUGUSTUS TO THE END OF THE 
EMPIRE OF THE WEST; 

BEING A CONTINUATION OP 

THE HISTORY OF ROME. 



BY 
THOMAS KEIGHTLEY, 

AUTHOB OP "HISTOBY OP GBKECE," " HISTOBT OP ROME," " HI3T0BT Oi" 
ENGLAND," ETC., ETC. 



EDITED BT 

JOSHUA TOULMIN SMITH, 

AUTHOn OP "PEOGEESS OP PHILOSOPHY AMONG THE ANCIENTS," " COMPAB- 

ATivB vrnw OP ancient history," "Northmen in new 

ENGLAND," ETC., ETC. *? 



VOLUME TWO. 

NEW YORK: 
THE WORLD PUBLISHING HOUSE, 

21 ASTOR PLACE AND 142 EIGHTH ST. 
1877. 



..^yjLi iifxwJ. i'xi lifi^^'yi 



vo oTOiTt JBriwsmof 1 

.';jrfioH to xiojsril '' aril nl niidj amulov ?.tflj n 

i'i -^iiM'ju i\ ^fioijrii^f.'rf fv.' '•)■ ■ "^'''n o) bemp 

^.ub OJ S"iv/<"' -f"" P R E F A C E:;.jj|;,,ft') . 

iqoiD bR(.i )!lftoflJn 

.ti-j.* eidJTid THEAMERICAN EDITION 

Thi: present valuable addition to the " History of 
Rome "was riot published in England when that work 
was prepared for the press in this country. It is, therefore, 
thought better to publish it, as it was published in England, 
as a separate work, than as a second volume of that Svork, 
although none can feel the history of Rome to be complete 
without tracing it, not only from its rise to its highest pitch 
of greatness, but through the gradual steps of its decline 
and fall. 

The present volume is peculiarly valuable on manj 
accounts. It embraces a period, the history of which exists 
n no accessible form, while lis facts are of a most interest- 
ing and important nature, as connected with the rise, and 
spread, and influence, and corruptions of the Christian 
church. It forms a connecting link between the times 
and nations properly called ancient, and those properly 
callei modern, inasmuch as it displays the first inroads 
of the peoples and races destined gradually to mould the 
latter, upon the strength, and power, and sway of the 
former, and their final rise upon their ruins. 

The same impartiality marks this History, both in its 
treatment of civil and ecclesiastical affairs, as marks Mr. 
Keightley's other histories. 



IV PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 

The labor of the editor has been somewhat more called 
for in this volume than in the " History of Rome." More 
points seemed to need note and illustration, it being a 
period less familiar. In some^'places, too, owing to the 
confusion of authorities, errors of dates, &,c., had crept in, 
all of which have been carefully altered. Inithis case, 
the alterations have been made without any distinctive 
mark. In all other cases, the same marks of addition or 
alteration as have been used in the other volumes of this 
series of historical works have been here used. That series, 
comprising the Histories of Greece, Rome, and England, is 
completed with this volume. 

J. T. S 

Boston, December 1, 1840. 



inibiihi 



PREFACE 



The present work completes my History of Rome. In- 
stead, however, of entitling it a second volume, I have made 
it a distinct work; for. having been induced to depart from 
my original plan, and write a History of England after the 
completion of that of the Roman Republic, and feanng lest 
some event might occur to prevent my completing my de- 
sign, I was desirous that a work on which I had employed 
so much time and thought should not present an imperfect 
appearance. A further motive was, that some pei'sons xsere 
of opinion that the History of the Empire would not be 
read so generally in schools as that of the Republic ; and 
1 wished to shun the imputation of forcing any one to buy 
a volume that he might not v/ant. 

This last opinion I am disposed to regard as erroneous. 
There is no part of the Roman history more necessary to 
be read in classical schools than the reigns of Augustus and 
his successors to the end of that of Domitian ; for, without 
a knowledge of the history of that period, the writers of 
the Augustan age, and Juvenal, cannot be fully understood. 
Of this period we have actually no history, at least none 
adapted to schools; and hence arises the imperfect acquaint- 
ance with the historic allusions in Horace and the oilier 
poets which most readers possess, in consequence of being 
obliged to derive their information piecemeal from annota- 
tions. I have, therefore, taken especial care, in the present 
volume, to obviate this inconvenience ; and I believe that 
scarcely any historic allusion in those poets will be found 
unnoticed. 

Another feature of this work is, the sketch of the history 
of the church, its persecutions, sects, and heresies, during 
the 6rst four centuries, with brief notices of the principal 



VI PREFACE. 

Fathers and their writings. To write a history of the Ro' 
man Empire without including that of the churcli, would 
have been absurd ; but, as readers might.not have sufficient 
coiifiilence in me as an ecclesiastical guide, and as my 
works are chiefly designed for youth, 1 have deemed it the 
safer course to take as my usual authority the learned and 
candid Mosheim, whose works have stood the test of nearly 
a century, and are always included in the list of those 
recommended to students in divinity. It is the work J)e 
Rebus Christiatiis ante Comtaniinum, in ,lhe, excellent 
translation of Mr. Vidal, that I have chiefly used. At the 
same time, I must declare that I am by no means a stran- 
ger to the Fathers. Many years ago, I had occasion to 
read them a good deal ; and the opinions which I then 
formed of them as writers and teachers have been con- 
firmed by my reviewed acquaintance with their worlds. 

The advantages, therefore, to be derived by students 
from this voIuuk; are, illustrations of the Latin poets, some 
knowlcdire of the early history of die church, and tolerably 
correct ideas of the causes and course of the decline and 
fall of the mighty empire whose rise and progress have been 
traced in the History of Rome. Nearly one half of it, it 
will be observed, is devoted to the history anterior to tiie 
commencement of Gibbon's woiHc, which begins with the 
reign of Commodus. As I have already said, that part of 
the history is not generally accessible; and with respect to 
the remainder, few, 1 believe, would willingly put Gibbon 
into the hands of youth. 

The same attention has been directed to chronology and 
geography as in my other histories. The Roman proper 
names had become so confused in this period, that it was 
not possible for me to mark the priEnominn, and arrange 
names under their gcntes, as I have so carefully done in the 
History of Rome. I have further employed the niodern 
forms of the names, as it would have seemed mere aflecia- 
tion to use Vespasianus, Constantinus, etc. , , , /■ . ,, 

London, .^u^ust 26, 1840. I ,. . 



■-'■ .Mr-rvjAUM 



CONTENTS. 



THE C^SARIAN FAMILY. 
CHAPTER 1. 

C. JULIUS CvESAR OCTAVIANUS AUGUSTV S. 

A. u. 725—746. B. c. 29—8. pjigs 
The Roman empire. — Regulation of it by Augustus. — Augus- 
tus in Spain — in Asia. — Laws. — Family of Augustus. — 
Death of Agrippa. — German wars. — Death of Drusus, and of 
Msecenas. — Literature. . .-iiU r. . JiiOU;^^ ^'i\is.'iiM-t-,.i'u:-, I 

CHAPTER H. 
AUGUSTUS, (continued.) 

A. u. 746— 7G7. B. c. 8— a. d. 14. 
Tiberius. — Banis..ment of Julia. — German wars of Tiberius. — 
Defeat of Varus. — Death and character of Augustus.- — Form 
and condition of the Roman empire 20 

CHAPTER m. 
TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS NERO C^ES.AR. 
A. u. 767—790. A. D. 14—37. 
J''uneral of Augustus. — Mutiny of the legions. — Victories of Ger- 
manicus. — His death. — Civil government of Tiberius. — Rise 
and fall of Sejanus. — Death ofAgrippina and her children. — 
Death of Tiberius 39 

CHAPTER IV. 
C.ilUS JULIUS caesAR caligula. 
A. u. 790—794. A. D. 37—41. 
Accession of Caius. — His vices and cruelty. — Bridge over the 
Bay of BaisB. — His expedition to Grermany. — His mad ca- 
prices. — His death ..,^,'<vj^, ,„^,,»,j..,j .,,^^,,j..j,^.y(.,^)^., ..^C? 



ym CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS CSBSAR. 

A. 0. 794—807. A. D. 41—55. page. 

Accession of Claudius.^— Hi$ character.' — Hisusefui measures. — 
Messalina and the freednien. — Her lust and cruelty. — Claudi- 
us in Britain. — Vicious conduct of Messalina. — Her death. — 
Claudius marries Agrippina. — Is poisoned by her 77 

CHAPTER VI. 

NERO CLAUDIUS CiESAR. 

A. u. 808—821. A. D. 55—68. 
Decline of Agrippina's power. — Poisoning of Britannicus. — 
Murder of Agrippina. — Nero appears on the atage. — Murder 
of Octuvia. — E,\ccsses of JNero. — Burning of Rome. — Conspir- 
acy against Mero. — Death of Seneca. — Deaths of Petronius, 
Thraseas, and Soranus. — Nero visits Greece. — Galba pro- 
claimed emperor. — Death of Nero c^ 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

The .Jewish Messiah. — Jesus Christ. — His religion. — Its propa- 
gation — Causes of its success. — Church government 116 



PART II. 

EMPERORS CHOSEN BY THE ARMY. 

ch'apter I. 

GALDA, OTIIO, VITELLIUS. 

A. V. 821— fc'.i3. a: d. 68—70. 

Galba. — Adoption of Piso. — Murder of Galba. — -Otho. — Civil 
war. — Battle of Bedriacum. — Death of Otho. — Vitellius. — 
Vespasian proclaimed emperor. — Advance of the Flavians. — '■ 
Storming of Cremona. — Burning of the Capitol. — Capture of ■ ' 
Rome. — Death of Vitellius 124 

./ li... CHAPTER H. 

THE FLAVIAN FAMILY. 

vrtn o^J A. V. 823—849. a. d. 70*-%. 

Statf of aifaiTs at Rome. — German wtir. — Capture and destrtic- 
tion of Jerusalem. — Return of Titus. — Vespasian. — Character 



CONTENTS. IX 

PAGE. 

."/ ;::r; i ■ ■ 

of his governmenl. — His death. — Character and reign of Ti- 
tus. — Public calamities. — Death of Titus. — Character of Do- 
niitian. — Conquest of Britain. — Dacian war. — Other wars. — 
Cruelty of Doaiitian. — His death — Llleraturp jf this period.. 145 



CHAPTER III. 

NERVA, TIIAJAN, HADRIAN, ANTONINUS, AURELIUS. 

A. o. 849—933. A. D. 96—180. 

Nerva. — Adoption of Trajan. — His origin and character. — Da- 
cian wars. — Parthian wars. — Death of Trajan. — Observations. 

— Succession of Hadriin. — His character. — Affairs at Rome. 

— Hadrian in Gaul and Britain — in Asia atid Greece — in 
Egypt. • — Antinous. — Adoptions. — Death of Hadrian. — His 
character as an emperor. — Rebellion of the Jews. — Reign ot 
Antoninus Pius. — M. Aurelius. — Parthian war. — German wars. 

— Pievolt of Cassius. — Death of Aurelius. — His character. . . . 167 



CHAPTER HI. 

COMiMODUS, PEUTINAX, JULIANUS, SEVERUS. 

A. u. 933-964. A. D. 180—211. 

(,/ommodus. — Conspiracy against him. — Perennis. — Cleander. 
— Maternus and the deserters. — Death of Cleander. — Vices 
of Commodus. — His death. — Elevation and murder of Perti- 
nax. — Empire put to auction. — Pescennius Niger. — Septimius 
Sevcrus. — Clodius Albinus. — March of Severus. — Death of 
Julian., — Praetorians disbanded. — Severus at Rome. — War 
willi Niger — with Albinus. — Parthian war — Family of Se- 
verus. — Plautianus. — Severus in Britain. — ll s death. — Max- 
ims of government 189 



CHAPTER IV. 
caracalla, macrinus, elagabalus, alexander. 

a'; u. 964—983. a. d. 211—235. 

Caracalla and Geta. — Murder of Geta. — Cruelty of Caracalla. — 
German war. — Parthian war. — Massacre at Alexandria. — 
Murder of Caracalla. — Elevation of Macrinus. — His origin 
and character. — Conspiracy against him. — His defeat and 
death. — Elagabalus. — His superstition and cruelty. — Adop- 
tion of Alexander. — Death of Elagabalus. — Mameea. — Alex- 
ander's character and mode of life. — Murder of Ulpian. — 
Revolution in Persia. ^ — Persian war. — Alexander in Gaul. — 
His murder. — The Roman army 207 



X CONTEMTS. 

CHAPTER V. 
MAXIMIN, PUPIENUS, BALBINU^, jAJifD GORDfAN,, P^ltTi'ji^" 
DECIUS, GALLUS, ^EMILIAN, VALERIAN, GAL^ipNU^. 

A. u. 988—1021. A. D. 235—268. page 
Tlie empire. — Maximin. — His tyranny. — Insurrection in Africa. 
— The Gnrdians. — Pupienus and Balbinus. — Death of Maxi- 
min. — Murder of tiie eiiiptrors. — Gordian. — Persian war. — 
Murder of Gordian. — Piiiiip. — Secular Games. — Decius. — 
I>eath of Philip. —The Golhs. — Gothic war. — Death of Peciuii. 
— Gallus. — itlmilian. — Valerian. — The Franks— The Ale- 
mans. — Gothic invasions. — Persian war. — Defeat and captiv- 
ity of Valerian. — Gallienus. — The Thirty Tyrants. — Death 
of Gallienus 223 



CHAPTER VI. 

CLAUDIUS, AURELIAN, TACITUS, PROBUS, CARUS, CARINUS, 

AND NUMERIAN. 

A. u. 1021—1038. A. D. 268—285. 
Claudius. — Invasions of the Goths. — Aurelian. — Alemannic 
war. — AVar ajrainst Zenobia. — Tetricus. — i)e;ith of Aurelian. 
— Tacitus. — ills deatli. — Probus. — His military successes. — 
His death. — Cams. — Persian war. — His death. — Death of 
Numerian. — Election of Diocletian. — Battle of Margua 240 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

Persecutions of the church. — Corruptii i of relicrion. — The 
Ebionites. — Gnostic heresies. — Muntanus. — The Paschal 
Question. — Councils. — The hierarchy. — Platonic philoso- 
phy, its effects. — Rites and ceremonies. — Christian writers. . 259 



P.VRT III. 
THE CHRISTI/VN EMPERORS. 

CHAPTER I. 

DIUCLETI\N AND MAXIMlA'N. 

A. u. 1033—1056. A. n. 285—303. 

State of tlie empire. — Character of Diocletian. — Imperial power 
divided. — The Bagauds — Carausius. — RetieUion in Egypt. 
— Persian war. — Triumph of Uie emperors. — Their resigna- 
tion. — Persecution of the church 286 



CONTENTS. XI 



CHAPTER II. 

EALERIUS, CONSTANTIUS, SEVERUS, MAXENTIUS, MAXIMIAN, 

LICINIUS, MAXIMIN, CONSTANTINE. 

■' ' A. u. 1057— 1090. A. D. 304— 337. page 

The emperors and CsBsars. — Constantine. — Maxentius. — ^^1(3^'^ 
of Maximian. — War between Constantine and Maxentius. — 
Constantine and Licinius. — Constantine sole emperor. — Con- 
stantinople founded. — Hierarchy of the state. — The army. — 
The great officers. — Conversion of Constantine. — Deaths of 
Crispus and Fausta. — The imperial family. — War with the 
Goths. — Death and character of Constantine 299 



CHAPTER III. 

CONSTANTINE IT., CONSTANTIUS, CONSTANS. 

A. u. 1090—1114. A. D. 337—361. 

Slaughter of the imperial family. — Persian war. — Deaths of Con- 
stantine and Constans. — Magnentius. — Gallus. — Julian. — 
Silvanus. — Court of Constantius. — War with the Limigantes. 
— Persian war. — Julian in Gaul. — Battle of Strasburg. — Ju- 
lian proclaimed emperor. — His march from Gaul. — Death of 
Constantius 3iy 



CHAPTER IV. 
JULIAN, JOVIAN. 

A. u. 1114—1117. A. D. 361—364. 
Reformations of Julian. — His religion. — His tolerance. — Julian 
at Antiocii. — Altem|)t to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. — The 
Persian war. — Death of Julian. — Election of Jovian. — Sur- 
render of territory to the Persians. — Retreat of the Roman ar- 
my. — Death of Jovian 337 

CHAPTER V 

VALENTINIAN, VALENS, GRATIAN, VALENTINIAN II., AND 
THEODOSIUS. 

A. V. 1117—1143. A. D. 364—395. 

Elevation of Valentinian and of Valens. — Procopius. — German 
wars. — Recovery of Britain. — Rebellion in Africa. — Quadan 
war. — Death of Valentinian. — His character. — Gratian. — 
The Goths. — The Huns. — The Gothic war. — Battle of Ha- 
drianople and death of Valens. — Ravages of the Goths. — The- 
odosius. — Settlements of the Goths. — Maximus. — Death of 
Gr.atian. — Defeat of Maximus. — Massacre at Thessalonica. — 
Clemency of Theodosius. — Death of Valentinian II. — Defeat 
and death of Eugenius. — Death and character of Theodosius. — 
State of the empire 358 



Ul CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

tABt 

Su^pressic a of paganism. — Religion of the fourth century. — 
State of morals. — The Donatists. — The Arians — Other her- 
etics. — Ecclesiastical constitution. — Fatliers of the church. 
— The Manichseans 38? 



CHAPTER Vn. 

HONORIUS, VALENTINIAN III., ETC. 

A. u. 1148—1229. A. D. 395^176. 

Division of the empire. — Ilufinus. — The Goths in Greece. — 
Gildo. — Invasion of Italy by Alaric — by Radagaisus. — Mur- 
der ofStilicho. — Claudian. — Alaric's second invasion. — Sack 
of Rome. — Death of .\laric. — Barbariuus in the empire. — Val- 
entiniaa III. — Bonifice and yEtius. — Genseric. — His con- 
quest of Africa. — Atliia. — Theodoric. — Battle of Chfilons. — 
Attila's invasion of Italy. — Murder of.3Itiu8 — and of Valen- 
tinian. — Maxiuius. — Sack of Rome by Gcnscric. — Avitus. — 
Majorian. — Sevcrus. — Antliemius. — Nepos and Glycerius. — 
Romulus Augustus. — End of the empire. — Conclusion 40S 



HISTORY 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



PART I. 

THE C^SARIAN FAMILY. 



\i 

CHAPTER I.* I 

\ 
C.JULIUS C^SAR OCTAVIANUS AUGUSTUS l, 

A. u. 725—746. B. c. 29—8. j 

THE ROMAN EMPIRE. REGULATION OF IT BY AUGUSTUS. }{ 

AUGUSTUS IN SPAIN IN ASIA. LAWS. FAMILY CF l\ 

AUGUSTUS. DEATH OF AGRIPPA. GERMAN WARS, — I | 

DEATH OF DRUSUS, AND OF M^CENAS. LITERATURE. | 

The battle of Actium, fought between M. Antonius and I \ 

C. Caesar Octavianus, in the 723d t year of Rome, termina- [ I 

r 

* Authorities : Velleius Paterculus, Suetonius, Dion Cassius. For I 

a full account of the authorities for this History, see Appendix (A.) | 

t We shall use the Varronian chronology in this volume, as it is the 5 

one followed by Tacitus, Dion, and other historians. [In the former | 

part of this work, Mr. K. made use of the Catonian computation. It { 

is immaterial which is used, though the Varronian is undoubtedly tlie ( 

more correct, and was employed by the editor in the " Chronological \ 

Table," at the end of that work. The difference is only two years — 5 

a difference of little importance with respect to the history of the iJe- 
jnihlic, but of more in reference to the history of the Empire. See the 
editor's " Comparative View of Ancient History, and Explanation of 
Chronological Eras ' p. 92, title, Era of the Foundatirn of Rome. — 

J . 1 . to. J 

CONTIN. 1 A 



a AUGUSTUS. 

ted the contest for the supreme power in the Roman stale, 
whjcli had continued for so many years. After the death of 
his rival, Ctesar, now, in the thirty-fourth year of his age, saw 
himself the undoubted master of the Roman world. An 
army of forty-four legions* regarded him as its chief; the 
civil wars and the proscription liad cut otf all the men of em- 
inence at Rome ; the senate and people vied with each other 
in L-itir williiignetss to accept a sovereign; aiid thdiigh we may 
despise their servility, reason will evmce that they were right 
in their determination ; for he must be strangely inthralled 
by sounds, who, charmed by the mere words liberty and repub- 
lic, looks back through the last century of the history of Rome, 
and prefers the turbulent anarchy, whicii then prevailed, to 
the steady, firm rule of a single hand. VV'e will add, though 
the assertion may appear paradoxic;d, that their knowledge 
of Ca;sar'sch;{rhcter may have given them fair hopes of his 
proving an equitable sovereign. 

But, independently of all other considerations, the enor- 
mous magnitude of the Roman empire was incompatible 
with any other form of government than the monarchic, if 
the happiness of the subjects was to be a matter of moment. 
The formation of this empire is perhaps the most strikmg 
phenomenon in the amials of the world. Fabulous as is 
the early history of Rome, the fact of its having been in its 
commencement nothing more than a single town, or rather 
village, with a territory of a very few miles in compass, may 
be regarded as certain. Step by step it thence advanced in 
extent ; under its kings it became respectable amojig the 
Italian states : when the supreme magistracy was made an- 
nual, the Consuls were anxious to distinguish their year by 
some military acliieveuient; their ambition was sustained by 
the valor and discipline of the legions, and the wisdom of 
the senate cemented together into one strong and firm mass 
the various territories reduced by the arms of Rome, in 
the East, empires of huge extent are at times formed with 
rapidity, but their decay is in general equally rapid ; modern 
Europe has seen great empires formed by a Charlemagne 
and a Napoleon, but they fell to pieces almost as soon as 
erected : the Roman, empire, oti the contrary, endured for 
centuries. Perhai)s the nearest parallel is that of Russia; 
but of this the stability remaitis to be proved: watched by 

,!' -r i-.:f 'r.: :■■ ' ■ ' •; ' 
* Orosius, vi. 18. These le§ions,^howeVer, were far from complete, 
some of them being mere skeletons. 



B. C. 29*] RETURN OF AUGUSTUS. 3 

jealous and powerful rivals, its step is stealthy, artful, and 
treacherous, while that of Ro»ne was comparatively open, 
bold, and daring. 

The Roaian empire, at the time of which we write, em- 
braced all the countries contained between the Ocean, the 
Rhine, and Euphrates, on the west and east, and the moun- 
tain ranges of the Alps and Haemus on the north, and that of 
Atlas and the African sandy desert on the south. With respect 
to the condition of the various nations and peoples contained 
within its limits, it may be compared to that acquired with 
such rapidity by England in India. A portion were under 
the immediate government of the sovereign state, while 
others, under the name of allies, possessed a certain degree 
of independence in their internal relations, but their external 
policy was under the control of Rome.* As aristocracy 
and democracy are equally tyrannic to subjects, the oppres- 
sions of the proconsuls and propraetors, set over the provmcea 
by the republic, had beeu such as to make the provincials 
look forward with hope to the establislnnent of a monarchy 
at Rome. Such, then; was the condition of the Roman world 
at the time when our narrative commences. 

When intelligence of the death of Antonius reached 
Rome, the senate hastened to decree to Caesar the tribunitian 
power for life, a casting-voice in all the tribunals, the pawer 
of nominating to all the priesthoods, and various other hon- 
ors. They ordered that he should be named in all the pub- 
lic prayers, and libations be poured to him at both public 
and private entertainments. It was directed that the gates 
of Janus should be closed, as war was now at an end.t 

Caesar, meantime, having regulated the affairs of Egypt, 
over which he placed Cn. Cornelius Gallus as governor, set 
out on his return for Rome. He spent the winter in the 
province of Asia, adjusting the affairs of the surrounding 
countries; and during his abode there the Parthian king 
Phraates sent his son to him to be conducted as a hostage to 
Rome. In the summef (725) he proceeded to Italy, and on 
coming to Rome he celebrated a triumph of three days' du- 
ration for his©w;«iyiotories at Actium and Alexandria, and 

■ '■.■ ,.; : ■ ■:■ l', 

* These allies were either kings or republics. The former were 
those oi' Judaea, of thf Arabs,, the Nabathoe^ns, Comagcne, Cilicia, 
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Armenia, Tliraco, Nuinidia ; the latter, 
Cydonia and Lampasa in Crete, Cyzicus, Riiodes, Athens, Tyre and 
Sidon, Lycif^j.andlhe Ligurians of the Maritime Alps, 
t Dion, li. 19, 20. Suet. Oct 31. 



4 AUGUSTUS. [b. c. 29. 

those of his lieutenants in Dahnatia and Pannonia. He dis- 
tributed money to the people ; he paid all his debts and for- 
gave his debtors ; and the abundance of money became so 
great in Rome, that the rate of interest fell two thirds.* 

We are told that at this time Cjesar had serious thoughts 
of laying down his power attd restoring the republic, and 
that he consulted with his friends Agrippa and Maecenas 
on the subject. The historian Dion Cassius has composed 
speeches for these two en)inent men, the former of whom he 
makes advocate, though with but feeblp reasons, the cause of 
the republic, while the latter lays down the whole system 
of the future monarchy. It is almost needless to state that 
the.se c;innot be genuine speeches; yet the consultation may 
have been held. Caesar was of a cautious temper ; he had 
the fate of his iincle, the dictator, before his eyes, and the ex- 
amples of Sulla and Pompeius showed that power might be 
resigned with safety. A conspiracy of young Lepidus, the 
son of the triumvir and nephew of Brutus, to assassinate him 
on his return to the city, had lately been discovered, and the 
author put to death by Maecenas, who had the charge of the 
city.t Still it is difficult to believe that Ca3sar could have 
really intended to divest himself of his authority. 

The counsel of Maecenas having prevailed, or such being 
his previous resolution, Caesar prepared to establish his pow- 
er on a firm basis. The object which he proposed was to 
frame a constitution which, under the forms of the republic 
should be in reality a disguised military monarchy. Wit: 
this view he conceived it necessary that the senate should 
be limited in number and respectable in character ; where- 
as it was at this time in a state of the utmost degradation ; 
for the dictator, out of hatred to the aristocracy, had in- 
troduced all kinds of rabble into it, and after his death 
M. Antonius had, formoncy or out of favor, admitted any one 
that chose to seek the dignity ,:j: so that the senators were 
now upwards of a thousand in number, ('aesar' adopted the 
following course of reformation. Having caused himself 
and Agrippa to be chosen censors, instead of arbitrarily 
ejecting unworthy persons from the senate, he made them 
judges of their own qualifications. Fifty were thus induced 
to resign voluntarily ; he then compelled one hundred and 
forty more to follow their e.\ample, and, having thus got rid 

• Dion, li. 21. Suet. Oct. 41. t Veil. Pat. ii. 88L Soet. Oct. 19 

t Suet. Oct. 35. 



B. e. 28-27.] REGULATION OF THE STATE. & 

of the most disreputable portion, he went no farther in his 
reformation for the p esent. As the patrician families had 
been greatly reduced by the civil wars, he augmented their 
number. In order to obviate the danger of civil commotions, 
he renewed the regulation of his uncle for preventing the 
senators from visiting the provinces without permission, ex- 
cepting Sicily and Narbonese Gaul. To quiet their appre- 
hensions on account of the late troubles, and prevent their 
forming any designs against himself in consequence of them, 
he assured them that he had burned all the papers of M, 
Antonius ; and he had in fact burned some, but he retained 
the greater part, to use, if he found it necessary. 

The title of laiperator {general) had been already con- 
ferred on Caesar, as on his uncle; * and in his sixth consulate, 
(726,) when he formed the list of the senators, he received 
the denomination of Princeps Senatus, {Flrst-of-thc Sniatc,) 
according to the old republican custom ; and this he always 
used as his favorite title. Having forgiven all debts due to 
the state, and burnt the securities, gratified the people with 
shows, and done other popular acts, Csesar (727) addressed 
the senate, requesting them to take the government now into 
their own hands, and to permit him to retire to the enjoy- 
ment of a private station. He was heard with various emo- 
tions; a few only were in the secret, and knew his object; 
there were some who were willing to take him at his word, 
but the greater number had a horror of the anarchy and 
turbulence of a republic; all therefore united, from different 
motives, in calling on him not to resign his authority. He 
yielded with well-feigned reluctance. The supreme power 
was conferred on him by a decree of the senate and people, 
and double pay was voted to his guards, to increase their 
vigilance and fidelity. 

GaBsar thus attained his object, the legal establishment of 
his power ; but he refused to receive it for more than a pe- 
riod of ten years, alleging that by that time the state would 
be brought to a condition of order and tranquillity. He, 
further, though accepiing the charge of superintendence 
over the whole empire, would not assume the direct govern- 
ment of all the provinces; but, making a division of them 
into two classes, committed the more peaceful and orderly, 

* Hence our word Emperor. It was usually bestowed by the soldiers 
on tlieir general after a victory. It now became the constant title of 
the nionarcli, being prefi.xed instead of postfixed (as in the ordinary 
way) to hi.s name. 

1 * 



6 AUGUSTUS, [b. c. 27—24 

such as Africa, Asia, Baetic Spain, to the senate and people ; 
while he reserved to himself the administration of the more 
warlike and turbulent, such as Gaul, northern Spain, and 
Egypt. The governors of the former were to be selected by 
the senate out of their own body by lot ; they were to hold 
their office for the space of a year, under the title of Procon- 
sul, whether they had been consuls or not ; their jurisdiction 
was to be purely civil, and they were therefore neither to 
carry swords lior wear the military habit. Cajsar himself 
was to appoint directly the governors of the remaining prov- 
inces; they were to be named Legates and Proprietors, to 
continue in office as long as he pleased, and to wear a sword 
and the military habit, as having the power of life and death 
over the soldiery. A proconsul was to be preceded by twelve, 
a proprietor, by six lictors. Quaestors appointed by Ca?sar 
were to be sent into all the provinces to collect and regulate 
the revenue, and all the governors and inferior officers were 
to receive fixed salaries, and not be allowed to pay thein* 
selves, as under the republic. 

The senate decreed at this time that laurels should be 
placed before the doors of Caesar's house on the Palatium, 
and an oak-leaf-crown be su?pended over them, to indicate 
that he was perpetual victor over the eneuiies of the state, 
and perpetnid preserver of the citizens. It was also pro- 
posed to confer on him some peculiar appellation, lie him- 
self would h:ive preferred that of Romulus, as being a second 
founder of the state; but finding that it would excite suspi- 
cion of his aiming at royalty, he acqtiiesced in that of Augus- 
tus, which was proposed by L. Munntius Plancus, and which 
indicated a certain <legree of sanctity.* 

Augustus, •(a.'s we shall henceforth name him,) having thus 
laid the foundations of his power, quitted Rome under the 
pretext of completing the conquest of Britain. t Finding 
Gaul in an unsettled state, he remained some time there, to 
reduce it to order. The incursions of the Asturians and 
Cantabrians into the Roman provinces in Spain then induced 
him to assume the conduct of the war against them. He, 
however, found them a foe in contending with whom little 
glory was to be acquired ; for they would not descend from 
their mountains and give battle in the plain, and they har- 

" The TilxT overflowed on tlie nij^ht following the decree. Dion, 
liii. 20. This is thought to be the inundation noticed by Horace, 
Carm. i. 2. 

t Hor. Carm. i. 35, 29. 



B.C. 24— 23.] ILLNESS OF AUGUSTUS. 7 

assed his troops by ambushes in the woody glens. Vexa- 
tion and fatigue causing him to fall sick, he retired to 
Tarraco, leaving the command with C. Antistius, by whom 
and T. Carisius some advantages were gained over these 
mountaineers. Augustus then discharged such of the sol- 
diers as had served out their legal time, and founded for 
them in Lusitania a town named Augusta Emerita, {Merkla.) 
He then returned to Rome, (730,) having been absent during 
the better part of three years.* He had hardly, however, 
quitted Spain, when the Cantabrians and Asturians again 
took arms; and though the propraetor L. ^milius chastised 
tliem, these hardy mountaineers were never, properly speak- 
ing, conquered, and they always retained their rude inde- 
pendence. 

At this time also (730) avarice or the lust of conquest in- 
duced Augustus to order ^lius Gallus, the governor of Egypt, 
to undertake an expedition against the Happy Arabia.t In 
the attempt, however, to cross the sandy desert, his troops suf- 
fered so severely from the heat of the sun, the bad quality 
of the waters, and a novel kind of disease, and they were so 
harassed by the native tribes, that, after losing the greater 
part of them, Gallus was obliged to give up his design ; and 
the conquest of Arabia was never again attempted by the 
Romans.| 

Augustus, it would seem, long continued to be affected by 
the disease with which he had been first attacked in Spain. 
The year after his return to Rome, (731,) he had a fit so 
severe as to leave little hopes of his life ; and believing him- 
self to be near his end, he gave to Cn. Calpurnius Piso, his 
colleague in the consulate, in presence of the principal sen- 
ators and knights, a book containing an account of the 
forces and the revenues of the state ; he at the same time 
placed his ring on the finger of Agrippa, but said not a word 
of who should be his successor, though every one had ex- 
pected him to appoint his nephew Marcellus, the son of his 
sister Octavia, to whom he had given in marriage his only 
daughter Julia. A physician named Antonius Musa, how- 

* Hor. Carm. iii. 14; 8,21. 

t Dion, Iii. 29. Strabo, xvi. p. 780 ; xvii. p. 819. Plin. H. N vi. 28. 
Horace seems to refer to this expedition, Carm. i. 29. 

+ [The chief cause of the failure of this expedition seems to have 
been the treachery of Syllaeus, chief minister to Obodas, king of tlie 
Nabathaean Arabs, through whose country the Romans had to past). 
See Strabo, lib. xvi. — J T. S.] 



6 AUGUSTUS. [b. c. 22-21 

ever, restored him to health by a system of cold bathing and 
cold drinking. When he recovered, he wished to have his 
will read out in the senate, to prove that he had not named a 
successor ; but the senators would not permit it to be done. 
It is doubtful whether it was his intention to restore the re- 
public, or if he wished his place in the state to be occupied 
by Agrippa : the latter, which is more consonant to his char- 
acter, seems to be the more probable supposition. The sen- 
ate now conferred on him the tribunitian power for life;* 
gave him the power of bringing before them any matter he 
pleased, even when not consul, and granted him a perpetual 
proconsular authority. 

Whatever the designs of Augustus might have been with 
respect to Marcellus, they were frustrated at this time by the 
death of that promising youth in the twentieth year of his 
age — an event which caused a general grief, as he had in- 
herited the amiable qualities of his mother Octavia, and was 
beloved of all people. t 

Augustus had now been consul for nine successive years; 
and, feeling his power sufficiently established, he regarded 
that dignity as no longer needful to him. The consuls there- 
fore for the year 7:12 were M. Claudius Marcellus and L. 
Aruntius ; but the year proving to be one of disease and 
scarcity, the superstitious people fancied that their calamities 
arose from Augustus's not being consul, and surrounded the 
senate-house, threatening to burn the senate in it if they did 
not proclaim him dictator; then, seizing the rods of the 
twenty-four lictors, they brought them to him, imploring him 
to assume that office, and also that of overseer of the corn- 
market. The latter he accepted ; but, satisfied with possess- 
ing all the power of the dictatorship, he declined the invidi- 
ous title, and even rent his garments when the people would 
have forced him to accept it. lie in like manner declined 
the censorship for life when it was proffered to him, but he 
always used a ccnsorian authority. 

Beloved as Augustus was by the people in general, there 
wei'e stiFI some unquiet spirits at Rome, who could not sub- 
mit to the rule of a single person, how moderate soever it 

* Thfe firmer decree of this power (above, p. 3) had not, it wonld 
seem, been carried into effect. Tacitus (Ann. iii. .t6) says that Aufjus- 
(ns devised the term trilmnitia poteslns ; while Dion (xlii. 20) asserts 
that it wss conferred on Ctesar the dictator. Ijipsius reconciles them 
b* showing that Cffisar did not use it publicly. 

t Propert. iii. 18. See Virg. .^Q vi. 861, seq. 



B. C. 20-19.] AUGUSTUS IN ASIA. '9 

might be. A conspiracy against Augustus wass detected al t 

tliis time, at the head of which was Fauuius Csepio, and in 

which L. Murajna, the brother-in-law of Maecenas, was said j 

to be implicated. They made no defence on their trial, and 

being found guilty by their judges, they were put to death. \ 

Augustus now resolved to visit and regulate the eastern i 

parts of the empire, and leaving Rome, he first proceeded to | 

Sicily, (733.) While he was there, the consular elections at ^ I 

Rome gave occasion to so much tumult and disturbance, , 

that his return was eagerly desired and urged by the more 
prudent citizens. He would not, however, comply with their 
wishes; but in order to keep the city in order, he summoned 
Agrippa from Asia, where he was then residing ; and having 
made him divorce his wife, (though she was his own niece,) 
and marry Julia, the widow of Marcellus,* he committed to 
him the government of Rome, where his able administration 
speedily restored order and tranquillity. 

From Sicily, Augustus, attended by his stepson Tiberius, 
proceeded to Greece ; and having regulated the affairs of 
that now insignificant country, he passed over to Samos, 
where he spent the waiter. In the spring (734) he proceeded 
to Asia, and thence to Syria. He arranged all matters con- 
cerning the petty monarchies which were in alliance with or 
under the protection of Rome.f and then returned to Samos 
for the winter. Here he received numerous embassies from 
various nations, among whom was one from the Indians, to \ 

ratify the treaty of peace and amity which had been already [ 

concerted. Among the presents which they brought was a \ 

man without arms, who bent a bow and shot arrows, and J 

held a trumpet to his mouth, with his feet. They also pre- t 

sented him with some tigers, being the first of this species J 

^Yipr brought to Europe.| \ 

While Augustus was in Asia, Phraates, the Parthian king, ( 

who had hitherto eluded the fulfilment of his engagement to l 

restore the standards and prisoners taken from Crassus ainl { 

Antonius, fearing a war, hastened to perform it. We are not I 

( 
* Maecenas, when consulted on this occasion, is reported to have | 

said to him, " You have made him (Agrippa) so great that he must i 

either be your son-in-law or be put to death." S 

t It was at this time that he sent Tiberius with an army to settle a ( 

disputed claim to the throne of Armenia. Some of the Epistles of | 

Horace (i. 3. 8, and perhaps 9. and ii. 2) were written at this time i 

See also Ep. i. 12, 36 seq. { 

t Dion, liv. 9. Pliny, N. H. viii. 17. | 

B 



10 AUGUSTUS. [b. c. 19-18 

informei. of the number of soldiers thus restored to their 
country, but they probably bore only a small proportion to 
the number orig^inally captured ; for many were dead, and 
many more preferred remaining in a country to which they 
had now become habituated. By Augustus himself this was 
always regarded as tl)e most glorious event in his life, and to 
conunemorate it he built a temple on the Capitol to Mars the 
Avenger, ( Ultoi ,) while the poets w ho adorned his reign 
poured forth their strains in commemoration of the peaceful 
triumph.* 

A new sedition, on account of the consular elections, 
which proceeded even to bloodshed, recalled Augustus to 
Rome, (73o.) The senate, as usual, would have lavished 
honors on him, hut he would only allow of the erection of 
an altar to Fortuna Redux, and the insertion of the day of 
his return among the public holidays, under the title of 
Augustalia. lie was appointed inspector of manners for five 
years, and given the censorian power for the same period, 
and the consular for life. Agrippa was at this time in Spain; 
for after he had established order at Rome, he found it 
necessary to proceed to Gaul, which was suffering from se- 
dition and from the incursions of the Germans, whence he 
was called to Spain by a new insurrection of the Canta- 
brians. Having, not without much difficulty, redijced this 
restless people, he returned to Rome, declining, with his 
usual moderation, the triumphal honors which had been de- 
creed him on the proposal of Augustus himself. 

The senate was t^till too numerous a bo<ly for the place in 
the state which Augustus wished it to occupy. He thought 
he might now venture to make a further reduction in it; but 
the difficulties which he encountered were such, that, instead 
of bringing it down, as he proposed, to three liundred, he 
was obliged to be content with a house consisting of six 
hundred members. Even this moderate reduction gave oc- 
casion to several real or imputed conspiracies against him 
and Agrippa. 

To keep up a respectable aristocracy in the state was a 
favorite object with this prudent prince, who was well aware 
of the evilp of oligarchy and [an ignorant] democracy. It 
was with this view that he labored to render the senate lim- 



• Hor. Epist. 1.18, 56; Carm. ir. 15,6. Proper!, ii. 10; iii. 4, 9j 
5, 43 ; iv. 6, 79. Ovid, Fast. vi. 647 ; Trist ii. 1, 25«. See also Wrg 
Mn. vii. 606. Hor. Carm. iii. 5. 



B. C. 17-1 ii.] FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS. 11 

ited in number and respectable in character. As a further 
means he most anxiously, both by law and precept, en 
couraged marriage among the members of the senatorian 
and equestrian orders, (736.) * But the profligacy of man- 
ners which then prevailed was such that all the honors, and 
rewards, and imn'unities, which he proposed were of but little 
avail. A practice was even introduced by which the inten- 
tion of the laws might be eluded, while the benefits pro- 
posed by them were attained : it was that of betrothal with 
infants, to obviate which he enjoined that no betrothal should 
be valid except in cases where the marriage might be con- 
summated within the space of two years; that is, with no 
child under ten years of age. It was unfortunate for Augus- 
tus tiiat his own character and conduct gave but little weight 
to his regulations on the subject of matrimony, for he was 
notoriously unfaithful to his wife Livia. 

It may be of use to give here some account of the family 
of Augustus. By his first wife, Scribonia, he had one child, 
a daughter, named of course Julia; he had no children by 
Livia, and we hear nothing of Jiny natural children. He first 
married Julia to his nephew Marcellus, the son of his sister 
Octavia by her first husband, Claudius Marcellus ; and on 
his death he obliged Agrippa to divorce his wife, who was the 
sister of Marcellus, and espouse the widow, by whom he had 
two sons, iiamed Caius and Lucius, both of whom Augustus 
adopted. By her first husband, Tib. Claudius Nero, Livia had 
two sons, Tiberius and Drusus, the latter of whom was born 
after her marriage with Augustus. The former was married 
to Agiippina, the daughter of Agrippa by his first wife, a 
daughter of Cicero's friend Atticus. 

In the 737th year of Rome, Augustus and Agrippa cele- 
biated with great magnificence the StBcular Games.t Au- 
gustus then deemed it advisable to absent himself for some 
time from Roiije, and having sent Agrippa to Asia, he pro- 
ceeded to Gaul on the pretext of the invasions of the Ger- 
mans requiring his presence ; but some said that his secret 
motive was the desire of enjoying more freely the society of 
Terentia, the wife of Maecenas, with whom he had long car- 
ried on an intrigue. He took with him his stepson Tiberius, 
and aft^i; an absen^je of about three, years, spent in regulating 

* See Hor. Carm. iii. 6, 17, seq.; iv. 5, 12, scq. ; 15, 9, seq.; Carm. 
SoBC. 17 scq. 

t Tliey were the fifth that had been celebrated. Dion, liv. 18. Can 
Borin. IT. Horace composed the hymn sung on the occasion. 



12 AUGUSTUS. [b. C 13 

the concerns of Gaul, Spain, and the German provinces, he 
returned to Rorrte, (T41,) and in the following year (742) he 
assuftied the dignity of Pontifex Maxinius, now vacant by 
the death of Lepidus, his former colleague in the triumvirate, 
whom (though he at all times treated him with studied indig- 
nity) he allowed to hold that honorable office as long as he 
lived. 

Agrrppa, who had been all this time in Asia, returned to 
Rome likewise in 741 ; and Augustus, whose confidence in 
him never abated, had the tribunitian power conferred on 
hitn for another period of five years. He also committed to 
him the charge of suppressing an expected invasion of the 
Pannonians. This people, however, when they lieard of the 
approach of Agrippa, laid aside all thoughts of war. He 
therefore led back his troops, and in the following spring 
(742) he fell dangerously ill in Campania. Augustus, whc 
was then celebrating the festival of the Quinquatrus at Rome 
hastened to him, but found him dead. He caused the corpse 
to be conveyed to Rome, where he himself pronounced the 
funeral oration over it in the Forum, and then laid his ashes 
in his own monument, though the deceased had prepared one 
for himself in the Field of Mars. Agrippa had not completed 
his fifty-first year when he was thus prematurely carried oif.* 

There are few characters in history more pleasing to con- 
template than that of M. Vipsanius Agrippa. Born in a 
humble station, he raised himself entirely by his own merit, 
and by the honorable fidelity which he always exhibited to 
the man to whose fortunes he was attached. To prince and 
pcfiple he was etjually acceptable: the former viewed in him 
a sincere friend and an able minister and general ; the latter 
regarded him as a patron and a benefactor. His wealth, 
which was inirtiense,t he devoted to the public service, ben- 
efiting the people and adorning the city. He thus raised at 
a great expense several aqueducts, particularly that which 
conveyed the Aqua Virgo to the Field of Mars, (735.) He 
adorned (728) the porticoes built round the Septa, in the 
same place, by Lepidus, with marble plates and with paint- 
ings, naming them Julian in honor of Augustus. He also 
built a beautiful portico to the temple of Neptune, and erected 
the circular temple named the Pantheon, | which still exists. 

• Plin. N. H. vli. 8. 

t He (iwned the enl.re Chersonese, (Dion,liv. 2',) ;) he had also large 
estates in Sicily (Hor. Ep. i. 12) and elsewhere. 

« Pliny (N. H. ixxvi. 15) says it was dedicated to Jupiter Ultor 



B.C. 11.] FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 13 

By his will he left his gardens and the baths named after him 
to the Roman people. Augustus, who was hia principal heir, 
|fave in his name a donation of one hundred drachmas a man 
to the plebeians. 

The place of Agrippa was not to be supplied ; but as some 
one in his station was absolutely necessary to Augustus, he, 
much against his inclination, made choice of his stepson 
Tiberius. As he seems to have made it a rule that the per- 
son next to himself should be the husband of his daughter 
Julia, he obliged Tiberius to divorce Agrippina, the daughter 
of Agrippa, to whom he was most sincerely attached, and 
who had borne him one child and was bearing another, and 
espouse Julia. He then sent him against the Pannonians, 
who had resumed their arms when they heard of the death 
of Agrippa. 

We will now for some time direct our attention to the 
foreign relations and military affairs of the empire. 

Within the limits of the empire the only people who ven- 
tured to resist the arms of Rome was the Basque population 
of the mountains in the north of Spain, who, secured by the 
nature of their country, though often defeated and reduced, 
were never completely conquered. On the southern frontier 
in Africa the native tribes gave occasional employment to 
the governors of the adjoining provinces. In the year 733, 
the Ethiopians, led by their queen Candace, invaded Upper 
Egypt, and advanced as far as the city of Elephant ina ; but 
they were speedily repelled by the governor C. Petronius, who 
invaded their country in return, and forced them to sue for 
peace. On the side of Parthia all was quiet during the r<?i«« 
of Augustus ; but the tribes in the vicinity of the Danube 
and Rhine, who were destined to be Rome's most dangerous 
foes, even now required the employment of large armies to 
repel or subdue them, and more than once they sent alarm 
even into the city. 

The reduction of Thrace to a province gave occasion to 
gome warfare ; for the native tribes, unused to submission, 
and defended by the ranges of Rhodope and HjEmus, were 
prone to rebellion. A general rising among them took j'lace 
in 743; and, after lasting three years, it was at length sup- 

■ ';i. Ill Jiio >iii:j<i)ii jiii villi' >!iui4!fi'Aii ' ii. vil; iii'Kl 
. ,-. . ..... .,,, . I ,1..!,V -..'T ■ ■-.;-! (.„!) r,. ».'.;■.■■.!. ."7 ..,t. 

Dipn (Uii. 27) would peemto Intimate tiiat it was consecrated to Ma<r{i 
and Venus. He tliiiiks that it was named from its resemblance in form 
to tlie lieaven. Tiie supposition of its being dedicated to ^ill tlie gods 
is a modern error. 

CONTIN. 2 



14 AUGUSTUS. [b. C. 11. 

pressed by the governor L. Piso, who thereby obtained tiie 
triumphal honors. 

The Roman frontier had, in the latter times of the repub- 
lic, been gradually advanced into Illyricum, the region lying 
to the north of the Adriatic, and commercial relations were 
formed with the nations who dwelt farther inland. Their 
own unquiet spirit, and the arrogance and oppression of the 
Romans, naturally gave occasion to hostilities. In 7JJ8 two 
of the Alpine tribes, named Cammunians and Venians, took 
arms ; but they were speedily reduced by P. Silius, the pro- 
praetor. Immediately after, the Pannonians, aided by the 
Noricans, invaded Istria ; but they were repelled also by 
Silius, who then carried his arms into Noricum and reduced 
it. Shortly alter, the Ra,'tians of the Alps, and the Vindeli- 
cans* who dwelt between them and the Danube, began to 
make incursions into Gaul and Italy, and they seized and put 
to death such of the Romans or allies whom they found travel- 
ling through their country. Augustus conunitted the task of 
reducing them to his stepson Drusus, who gave them a de- 
feat in the hills of Tridentum, ( Trnit ;) and, as they still plun- 
dered Gaul, he caused Drusus's brother Tiberius to attack 
them on that side; and by the united efforts of the two broth- 
ers and their lieutenants, the mountaineers were coiupletely 
brought under subjection. t The more vigorous portion of 
their male population was carried away, and only those left 
who were too feeble for insurrection. The Patuionic war 
already alluded to broke out in 743. It was. conducted and 
successfully terminated by Tiberius, who was decreed for it 
a triumph by the senate ; but Augustus would only allow him 
to receive the triumphal ornaments. 

Drusus was meantime carrying on war in Germany. The 
Roman dominion having been extended by Caesar, the dictator, 
to the Rhine, the Ubians, Vangionians, and some other Ger- 
man tribes, J had been induced to cross that river and settle 
on its left bank, under the protection and authority of the 
Romans, whose manners they gradually adopted. The ter- 
ritory in which they dwelt was hence named the Upper and 



* Dion (liv. 22) mentions only the R(etians,but he appears to include 
the Vindelicans in that name. The Vindelicans are expressly men 
tioned by Suetonius, (Tib. 9,) Velleius, (ii. 95,) and Horace, HfGarm'iV 
4, 13.) ■•"■■/ !■ 

t See Horace, Carm. iv. 4 and 14. 

t See Appendix (C.) for an account of the German tribes. 



B.C. 13-11.] GERMAN WARS. 15 

Lower Germany ; it extended from the modern town of 
Schlettstadt into the district of Cleves. The Romans had 
several fortified posts along the Rhine, but they had as yet 
no footing beyond that river. They had, however, the usual 
relations of trade and intercburse with the peoples of the op- 
posite bank. 

In 729 the Germans murdered some Romans who had gone 
o\er in the usual manner into their country. To punish them, 
M. Vinicius, who comm<inded on the left bank of the river, 
led his troops against them, and his successes gained him the 
honor of the triumphal ornaments. Nothing further occurred 
till the year 738, when the tribes named Sicambrians, Usipe- 
tans, and Tencterans, seized and crucified the Roman traders 
in their country, and then, crossing the Rhine, ravaged Gaul 
and the Germanies. M. Lollius, the legate, led his troops to 
engage them ; but they laid an ambush for the cavalry, which 
was in advance, and routed it. In the pursuit they came un- 
expectedly on Lollius himself, and defeated him, taking the 
eagle of the fifth legion. The intelligence of this disgrace 
caused, as we have seen, Augustus to set out for Gaul; but 
the Germans did not wait for his arrival, and when he came, 
they obtained a truce on giving hostages. 

Augustus remained nearly three years in Gaul. When 
leaving it, (741,) he committed the defence of the German 
frontier to his stepson Drusus. His departure imboldened 
the Sicambrians and their allies to resume hostilities ; and as 
disaffection appeared likely to spread among the Gauls, Dru- 
sus took care to secure their leading men by inviting them to 
Lugduniim, {^Lyona,) under pretext of the festival which was 
to be celebrated at the altar raised there in honor of Augus- 
tus : then watching the Germans when they passed the Rhine, 
he fell on and cut them to pieces, and crossing that river 
himself, he entered the country of the Usipetans, and thence 
advanced into that of the Sicambrians, laying both waste, 
(742.) He embarked his troops on the Rhine and entered 
the ocean, and sailing along the coast, formed an alliance with 
the Frisians who inhabited it. His slight vessels, however, 
being stranded by the ebb of the tide on the coast of the 
Chaucans, he was indebted for safety to his Frisian allies. 
He then led his troops back, and put them Into winter-quar- 
ters. In the spring (743) he again crossed the Rhine, and 
completed the subjection of the Usipetans; and taking advan- 
tage of the absence of the Sicambrian warrio-s, who had 



16 AUGUSTUS. [b. c. 10-9 

marched against the Chattans on account of their refusal to 
join their league, he threw a bridge over the Lippe, [Lujiia,) 
»nH marching rapidly through the Sicambrian country, and 
tJii*^, .wg that of the Cheruscans, advanced as far as the Weser, 
{Visurgis.) Want of supplies, however, forced the Roinana 
to return without passing that river. In their retreat they 
were harassed by the Germans, and on one occasion they fell 
into an ambush, where they were only saved from destruction 
by the excessive confidence of the enemy, who, regar^ding 
thera .IS already conquered, attacked them in disorder, and 
\\'ere therefore easily repelled by the disciplined legionaries. 
Drusus built a fort at the confluence of the Elison and the 
Lippe, and another in the Ciiattan country on the Rhine, and 
then returned to Gaul for the winter. The following year 
(744) Augustus, on account of the German war, went and took 
up his abode at Lugduimm, while Drusus again crossed the 
lihw.^ and carried on the war against the Sicambrian league, 
which had now been joined by the Chattans, who became in 
con.sequence the principal sufferers. At the end of the cam- 
paign, Augustus and his stepsons returned to Rome. 

The next year (745) Drusus passed the Rhine for the 
fourth time. He laid waste the Chattan territory, whence he 
advanced into Suevia, which he treated in a similar manner, 
routing all that resisted him ; then entering the Cheruscan 
country, he crossed the Weser, and advanced till he reached 
the Elbe, {Albia,) wasting all on his way. Having made a 
fruitless effort to pass this river, he led back his troops to the 
Rhine; but his horse having fallen with him on the way, he 
received eo much injury by the fall, that he died before he 
reached the banks of that stream.* His body was conveyed 
to R(nue, where the funeral orations were pronounced by 
Augustus and Tiberius, and his ashes were deposited in the 
Julian monunjent. The title of Germanicus was decreed to 
him and his children, and, among other honors, a cenotaph 
was raised by the army on the bank of the Rhine. 

Drusus was only in his thirtieth year when he thus me 
with his untimely fate. He was married to the younger 
daughter of OcUuia by M. Antonius, tlie triumvir, by whcm 
he had several children ; but only three, Germanicus, Clan- 
dius, and Li villa, survive^ their father. The character of 
P^usus stood high both as a soldier and a citize: ,^i au(| i^t 

• Livy, Epit. 140. 



l 



B. C. 8.] LATIN LITERATURE. 11 

was generally believed that he intended to restore the repub- 
lic, if ever he should possess the requisite power.* It is 
even said that at one time he wrote to his brother proposing 
to compel Augustus to reestablish the popular freedom, but 
that Tiberius showed the letter to his stepfather.t Some 
even, in the usual spirit of calumniating Augustus, went so 
far as to hint that he caused Drusus to be taken off by poison 
when he neglected to give instant obedience to his m/'indat(! 
of recall, issued in consequence of that information. f 

Death had already (743) deprived Augustus of his sister 
Octavia, and within two years after the loss of Drusus, he had 
.o lament that of Maecenas, his early friend, adviser, and 
minister, who died toward the end of the year 740, leav^ih'g' 
him his heir, notwithstanding the (xffalr of Terentia. 

Maecenas was a man in whom were united the apparently 
opposite characters of the refined voluptuary and the able 
and judicious statesman. When called on to exert himself 
in public affairs, no man displayed more foresight, vigor, and 
activity ; but the moment he could withdraw from them, he 
hastened to relax into an ease and luxury almost more than 
feminine. Satisfied with the abundance of wealth which he 
derived from the bounty of Augustus, and content with hav- 
ing the power to bestow honors and offices on others, he 
sought them not for himself, and to the end of his life he re- 
mained a simple member of the equestrian order in which he 
had been born. It does not appear, that, like Agrippa, he 
devoted his wealth to the improvement or ornament of the 
city ; but he was the patron, and in some cases the benefac- 
tor, of men of letters ; and while the poetry of Virgil and 
Horace shall be read, (and when shall it not?) the name of 
Maecenas will be pronounced with honor by thousands to 
whom that of the nobler Agrippa will be comparatively un- 
known. Such is the power of literature to confer everlast- 
ing renown ! 

This was in effect the most splendid period of Rome's 
literary history. Though we cannot concede that literary 
genius is the creation of political circumstances, yet we may 
observe that it usually appears synchronously with great po- 
litical events. It was during the Persian and Peloponnesian 
wars, that the everlasting monuments of the Grecian muse 

• ^wet. Ckud'. 1, Tac. Ann. i. 33. f Suet. Tib. 50. 

■ t Suet. Claud. 1. Tac. Ann. ii. 82. 
2* c 



1 y AUGUSTUS. [b. C 8 

were produced ; and it was while the fierce wars excited by 
religion agitated modern Europe, that the most noble works 
of poetic genius appeared in Italy, Spain, and England. So 
also the first band of Roman poets were coexistent with the 
Punic wars, and the second and more glorious, though per- 
haps less vigorous, display of Italian genius rose amid the ca- 
lamities of the civil wars. 

The first of these poets in name, as in genius, is P. Vir- 
gilius Maro, who was born at Andes, a village near Mantua, 
in 684, and died at Brundisium, in 7'<io. Residing in the 
country, and fond of rural life, his first poetic essays were 
pastorals in the manner of Theocritus. In this attempt, how- 
ever, his success was not eminent ; for though his verse is 
sweet and harmonious, and his descriptions are lovely, he at- 
tains not to the nature and simplicity of his Grecian master. 
He next wrote his Georgics, a didactic poem on agriculture ; 
and here his success was beyond doubt ; for it is the most 
perfect piece of didactic poetry that the world possesses. He 
then made the daring attempt of competing with Homer in 
the fields of epic poetry ; and though the yEneis is inferior in 
fire and spirit to the Ilias, and possesses not the romance and 
the domestic charms of the Odyssey, and as an epic must even 
perh;ips yield to the Jerusalem Delivered of modern Italy, it 
is a poem of a very high order, and one which will never 
cease to yield delight to the cultivated mind. In thus select- 
ing Roman subjects, Virgil proved his superior judgment ; 
and he assumed the place which had been occupied by En- 
nius, and became the national poet. 

Q,. Iloratius Flaccus, born at Venusium in Apulia, in G80, 
is distinguished for the graceful ease, mild, philosophic spirit, 
and knowledge of men and the world,* displayed in his satires 
and epistles. He had also the merit of transferring the lyric 
measures of Alc;eus, Sappho, and other Grecian poets, ,to the 
Latin language. His odes of a gay and lively, or of a bland, 
philosophic tone, are inimitable; in those of a higher flight 
1)6 has less success, and the appearance of effort may at times 
be discerned. Horace died in 746, in the same year with his 
friend and patron Msecenas. 



Omne vafer vifmm ridenti Flacciis smico 
Tangit, et admissus circr.in prfficordia ludit, 
Callidus excusso populur.i suspendere naso. 

Persius, Sat. i. IIQ 



B.C. 8.] LATIN LITERATORE. W 

Albius Tibullus and Sex. Aurelius Properl ns wrote love 
elegies addressed to their courtesan-mistresses under feigited 
names, such as Neoera and Cynthia. The former approiiches 
nearer than any of the ancient poets to modern sentimental- 
ity ; the latter shows extensive mythologic learning, correct 
taste, and a degree of delicacy and purity hardly to be ex- 
pected from an. amatory poet of that age. 

Varius, Valgius, Cornelius Gallus, Plotius Tucca, Varro 
Atacinus, and a number of other poets, wrote at this period. 
They are praised by their surviving contemporaries, but their 
works have perished — a proof, perhaps, that their merit was 
not considerable. They were all imitators of the Greeks. 

P. Ovidius Naso belongs to the second period of the reign 
of Augustus, whom, he survived. He was born in 711, at 
Salmo, in the Pelignian country, and died in 771, in exile, at 
Tomi, on the Euxine. Ovid was a poet of original genius, 
which he tried on a variety of subjects. He wrote Heroic 
Epistles in the names and characters of the heroes and her- 
oines of Grecian antiquity; love elegies; a didactic poem 
called the Art of Love ; Metamorphoses ; and a poem on the 
Roman Fasti. He also composed a tragedy, named Medea, 
which was much praised by the ancient critics. Grace, ease, 
and gayety, prevail throughout the compositions of this poet; 
but he was deficient in vigor, and was too prone to trifle on 
serious subjects; and in his amatory poetry he was very far 
from imitating the delicacy of Tibullus and Propertius. Yet, 
with all his defects, he is a delightful poet. The origin of 
his exile to Tomi in 762 is a mystery which can never be un- 
veiled. He ascribes it himself to two causes, his Art of Love, 
and his having seen something which he should not see. The 
epistles written after his exile evince a spirit quite broken, 
and exhibit little trace of the poet's former powers. 

The reign of Augustus was also the period of the appear- 
ance of the eloquent and picturesque history of the Roman 
republic by T. Livius. This great historian was born at Pa- 
dua {Patavium) in 695, and he died in 771, the same year 
with Ovid. His history (of which the larger and more valu- 
able part is lost) extended from the landing of ^neas to tl e 
death of Drusus in 745. 



20 ' 1 AuousTus. [b. c. 8-6 

CHAPTER II.* 

AUGUSTUS, (continued.) 
A.u. 746-7G7. B.C. 8-A.D. 14. 

TIBERIUS. B.^NISHMENT OF JULIA. GERMAN WARS OF TI- 
BERIUS. DEFEAT OF VARUS. DEATH AND CHARACTER 

OF AUGUSTUS. FORM AND CONDITION OF THE ROMAN 

EMPIRE. 

TwENTY-oNF> ycars had now elapsed since the return of 
Augustus, victorious over Aiitonius, and his assumption of the 
sole supreme authority in the state. In that period, death 
had deprived him of his nephew, hi.s nohler .stepson, and his 
two ablest and most attached friends. His hopes now rested 
on his two arandsons and adopted sons Caius and Lucius, and 
their j)osthumous brother, named Agrippa after their father; 
on Tiberius, and on the children of Drusus, 

Caius was now (746) in his thirteenth year ; his brother 
was three years younger. As they grew up, the characters 
which they displayed were such as caused pain to tlieir 
grandfather. They were in fact porphi/rogeniti, (the first 
that Rome had seen,t) and therefore were spoiled by public 
and private flattery, and displayed insolence and presumption 
in their conduct. Though Augustus was fully aware of the 
defects in the character of Tiberius, he could not avoid ;is- 
sigiiing him the place in the state for which his age, and his 
abilities and experience, qualified him. He had, therefore, 
on the death of Drusus, committed to him the conduct of 
the war in Germany ; and, in 746 and the following year, the 
Roman legions were led I)y him over the Rhine, but no re- 
sistance was offered by the Germans. 'I'he next year, (748,) 
Augustus conferred on him the tribunitian power for a period 
of five years, and appointed Jiim to go to regulate Armenia, 
where affairs were now in some disorder.;}: 

Tiberius, however, had resolved on retiring for a time from 
public life. The prete.\t under which be sought permission 
from Augustus, was a satiety of honors and a longing for 

" Authorities same as for the precedinj^ chapter. 
t [That is, the first princes-born ; having been born since the aj» 
sumption of supreme authority by Augustus. — J. T. S.] 
X Zonaras, z 'K>. 



B.C. l.-A.D. 2.] TIBERIUS. 21 

quiet and repose. What he afterwards assigned as the resl 
cause was liis wish not to appear to stand in the way qf 
Caius and his brother, who were now growing up to man's 
estate.* The improper conduct of his wife^ Julia, was also 
given as a reason for his retirement, or his expectation by 
absence to increase his authority in the state in case his 
presence should be again required : it was even said that he 
was banished by Augustus for conspiring against his sons. 
It was with great difficulty that he obtained permission from 
his mother and stepfather to put his design into execution. 
We are told that, to extort it, he menaced to starve himself, 
and actually abstained from food for four days. When he 
had thus drawn from them a reluctant consent, he went down 
privately with a very ,few attendants to Ostia, and, getting 
on board a vessel, proceeded along the coast of Campania 
Hearing that Augustus was taken ill, he halted ; but, finding 
that his so doing was imputed to a design of aiming at the 
empire in case of his death, he set sail, though the weather 
was not very favorable, and proceeded on his voyage to 
Rhodes. 

He had selected this island for his retreat, having been 
pleased with its amenity and salubrity, when he visited it on 
his return from Armenia, in the year 735. He adopted a pri- 
vate mode of life, dwelling in a moderately-sized house, and 
living on terms of equality with the respectable inhabitants. 
He was visited in his retreat by all those who were going out 
as proconsuls or legates to Asia. When Caius Caesar was 
sent out to regulate the affairs of Armenia, (753,) Tiberius 
passed over to Chios to wait on him. The young man showed 
him all marks of respect as his stepbrother and elder; but 
the insinuations of M. Loll ins, whom Augustus had given 
him as a director, soon alienated his mind from Tiberius. 

The period of his tribunitian power being now expired, 
Tiberius sought permission to return to Rome, avowing that 
his motive for quitting it had been the wish to avoid the sus- 
picion of emulation with Caius and Lucius. As they were 
now grown up, and were able to maintain their station as the 
second persons in the state, his absence was no longer requi- 
site, and he wished to be permitted to revisit his friends arid 
relatives. He, however, received a positive refusal ; and all 
his mother could obtain was his being named a legate, in 
order to cover his disgrace. He remained at Rhodes two 
years longer, when Caius, without whose apvprobation Augus- 

• Suet. Tib. 10. Yell. fat. ii.. 99. 



22 AUGUSTUS. [a.d. 2-5 

tus had determined to do nothing in his case, having quar- 
relled with Loliius, gave his consent to his recall. He was 
therefore permitted to return, but on the express condition 
of abstaining from public affairs, (755.) 

During the absence of Tiberius from Rome, the dissolute 
conduct of his wife, Julia, after having long been generally 
known, had at length (75'2) reached the ears of her father. 
Julia had been unchaste even when the wife of the excellent 
Agrippa ; some of the noblest men of Rome were among her 
paramours ; atid she had at length become .so devoid of 
shame and i)rudence as to carouse and revel openly at night 
in the Forum, and even on the Rostra. Augustus had al- 
ready had a suspicion that her mode of life was not quite cor- 
rect; when now convinced of the full extent of her depravity, 
his anger knew no bounds. He coinmuiiicated his domestic 
misfortune to the senate; he banished his dissolute daughter 
to the isle of Pandateria, on the coast of Campania, whither 
she was accompanied by her mother, Scribonia. He forbade 
her there the use of wine and of all delicacies in food or 
dress, and prohibited any person to visit her without his special 
permission. He caused a bill of divorce to l)e sent her in the 
name of her husband, Tiberius, of who.se letters of interces- 
sion for her he took no heed. He constantly rejected all 
the solicitations of the people for her recall ; and, when one 
time they were extremely urgent, he openly prayed that they 
might have wives and daughters like her.* At length, after 
a period of five years, he allowed her to remove to the town 
of Rhegium, on the continent, and made her treatment some- 
what milder. 

Among the adulterers of Julia was Julus Antonius, the son 
of the triumvir by Fulvia.t Augustus had treated him with 
the greatest kindness ; he had given liim in marriage the 
daughter of his sister Octavia, and had conferred on him all 
the honors and dignities of the state. His ingratitude was 
therefore without excuse, and he expiated his olFence by a 
voluntary death.f Of the rest, such as Sempronius Grac- 
chus, Quinctius Crispinus, and Appius .Claudius, some were 
executed and others banished. 

• Iler freedwoman and confidant Phoebe having hung herself when 
tlip discovery, was made, Augustus declared that lie woiild sooner have 
been the fallifr of Phoebe than of Julia. 

t It was to him that Horace addressed the second ode of tJie 4th book 
of his Odes, probably in the year 739. 

t Veil. Pat. ii. 100. 



A. D. 6.] GERMAN WARS. 23 

It was in his family and his domestic relations that Augus- 
tus was destined to feel the adverse strokes of fortune. In 
755, his grandson Lucius fell sick on his way to Spain, and 
died at Massalia; and, eighteen months later, (757,"* Caius 
breathed his last in Lycia, as he was on his return to Italy. 
Augustus had now only one grandson remaining, the posthu- 
mous child of Agrippa, of the same name with his father. 
He therefore adopted him and Tiberius on the same day, 
saying with regard to the latter, " This I do for the sake of 
the republic." He at the same time made Tiberius adopt j J 

Germanicus, the eldest son of his brother Drusus, although | I 

he had a son of his own by his first wife, also named Drusus. | f 

Tiberius was invested with the tribunitian power for \ \ 

another period of five years, and was immediately despatched ] [ 

to assume the conduct of the German war^ which had been \ \ 

going on for the last three years.* In his first campaign, he 1 i 

passed the Weser, and, having kept the field till the month I i 

of December, he placed his troops in winter quarters at the j | 

head of the Lippe, and returned himself to Rome. In the T | 

following campaign, (7.58,) having received the submission | f 

of the Chaucans and broken the power of the Lansobards. i l 

who were regarded as the fiercest of the German tribes, he i; | 

advanced to the banks of the Elbe; while his fleet, havinsf ti I 

safely circumnavigated the coast from the mouth of the ^ i 

Rhine to that of the Elbe, joined the land army in this river, 
and aided its operations. 

The plan of the campaign for the ensuing year (759) was 
a very extensive one. The people named Marcomans had 
quitted their original seats, and occupied the country named 
Bohemum, {Bohrmia,) which lay in the heart of the great 
Hercynian forest. Their prince, named Maroboduus, was 1 1 

one of those men of superior talent, who have so often, among (■ 5 

barbarous tribes, evinced the power of mental over corporeal f | 

qualities. He had established an undisputed authority over I; | 

his own nation, and reduced all his neighbors to submission | I 

by arms or by persuasion. He maintained a disciplined army | | 

of 70,000 foot and 4000 horse ; and, as his southern frontier | I 

was little more than two hundred miles from the Alps, it was \ I 

in his power suddenly to pour a large army even into Italy; | | 

and he was always ready to support revolt in the German | 5 

or Illyrian provinces. Tiberius, a far-seeing statesman, re- l 

solved to anticipate the danger, and prepared to make a com- 
bined attack on the Marcoman prince. He therefore sent 



Veil. Pat. ii. 104. 



I 



24 



AUGUSTUS. 



[a. d. 6-9. 



orders to C. Sentius Saturninus to invade Bohemia in the 
north from the country of the Cattans, while he himself 
should enter it from the south with the army of lllyricum, 
which he had assembled, ,(of. the purpose at Carnuntum, in 
Noricum. 

But this extensive plan was frustrated by a formidable in- 
surrection of the Dalmatians ; for this people, who vU bore 
the weight of tribute imposed on them by the Romans, when 
they saw the troops that were in their country drawn away 
for the German war, and at the same time, in consequence 
of orders given them to prepare an auxiliary force, became 
aware of their own numbers and strength, at the impulsion 
of a Dalmatian named Balo, resolved to assert tlieir inde- 
pendence. The Breucans, a Pannonian tribe, led by another 
Bato, joined them, and speedily all Pannonia shared in the 
revolt. 

We should only weary the reader were we to enter into 
the details of this war, which hi.sted for the space of three 
years, employe<l fifteen legions and an equal number of aux- 
iliaries, and was regarded as the most dangerous foreign war 
tlvat had occurred since the days of Hannibal ; for the seat 
of it was the confine of Italy ; so that Augustus declared 
openly in the senate, that, if proper measures were not adopt- 
ed, the enemy might come within view of the city on the 
tenth day. The Pannonians^were also remarkably fanjiliur 
with the language, arts, and knowledge of the Romans. The 
forces of the confederates were estimated at 200,000 foot 
and 9000 horse, under able and active leaders. In order to 
raise a force sufficient for the war, Augustus was obliged to 
call out all the veterans, to employ freedmeu as soldiers, and 
to purchase for this purpose able-bodied slaves from their 
masters and mistresses. To add to his difficulties, Rome 
was at this time suffering severely from famine. 

In the conduct of the war, Tiberius certainly proved him- 
self to be an able general, and his adopted son Germanicus, 
to whom Augustus had given a command, laid the founda- 
tion of his future fame. The success of the war was com- 
plete, the whole country, from the Adriatic to the Danube, 
and from Noricum to Thrace and Macedonia, being reduced 
to comj>|ete submission, (702.)* 

"■ When Bnto surrpndprpd and appeared before the tribunal of Tibe- 
rius, tlie latter asked him why they had revolted. " Yourselves," re- 
plied lie, "axe Uie cause, for you seud to yonr flocks, wolves, and nol 
4og8 or he-'smen. ' Dion, Iv. 33;lvi. U>. 



A.D. 9.] VARUS. 3S 

This dangerous war was hardly brought to a close, when 
intelligence arrived of a dreadful disnster which had be- 
fallen the Roman arms in Germany. Since the reduction 
of a part of the country beyond the Rhine, a military force 
had been maintained in it, and some forts were erected ; the 

Germans were gradually adopting Roman manners, and ac- j 

customing themselves to Roman institutions. Had they been ? 

prudently managed, they might have been civilized and made \ 

useful subjects; but the present commander in Germany, P. *> 

Q,uinctilius Varus, who had been governor of Syria, and was j 

therefore in the habit of meeting with a prompt obedience < 

to all his commands, forgetting the difference between un- I 

warlike Syrians and barbarous Germans, began to treat them | 

with rigor, and to impose heavy taxes. Their native spirit I 
was roused, and they secretly formed a plan for delivering • 

themselves from the foreign yoke. Their principal leader was J 

Arminius, [Hermann,) son of Sigimer, a Cheruscan prince I 

who had long served with the Roman armies, and had ob- l 

tained the freedom of the city and the equestrian rank. The ] 

plan adopted being to lull Varus into security, they made a f 

show of yielding the most cheerful obedience to all his com- | 

niands, and thus induce*! him to quit the Rhine, and advance \ 

tOAvard the Weser. Sigimer and Arminius were continually i 

with him ; and so completely had they won his confidence, t 

that when Segestes, prince of the Chattans, had given him \ 

information of the plot, and advised him to seize himself | 

Arminius and the other leaders. Varus refused to believe | 

in it. I 

When all the necessary preparations had been made, some \ 

of the more distant tribes were directed to take up arms, in | 

order that Varus might be attacked with more advantage \ 

when on his march to reduce them. Arminius and the ij 

others remained behind, under the pretext of raising troops | 

with which they were to join him ; and, as soon as he was | 

gone, they fell on and slaughtered the various detachments, | 

which, at their own particular desire, he had stationed in ? 

their country; then, collecting a large force, they followed j 

and came up with the legions when in a place suited to their t 

purpose. \ 

The Roman army, consisting of three legions, with their \ 

requisite cavalry and auxiliaries, in all of upwards of 24,000 j; 

men, accompanied by women and children, by wagons and \ 

beasts of burden, was advancing without regular order, as i 

in 1 friendly country. They had reached a place surround I 

CONTIN. 3 D I 



26 AUGUSTUS. [a.d. 10-12. 

ed by hills, and covered with marshes, and with trees, which 
they were obliged to cut down in order to effect a passage. 
The weather was tempestuous, and, in the midst of the wind 
and rain, while they were floundering in the mire, and im- 
peded by the standing stumps and fallen trunks of the trees, 
they found themselves assailed on all sides by the Germans. 
After suffering much from their desultory assaults, they 
seized a dry spot, where they encamped for the night, having 
burnt or abandoned the greater part of their baggage. Ne.xt 
day they attempted to march through the woods; but the 
wind and rain still continued, and the persevering enemy 
gave them no rest. At length Varus and his principal 
officers, seeing no chance of escape, rather than be taken or 
slain by the barbarians, terminated their lives with their own 
hands. The soldiers now lost all courage : some imitated 
j the act of their- officers, others ceased to resist, and suffered 

I themselves to be slain or taken ; and, had not the barbarians 

i fallen to plunder, not a man had escaped captivity or death. 

fc The legate Numonius Vala* broke away with the greater 

J part of the horse, and made for the Rhine. 

iWhen intelligence of this calamity arrived at Rome, the 
consternation which prevailed was extreme. Suioe the days 
, of Crassus, no such misfortune had befallen the Roman 

I arms. It was feared that the victorious Germans would in- 

vade Gaul, and even push on for Italy and Rome itself, and 
there was no army of either citizens or allies on foot to re- 

\ sist them. Augustus shared in the general alarm. He rent 

his raiment in grief; he vowed (what had only been done 
in the Cin>bric and Marsic wars) great games to Jupiter 
Optimus Maximus, if the state should return to a safer con- 
dition;! he doubled the guards in the city, and prolonged 
the command of the governors of the provinces. Finding 
that t»one of the men of the military age came forward to 
enroll themselves, he made them cast lots: and of those 
under five-and-thirty every fifth, of those over that age every 
tenth man, was to lose his property and to be infamous. 
Yet so degenerate were the Romans become, that even this 

* This is probably the person to whom the fifteenth epistle of the 
Ist book of Horace's Epistles ia addressed. 

f Any one acquainted witli the character of Augustus will not 
easily believe, that, accordinir to the re-port (ferunt) mentioned by 
Suetonius, (Oct. 2:^) and Dion, (Ivi. 2;J,) he let his hair and beard grot* 
for several months, ai>d used to dash his head agaivcst tlie doors, 
crying-, ■' Quinctilins Varus, give back ll)e loirions " Auarustua, we 
may observe, was at this time upwards of Seventy years of age. 



'' 2 



K.V. 13, 14.] LAST ILLNESS OF AUGUSTUS. 23' 

severe measure failed to fill the ranks, and Augustus founa 
it necessary to put somo of ihem to death. He finally took 
the veterans by lot, and as many freedmen ^s he could col- 
lect, and, having thus formed an army, he sent Tiberius in 
all haste with it to Germany. At the same time, he ordered 
all the Gauls and Germans at Rome to quit the city, and he 
removed his German g.uards to some of the islands off the 
coast, lest they should revolt.* Tiberius led his array over 
the Rhine, (763,) but met with no enemies. In the follow- 
ing year, he and Germanicus again appeared in Germany, 
but, as before, no opportunity was given for fighting. la 
765, Tiberius, with the permission of Augustus, triumphed 
in the usual manner for the Pannonian war. 

The domestic events of late years had not been numerous. | j 

Augustus still was doomed to suffer in his own family. His | j 

granddaughter Julia, whom he had married to L. yEmilius 
Paul us, imitated the profligacy of her mother, and he found | \ 

it necessary to banish her. Her brother, the young Agrippa, 
proved of so violent and dangerous a temper, that Augustus, 
having at first renounced him ^nd placed him in retirement 
at Surrentum, at length, finding him growing worse every 
day, had him removed to the isle of Planesia, near Corsica, 
and a guard of soldiers set over him. 

The life of Augustus still continued to be menaced by 
conspiracies. In 757, one was discovered, in which the 
person chiefly concerned was L. Cornelius Cinna, the 
grandson of Pompeius Magnus, and of the dictator Sulla. 
Augustus was long in doubt how to. act, for experience had 
shown him that the execution of those engaged in one plot 
did not prevent the formation of another. He was finally 
induced by the arguments of his wife, Livia, to try the effects 
of lenity. He called the conspirators before him, and, after 
remonstrating with them, pardoned and dismissed them ; and 
he even made Cinna consul for the following year. The 
effect of such generosity on the minds of them and others 
was such, that no plots were formed against him during the 
remaining years of his life.t 

* He had had Spanish guards till after the battle of Actiam : be 
theil employed Germans. Suet. Oct. 49. 

t Dion, Iv. 14—22. Seneca de Clem. i. 9. Suetonius (Oct. 19) 
mentions various persons who had conspired against Augustus, but 
without giving the dates of their attempts. Snch were those of M. 
Egnatius Rufus, (see Dion, liii. 24,) of Plautius Ruf'is, and L. Pauius, 
of Asinius, and of .Audasius, a forger, Epicadius, a Parthinian hybrid, 



The year after the triuitiph of Tiberius, Augustus- received 
the supreme power for a fifth period of ten years. He thetj 
invested Tiberius anew witli the tribunitian power, and lie 
took a census of the people for the third time. In the fol- 
lowing year, (767,) having sent Gerinanicus to command in 
Germany, he proposed sending Tiberius to regulate the 
affairs of lUyricum, intending to dismiss him at Beneventum, 
after ihey should have assisted at the gymnic games, cele- 
brated every fifth year in his honor by the people of Neapo- 
lis. He proceeded by land as far as Astura, and, contrary 
to hi.s usual habit, he left that place in his litter by night for 
the sake of the cool air. He was, in consequence, attacked 
by a complaint in his bowels; but he did not heed it. He 
went on shipboard, and sailed leisurely along the coast of 
Campania. He spent four days in the isle of Caprese, passfed 
then over to Neapolis, and viewed the games. He thence 
proceeded to Beneventum, where he dismissed Tiberius, and 
»hen returned to Nola, growing every day worse and worse. 
Messengers were sent to recall Tiberius, with whom he is 
said to have held a long private conference, after which he 
ispoke no more of public affairs.* On the day of his death, 
he called for a mirror, and had his hair arranged and his 
cheeks plumped out. He asked those present if they 
thought that he had played his part well in the drama of 
life, adding the formula in which actors at the conclusion 
besought the applause of the audience. He then dismissed 
them ; and, as he was intjuiring, of some who were just 
come from Rome, after the health of one of Drusus's daugh- 
ters who was sick, he breathed his last in the artns of Livia, 
saying, " Livia, live mindful of our marriage, and fare- 
well !" t The chamber in which he expired, it may be ol>- 

nnd of Tclephus, a slave. It was the plan of Audasius and Epicadius 
to rt'ltase Julia and Agrippa, and take them Uj the armies, and to 
attack Augustus and the senate. 

* Veil. Pat. ii. 123. Suet. Oct. !H Tib. 21. Dion (Ivi. 31) savs 
that the more general and credible account was, that he died before the 
arrival of Tiberius, but that Livia kept liis death secret. Tacitus 
(Ann. i. 5) leaves the matter uncertain. 

\ bivia yvss accused of poisoning him (Dio t, Ivi. 30; Tac. Ann. i. 
5) by means of some fresh figg whi«h he gathered with his own hand 
off the tree, but which she had previously anoioted. This, by Uie 
way, was odd diet for a man with a bowel complaint. TJie reason 
assigned was, that Augustus had some months before gone secretly tc 
I'Unesia to see Agrippa. We consider charges of this nature to be 
entitled to little credit. 



CHARACTER OF AUGUSTUS. V9 

served, was that in which his father had died seventy-two 
years before. ,'",'' 

Augustus died on the aftertioon of the 19th of August 
He wanted little more than a month of completing his 
seventy-sixth year. Computing from the battle of Actium, 
he had exercised the supreme authority in the Roman 
world for a space of forty-four years.* In person Augus- 
tus was below the middle size; his countenance was at all 
times remarkably serene and tranquil, and his eyes had a 
peculiar brilliancy. He was careless of his appearance, and 
plain and simple in his mode of living, using only the most 
ordinary food, and wearing no clothes but what were woven 
and made by his wife, sister, and daughters. In all his do- 
mestic relations he was kind and affectionate; he was a mild 
and indulgent master, and an attached and constant friend. 
He was fond of witnessing the sports of the Circus and 
other public shows, though it may be that he only sought 
thus to increase his popularity. He also took pleasure in 
'playing at dice, but not for gain, as he did not exact his 
winnings. The heaviest charge made against him is his in- 
continence ; but, as we have above observed, this is evident- 
ly greatly exaggerated. 

' In his public character, as the sovereign of the Roman 
empire, few princes will be found more deserving of praise 
than Augustus. He cannot be justly charged with a single 
cruel, or even harsh action, in the course of a period of 
forty-four years. On the contrary, he seems in every act to 
have had the welfare of the people at heart. In return, 
never was prince more entirely beloved by all orders of his 
subjects ; and the title, Father of his Country, so spontane- 
ously bestowed on him, is but one among many proofs of 
the sincerity of their affection. 

Nothing, however, is more common with modern writers, 
than to treat Augustus as a tyrant t who had destroyed lib- 

* Exactly 44 years minus 14 days. The reiffn of Augustus is alsc 
compuled by some from the death of CiEsar in 710, = 57-" 5'" 4'' ; by 
others from his first consulate in 71'], t= 50^ ; or from the triumvirkte 
in 712, = G.V 8'" 2'-V ; or. finally, from his entrance into Alexandria in 
724, = 43.V 10'. See Clinton ad A. D. 14. 

t Montesquieu (Considerations, «fec. cli. 13) terms him a rus6 tyran- 
In a note he says tiiat he uses the word tyran in its Greek and Ltitin 
sense, signifying one who had overturned a democracy. The employ, 
ment of the term, when thus explained, is not very objectionable. 
Gibbon (ch. iii.) calls Augustus a crafty tyrant, without any limitation 
of the term. 

3* 



30 AUGUSTUS. 

erty, and had raised his own power on the servitude of his 
country. But liberty had vanished from Rome long before 
his time, and surely no friend of mankind would prefer the 
preceding anarchy to the peace and tranquillity which ha 
introduced and maintained. It was the evil destiny of 
Rome, not the fault of Augustus, that his successors did 
not resemble himself; it was necessity, not choice, that 
made him raise Tiberius to the second place in the state 
and his evident desire that his own place sliould b^ filled by 
the noble Agrippa, vouches for his love of his country. In 
fine, we recognize in Augustus a man of consummate pru- 
dence,* and of a temperament naturally mild and moderate, 
raised by the force of circumstances to supreme power, and 
exercisiu:: it for the advantage of those over whom he ruled. 

The Roman empire, as modelled by Augustps, presented 
the following appearance: — 

Augustus himself was at its head, but not in the manner 
of emperors and kings of ancient or modern times. He was 
surroundetl by no pomp ; no guards attended him ; no offi« 
cers of the household were to be seen in his modest dwell- 
iijg ; he lived on terms of familiarity with his friends; he 
appeared, like any other citizen, as a witness in courts of 
justice, and in llie senate gave his vole as an ordinary mem- 
ber. His power arose from the union in his person of all 
the high an<l important offices of the state. As High Pon- 
tiff, he had the greate.^t authority in affairs of religion, and 
as Censor, the right to regulate the morals of all orders of 
the people. By possessing the consular power for life, he 
enjoyed the supreme authority, civil, judicial, and military; 
and the tribunitian power, with which he was also invested, 
being in its nature the constitutional check on that of the 
consuls, his authority was thus without legal control. His 
titles were, First of the Senate, {Princrps Sinatus,i) which 
was his favorite one; Augustus and General, {Imperator :) 
that of Master, (Domlmi.-^,) when offiered to him, he always 
rejected with indignation. CfEsar was merely his family 
name. 

It may have been that Augustus saw the importance of a 
respectable aristocracy in a monarchy ; but it is more prob- 

* As a general, too, he was extremely cautious. A battle, he said, 
should never be fought, unless the hope of advantage was visibly 
greater than tiie fear of loss. The contrary conduct he compared to 
that of a man who should angle with gold hooks. Suet. Oct. 25. 

t Hence the P'odern term prince. 



SENATE AND PEOPLE. 81 

uble that he was under the influence of the love of con- 
servation of ancient institutions, so strong in the character 
of every Roman. At all events, he knew that, if a senate 
was to remain a part of the constitution, it was necessary 
that its members should possess both character and property. 
Hence, as we have seen, he twice purged the senate,* and, 
though he did not reduce it as low as he designed, he 
brought it down to little more than one half of its number 
at the time when he obtained the sole power, and he raised 
the qualification for a seat in the house to 1200 sestertia.t 
He required the senate to meet only on the Kalends and Idea 
of each month, and he excused their attendance entirely in 
the sickly months of September and October, excepting a 
committee chosen- by lot, in order to make the requisite de- 
crees. To give greater solemnity to their acts, he directed 
that each member, before taking his place, should offer wine 
and incense on the altar of the deity in whose temple the 
senate sat. The first row of seats at every public show was 
ordered to be reserved for the senators. Their sons were also 
allowed to wear the laticlavc, or senatorian dress, and to be 
present at the sittings of the senate; and when they entered 
the army, they were made at once, not merely tribunes of the 
legions, but colonels of horse, (prtefecti alarum.) The sena- 
torian order thus assumed the form of a body of nobility, in 
the modern sense of the term ; the senate formed a council 
of state, a high court of justice, and a legislative assembly, 
in some points resembling the British house of lords, m 
others the French chamber of peers. In order to give a 
share of the honors and emoluments of the state to as many 
of the two higher orders as possible, he devised a great num- 
ber of new offices; he increased the number of the praetors, 
and he introduced the practice of making sufftct consuls, 
i. e. consuls in addition to the ordinary ones of the year. | 
The populace at Rome, in consequence of the civil wars, 

* He made a trifling purgation in 757, (Dion, Iv. 13.) Perhaps this 
was tile occasion of the conspiracy of Cinna in that year. When se- 
lecting the senate in 736, he wore, it was said, his sword, and had a 
corselet under his tunic, and ten of the most able-bodied of his friends 
stood round his seat, and, according to Cremutius Cordus, no senator 
was admitted until he had been searched, (Suet. 35.) At this time 
many plots were said to be formed against him and Agrippa. Dion, 
liv. 15. 

I Suet. Oct. 41. 

( This was afterwards carried to so great an extent, that in the reign 
of Commodus there were 25 consuls in one year. 



3Si AUGUSTUS. 

and of its degradation by the enfranchisement of numeroaa 
slaves, no longer bore a resemblance to the commonalty of 
the better days of the republic. It was factious and turbu- 
lent, and at the same time mean and servile. A body of 
disciplined troops was therefore always at hand to repress its 
excesses, and Augustus sought at the same time to keep it 
in good temper by gifts and entertainments. The greatest 
care was taken that the supply of corn from the provinces 
should be regular and abundant. In times of scarcity Au- 
gustus gave corn gratis, or at a very low price, to the peo- 
ple ; lie also frequently made distributions of money [con- 
ginria) among them ; and in the Forum, the Circus, the 
Amphitheatre, the Septa, and other public places, he enter- 
tained them with shows of all kinds. Sometimes they were 
assembled to witness llie bloody combats of gladiators, or the 
less cruel contests of wrestlers; at others they were amused 
with chariot or foot races, or the hunting and slaughter 
of wild beasts fetched from various parts of the empire — 
even the crocodiles of the Nile being brought to Rome to 
gratify the populace with the siglit of their expiring agonies. 
On one occasion, a large lake was dug in the Field of Mars, 
for the exhibition of a naval combat. At the same time, 
Augustus endeavored to purify and elevate the character of 
the people of Rome, by throwing difficulties in the way of 
inanumission, and by granting citizenship very sparingly to 
strangers.* 

To adorn and improve the city was another great object 
with Augrustus, and he effected so much by his own exer- 
tions and the co()peration of his friends, that when dying he 
could boast that he had found the city built of brick, and 
left it built of marble. t Thus he built (726) a temple of 
Apollo on the Palatine, with a portico and a library, and a 
temple of Jupiter Tonans on the capitol. He also made a 
new Forum with a temple in it of Mars Ultor. Others of 
his works bore the names of his wife and the other members 
of his family. Such were the portico of Livia and that of 
Octavia, the theatre of Marcellus, and the portico and basili- 

*• Suet. Oct. 40. [Tlip idea of" purifying and elevating tfielr cliar- 
actPT " l>y such exclusive and ungenerous means as these, while their 
lowest propensities were daily fed and nourished by brutal combats 
Buch as have bf-en named, savors BOinewhat of a satire on all that ia 
truly pure, and lofty, and noble, in the character of a people. — J. T. S.J 

t /(/. ill. 2S. Dion, Ivi. 30. [This was a somewhat more effectual 
nwans of elevating their character. It was, at any rate, refining theii 
taste, which is a great step towards elevating character. — J. T. S.] 



i 



IMPROVEMENTS OF THE CITY. 38^ 

ca of Caius and Lucius. Tiberius built the temples of Con- 
cord and of Castor and Pollux; Marcius Philippus that of 
Hercules of the Muses; Miinatius Plancus that of Saturn; 
L. Cornificius that of Diana. Asinius Pollio built the hall 
or court [atrium) of Liberty, and Statilius Taurus a mag- 
nificent amphitheatre. The works of Agrippa have been 
already enumerated. 

To secure the city against inundations, Augustus cleared 
out and widened the bed of the Tiber. He first divided the 
city into wards or quarters, {ngioncs,) fourteen in number, 
and subdivided into streets, (vici,) with officers over them, 
chosen out of the inhabitants by lot. He established a body 
of watchmen and firemen to prevent the conflagrations whicl: 
were so frequent. He caused all the great public roads to 
be repaired and kept in order. As the confusion and license 
of the civil wars had, as is usually the case, given origin to 
illegal associations, and to the formation of bands of rob- 
bers, (grassatorcs,) he took every care to suppress them. He 
therefore, as his uncle had done, dissolved all guilds but the 
ancient ones, and he disposed guards in proper stations for 
the prevention of highway robbery. He caused all the slave- 
houses (crgastula) throughout Italy to be visited and exam- 
ined, it having been the practice to kidnap travellers, (free- 
men and slaves alike,) and shut them up and make them work 
in these prisons. In order to facilitate the administration 
of justice, he added upwards of thirty days to the ordinary 
court-days, and he increased the number of the decuries of 
jurors, and reduced the legal age of jurymen from five-and- 
twenty to twenty years. He himself sat constantly to hear 
causes and administer justice. 

Every wise sovereign will be desirous to see a proper 
sense of religion prevalent among his subjects. Augustus 
accordingly turned his serious attention to this important 
subject. He rebuilt or repaired the temples which had been 
burnt or had fallen ; he reestablished and reformed various 
ancient institutions which had gone out of use, such as the 
augury of health, the jlamcn dialis, the secular games, the 
Lupercal rites, &;c. He increased the number and the hon- 
ors and privileges of the priesthoods, particularly that of the 
Vestal Virgins; he caused all the soothsaying books which 
were current, to the number of upwards of two thousand, to 
be collected and burnt, only retaining the Sibylline oracles,* 

* [For an excellent account of the Sibylline oraeles, see Prideaux's 
Connection of the Old and New Testament, under the year 13. — J. T S.] 



34 AUGUSTUS. 

which he had carefully revised and placed in two c::ses undei 
the statue of the Palatine Apollo. His efforts, however, re- 
mained without effect; infidelity and its constuut concomi- 
tant, immorality, were spread too widely for him or any 
human legislator to be able to check them, and the polythe- 
ism of Greece and Rome was destined to fall before a far 
purer system of faith and doctrine. 

We have already spoken of the exertions made by Augus- 
tus to overcome the prevalent aversion to marriage. The 
principal cause of this was the extreme dissoluteness of man- 
ners at the time, exceeding any thing known in modern days; 
but poverty prevented many a man of noble birtli from un- 
dertaking the charge of supporting a wife and family, and 
the court which was paid by greedy legacy-hunters to the 
rich and childless* had charms for many of both sexes. The 
promotion of marriage had always been an object of attention 
witli the Roman government. One of the questions invaria- 
bly put to each person by the censors was, whether he was 
married or not; and there was a fine, named iixoriuin, laid on 
old Inchelors. C.tsar the dictator had sought to encourage 
marriage bv offering rewards; but the first law on tiie sul)- 
ject was the Julian De inaritundis ordinibui of 7!iG, and, this 
hiving [)roved ineffectual, a new and more comprehensive 
law, embracing all the provisions of the Julian, and named 
the " Papia-Popprean," (from the consuls M. Papius and Ci. 
Poppieus,) was passed in the year 7(52. t 

The principal heads of this law were, 1. All persons ex- 
cept senators might marry freedwomen. 2. No maiden was 
to be betrothed under the age often years. 3. Widows were 
allowed to remain single two years, divorced women a year 
and a half, before contracting a second marriage. 4. Those 
who had children were to have various honors and advan- 
tages, such as better seats at the public spectacles, the pref- 
erence when candidates for honors and in the allotment of 
tlie |)rovinces, immunity from guardianship and other per- 
sonal burdens, etc. etc. 5. Bachelors could receive no 
legacies except from their nearest relations, and the child- 
less only the half of what was left them. C. A woman whose 
guilt was the cause of a divorce was to lose her dower. 

The evil, however, was too deeply seated to be eradicated 
by law, and it still remained a subject of comp.aint. Of aa 

* See Horace, Sat. ii. 5. 

t See Dion, Ivi. 1 — 10- He remarks that neither of the coniuls iiad 
trife or child. 



THE ARMV. 99 

iittle avail was the sumptuary law which he caused to be 
enacted ; he even failed in his desire to bring the toga again 
into general use.* 

Such were the principal civil regulations made during the 
reign of Augustus. The changes in the military system were 
also considerable. 

In Rome, as in all the ancient republics, the army had 
been nothing more than a burgher militia, in which every 
freeman of the military age was required to serve when called 
on. The long foreign wars, however, in which Rome was 
afterwards engaged, gradually converted the original militia 
into a standing army, and war became a profession, as in 
modern times. The character of the soldier had also deteri- 
orated since the change in the mode of enlistment made by 
C. Marius; and the Roman soldiery, further demoralized by 
the various civil wars, stood no higher in moral worth than 
the mercenary troops of modern Europe. The extent of the 
Roman empire, with warlike nations «n its frontiers, could 
only be guarded by a regular standing army, disciplined and 
always in readiness to take the field. Accordingly, in the 
speech which Dion ascribes to Majcenas, we find that states- 
man thus advising Augustus : t " The soldiers must be kept 
up, immortal, citizens, subjects, and allies, in some places 
more, in some less, through each nation as need may require, 
and be always in arms, and always engaged in military exer- 
cises ; having their winter quarters in the most suitable 
places, and serving for a limited period, so as to have some 
part of their life to themselves before old age. For, living so 
far away from the frontiers of the empire, and having ene- 
mies dwelling on every side of us, we could not have troops 
ready for any sudden emergency ; but if we allow all who 
are of the suitable age, to possess arms and to practise mili- 
tary exercises, they will be always raising factions and civil 
wars ; and again, if we prohibit them to do so, and then call 
upon them to serve on any occasion, we shall run the risk 
of having none but raw and undisciplined troops. I there- 

* The larcnui, a kind of military great-coat of a dark color and with 
a hood to il, was jrenerally worn instead of the toga. Auorustus ono 
day seeing, as he sat on his tribunal in the Forum, a number of the 
people thus habited, cried out in indignation : ♦' En 

Romanes rerum dominos, gentemque togatam,'' 

and gave orders to the Bcdiles henceforth not to ac'niit any one without 
a. toga into the ForUin or Circus. Suet. Oct. 40. 
t Difli, lii. 27. 



36 AUGUSTUS. 

fore give it as my opinion that all the rest should live witU 
out arms or camps, while the most able-bodied and neces- 
sitous should be selected and disciplined ; for these will 
fight the better, having nothing else to occupy them ; and 
the others can devote themselves more entirely to agricul- 
ture, navigation, and tlie other arts of peace, not being called 
on to serve personally, and having others to protect them ; 
Hiid thqt portion of the population which is the strongest and 
most vigorous, and the most likely to live by robbery, will 
be supported at its ease, and all the rest will live free from' 
danger." 

It was therefore determined that the legions should be 
immortal, i. e. that the army should henceforth be a stand- 
ing one. The legions were to be twenty-five in number, 
which we fnul thus stationed at the time of Augustus's' 
death:* — On the Rhenish frontier eight ; in Spain three; 
in Africa one ; in Egypt two; in Syria four; in Pannonia 
three; in Mcesia two, and two more in D.ilmatia for the 
protection of Italy. Attached to each of these divisions 
was a body of troops termed auxiliaries, furnished by the 
ditferent states subject to, or in alliance with the empire; 
and, as in the old days of the republic, their number nearly 
equalled that of the legion>;.t The legion at this time con- 
tamed (ilOO infantry and 7~G horse; the twenty-five legions, 
therefore, mustered, when complete, 170,01)0 men; to which 
adding as many more for the auxiliaries, we have a sum total 
of ;340,00() men. These, however, did not form the whole 
military force of the empire; there was a body of 10,001) 
guards, divided into nine cohorts, named Praetorian, and 
three Urban cohorts, containing 6000 men. J These two 
last bodies were always recruited in Etruria, Umbria, La- 
tium, and the ancient Roman colonies. They had double 
pay, and their period of service was shorter than that o^ the 
legionaries. Augustus allowed only three of the cohorts to 
ren.ain in the city; the rest were distributed through the 
towns io the vicinity. § There were two commanders of the 

* Dion, Iv. 23. Tac. Ann. iv. 5, It is for the ninth year of Tiberitis 
that this last furnishes us with the distribution of the legions g-iven 
in tile text; but there had been no alteration of any account since the 
jinc of Augustus. 

t " Nequc rr.ulto secus in iis virium." Tac. Ann. iv. 5. 

\ Tac. ut svpni. Dion (Iv. 24) says 10 Froetorian and 4 Urban co- 
horts. 

§ Suet. Oct. 49 ; the three would seem to be the Urban cohorts, tlius 
confirming the numbers given by Tacitus. 



THE ARMY. 37 

PrrEtorian guards named prefects ; they were always to be 
taken from the equestrian order. At Ravenna in the Up- 
per, and Misenum in the Lower Sea, were stationed fleets 
of galleys, with their due complement of rowers, and each 
with its legion of marines attached to it; there also lay 
at Forum Julii, [Frejus,) on the coast of Gaul, a fleet 
composed of the ships taken at Actium.* 

Tiie pay of the legionary soldier was ten asses a day; 
that of the praetorian was double; the former had to serve 
twenty, the latter sixteen years before he could claim his 
discharge. The former then received a gratuity of 3000, 
the latter of 5000 denars, answering to the pension of mod- 
ern times. 

The pay and rewards of so large an army, the salaries of 
the numerous public officers, and the other indispensable 
expenses of government, required a considerable revenue. 
From the time when yEmilius Paulus brought the treasures 
of Perseus to Rome, the citizens had been free from the 
payment of the annual tributes or direct taxes hitherto lev- 
ied, and so often, in the early days of the republic, the cause 
of seditions. An annual tribute was imposed on every con- 
quered state; and as the tide of conquest rolled eastwards 
and westwards, a larger amount of revenue flowed annually 
to Rome. In the time of Augustus, the annual tributes of 
Asia, Egypt, Africa, Spain, and Gaul, produced a sum which 
has been estimated at from fifteen to twenty millions ster- 
ling.t Yet even this large revenue did not suffice for the 
exigencies of the state, and Augustus found it necessary 
not merely to continue the port duties, (portoria,) or customs 
which had been imposed by the dictator, but to establish an 
excise, and to lay on some direct taxes. 

In all commercial states, at all ages of the world, duties 
have been levied on imported foreign commodities ; they 
originated, probably, in the mistaken idea, that it was on the 
foreign merchant, and not on the domestic consumer, that 
Ihey fell. They were levied at Rome as elsewhere till the 

* T;ic. Ann. iv. 5. Suet. Oct. 49. Vegetius, v. 1. 

t Gibbon, i. ch. vi. [This sum is just equal to the annual ex- 
penditure of the British government at present, though the British 
dominions are far more extensive than those of Rome in her most 
powerful days, and though that expenditure is commonly, and not 
unjustly, considered to be on a very lavish scale. How wasteful, then, 
must have been the expenditure of Rome, for which even this sum did 
not suffice!— J. T. S.j 

CONTIN. 4 



33 AUGUSTUS. 

end of the Mithridatic war, when they v vTC abolished; but 
Juliu;! Ctesar caused them to be again collected.* They 
were levied ad valorem by Augustus, and varied from twelve 
and a half to two and a half per cent.; articles of luxury, 
such as the precious stones, silks, and spices, of the East, 
being, of course, the most highly taxed. The excise was 
imposed by Augustus chiefly with the view of providing a 
fund for the payment of the troops ; it was a duty of one per 
cent, [cc.ntesima) levied on all articles, great and small, sold 
in the markets or by auction at Rouie or throughout Italy. 
This not proving suificient, he imposed (T59) a duly of five 
per cent, on all legacies and inheritances, except in the case 
of the poor, or of very near relations.t This equitable tax, 
however, proving very odious to the legacy-hunting nobility 
of Rome, in order to stop their murmurs, he sent (7CG) to 
the senate, requesting them to suggest some less onerous 
imposition to the same amount; and when they could not, 
yet declared that they would pay any thing rather than it, he 
substituted a property tax, and »ent out officers to make an 
estimate of tlie property in lands, houses, etc., throughout 
Italy This brought them to reason, and there was no fur- 
ther opposition to the legacy duty.J 

The treasury of the prince, whence the pay of the army 
was to issue, was named the Fisc, {Fiscus,) and was distinct 
from the public treasury, {^Erariitm,) and managed by dif- 
ferent officers ; but the distinction was more apparent than 
real, as both were equally at the devotion of the master of 
the legions. 

Such was the form of the Roman empire, as reduced into 
order, and regulated by the wisdom and prudence of Augus- 
tus. While the civilized world thus formed one body, ruled 
by one mijtd, it pleased the Ruler of the universe to send 
his Son into it, as the teacher of a religion unrivalled in 
sublimity, purity, and beneficence, and which was gradually 
to spread to the remotest ends of the earth. In the year of 
Rome 7o2 by the Catonian, 754 by the Varronian computa* 
tion, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Juda3a.<§ 

• Cic. Att. ii. 16. Dion, xxivii. 51. Suet. Jul. 43. 
t Dion, Iv. 25. t Dion, Ivi. US. 

§ We shall henceforth reckon by the Christian era. 



A. D. 14.] FUNERAL OF AUGUSTUS 39 

CHAPTER III.* 

TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS NERC CiESAR, 

A. V. 767—790. A. D. 14—37. 

FUNERAL OF AUGUSTUS. MUTINY OF THE LEGIONS. VICTO- 
RIES OF GERMANICUS. HIS DEATH. CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

OF TIBERIUS. RISE AND FALL OF SEJANUS. DEATH OF 

AGRIPPINA AND HER CHILDREN. DEATH OF TIBERIUS. 

The death of Augustus was kept secret by Livia and 
Tiberius till the danger of a disputed succession should be 
removed by the death of Agrippa Posthumus. Orders in the 
name of Augustus were therefore sent to the officer who had 
him in charge, to put him to death. The orders were forth- 
with executed; but when the centurion, who was the agent, 
made his report to Tiberius, according to the usual custom, 
the latter made answer that he had not ordered it, and that 
the centurion must account to the senate for it. The mat- 
ter, however, ended there, for no inquiry was ever instituted. 

When the death of Augustus was at length made known 
at Rome, the senate, the knights, the army, and the people, 
hastened to swear obedience to Tiberius, who had already 
assumed the command of the army as Imperator. The body 
of Augustus was conveyed by night from town to town by 
the decurions or councilmen of each. At Bovillae it was 
met by the Roman knights, who carried it into the city, and 
deposited it in the vestibule of his house on the Palatine. 
Tiberius, by virtue of his tribunitian authority, convoked 
the senate to consult about the funeral and the honors to be 
decreed to the deceased. These, had the real or pretended 
vvishes of the senate prevailed, would have been excessive ; 
but Tiberius set a limit to their adulation, and only con- 
sented that the senators should carry the body to the pyre. 
The will of Augustus, which was in the custody of the Ves- 
tals, was then produced and read. The funeral orations 
were pronounced by Tiberius himself and his son Drusus. 
The body was borne on the shoulders of the senate to the 
Campus Martius, and there burnt; the ashes were collected 

* Authorities: Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dion. 



'30 TIBERIUS. [a. D. 14 

by the principal men of the equestrian order, and deposited 
'■.:, the Mausoleum, which he had built in his sixth consulate, 
(72G,) between the Flaminiau to«d and the Tiber, and sur 
rounded with plantations and public walks. An eagle had 
been let to nscend from the flaming pyre, as the bearer of 
the soul of the deceased to heaven; and Numinius Atticus, 
a man of praetorian rank, swore publicly that he saw Augus- 
tus mounting to the skies ; for which falsehood Livia gratified 
"him with a gift of 25,000 denars. A Iliroum was therefore 
decreed to be raised to Augustus, as to one who had not 
shared the fate of ordinary mortals, but, like Hercules or 
Romulus, was become a god. 

By his last will, Augustus had made Tiberius and Livia 
(whom he had placed in the Julian family, and named Au- 
gusta) his heirs, the former of two thirds, the latter of one 
\ third, of the property which would remain after payment of 

i the numerous legacies which he left. He bequeathed a sum 

[ of 43,o0(), 000 sesterces to the Roman people ; to the Proe- 

I torians 1000 sesterces each; half that sum to each of the 

{ Urbans, and 300 to each of the legionaries. He also be- 

I queathed various sums to his friends. He expressly forbade 

5 either of the Julias to be laid in his monument wlien they 

\ died. Beside his will, Augustus left three pieces in writing, 

I theone containing the directions about his funeral, another 

j an account of his actions, which he directed to be cut on 

J brazen tables, and set up before his Mausoleum, and a third 

I giving a view of the condition of the whole empire, the 

\ number of soldiers under arms, the quantity of money in the 

1 treasury and fisc, or elsewhere, adding the names of the freed- 

j| men and slaves who might be called on to account for it. 

I The man into whose hands the supreme power was now 

i transferred, was in character diametrically opposite to Au- 

\ gustus. Tiberius Claudius Nero, who was by adoption a 

I member of the Julian house, was nearly fifty-four years of 

I age. He had exercised all the principal ofRces in the state, 

I Tind had commanded armies with reputation. He was fond 

\ of literature and science, and of the society of learned men ; 

I hut he had all the innate haughtiness of the Claudian family; 

I he was suspected of an inclination to cruelty ; yet ?o profound 

I »?a3 his power of dissimulation, that he had attained to that 

t mixture age without his character being generally understood.* 

I boJ >'>IU^ 

* In his first campaig-ns, the soldiers, noticing his love of wine, caHed 
him Biberius Caldius Mero. Suet. Tib. 42. 



A. D. 14.] MUTINY OF THE LEGIONS. 41 

His manners and carriage were repulsive and forbidding, 
he was generally silent, and did not unbend and decline into 

familiarity. \\ 

When all due honors had been decreed to Augustus, the } | 

senate turned to Tiberius, imploring him to assume the su- \ i 

preme power; but he feigned reluctance, spoke of the diffj- j ! 

culty of the task, and his own incompetence, saying that, in | J 

a state possessing so many illustrious men, such power should < I 

not be committed to any single person. This only caused i 

them to urge him the more ; they called on the gods and on j 

the statue of Augustus: Tiberius marked the words of each, i 

and for some incautious speakers he laid up future vengeance. \ 

At length, yielding as it were to compulsion, he accepted the j 

wretched and onerous servitude, as he termed it, until the I 

senate should see fit to grant some repose to his old age. ' 

la this affected reluctance, Tiberius, no doubt, was act- j 

ing according to his natural character of dissimulation, and | 

seeking to learn the real sentiments of the leading senators; '? 

but he had other reasons and causes of apprehension. He j 

was uncertain how the two great armies, which were stationed | 

in Pannonia and Germany, would act when they heard of |I 

the death of Augustus; and he feared lest Germanicus, who | 

commanded the latter, and who was universally beloved, | 

miglit choose to grasp the supreme power when within his | 

reach, rather than wait for it to come to him by the more |i 

tedious course of succession. He did, however, the noble | 

Germanicus injustice ; but his suspicions of the legions were | 

not unfounded, for they broke out into mutiny when intelli- s 

gence reached them of the late events. -j 

The mutin^y commenced in the Pannonian army of three s 

legions under the command of Junius BK-esus. The soldiers ] 

complained of the smallness of their pay and the length of 'i 

their service, and demanded to be placed on an equality in I 

both these points with the Praetorians. Blaesus having sue- § 

ceeded, in some measure, in calming them, they selected hia I 

own son as their deputy, to lay their grievances before Ti- '| 

berius; but when he was gone, the mutiny broke out anew, < 

and they killed one of their officers, drove the rest out of the \ 

camp, and plundered their baggage. When Tiberius heard ' 
of the mutiny, he sent off his son Drusus with a guard of the 
Prstorians, and bearing letters to the troops, in which he 
promised to lay their grievances before the senate, adding 
that Drusus was authorized to concede at once all that could 
be granted without a decree of the senate. 



42 TIBERIUS. [a d. 14. 

The sold irs received and listened to Drusus with re» 
spect ; but when they found that he had not in fact the 
power to grant any of their demands, they quitted liis tribu- 
nal in anger. The greatest apprehensions were entertained 
that they would break out into violence during the night; 
but an unexpected event altered the wiiole course of affairs. 
The moon, which was shining at the full in an unclouded 
sky, was suddenly observed to grow dim. The ignorant, 
superstitious soldiers, viewing this as ominous of their own 
condition, clashed their arms and sounded their horns and 
trumpets, to relieve the labor of the goddess of the night; 
and as she still grew darker, they gave way to despair, saying 
that the gods had declared against them, and that their toils 
were to have no end. The otiicers, who had influence with 
them, took advantage of this disposition, and went about all 
the night long reasoning with and persuading them. In the 
morning, Drusus again addressed then), and Blajsus and two 
other deputies were sent to Tiberius. Meantime Drusus 
caused some of the most mutinous to be executed. A pre- 
mature winter, with violent rain and storm, increased the 
superstitious terrors of the soldiery, and the legions gradually 
returned to their obedience without even waiting for the 
answer of Tiberius. 

The mutiny which broke out at the same time in the Ger- 
man army was still more formidable. This arn)y, consisting 
of two divisions of four legions each, was quartered in the 
Upper and Lower Germany ; the former commanded by C. 
Silius, the latter by A. Caecina. The commander-in-chief 
was Germanicus, who was at this time absent, being engaged 
in taking a census of Gaul. The mutiny commenced in the 
camp of C.-Ecina ; the complaints were the same as those of 
i the Pannonian legions, but the soldiers showed themselves 

more determined and ferocious. They seized their centu- 
rions, threw them on the ground, beat them nearly to death, 
and then cast them out of the camp or into the Rhine; they 
\ refused all obedience to their superior officers; they set the 

guards themselves, and performed all the necessary military 
duties. 

Germanicus hastened to the camp ; the soldiers came forth 
1 to meet him with all tokens- of respect. He entered and 

! ascended his tribunal; they; stood round in their companies. 

I He addressed them; they listened, iu- silence, while he spoke 

I in praise of Augustus and Tiberius, and extolled their own 

J exploits. But, when he began to touch on their late con 



A. D. 14.] MUTINY OF THE LEGIONS. 43 

duct, they stripped their bodies, showing the scars of wounds 
and the marks of blows ; they enumerated the laborious 
tasks they had to perform ; the veterans counted up the 
thirty and more campaigns that they had served. Some 
called for the money bequeathed to them by Augustus, and 
expressed their wishes for Germanicus himseK to assume 
the supreme power. At these words, he sprang down from 
the tribunal; they opposed his departure with menaces; he 
drew his sword, and was about to plunge it into his bosom, 
but those near him caught his hand. Some of the more 
distant, however, called out to him to strike; and one soldier 
had the audacity to offer him his sword, saying that it was 
sharper than his own. The rest were appalled at this daring 
act, and paused ; and his friends then got Germanicus into 
his tent. He there deliberated on the state of affairs; and, 
as it was known that the mutineers were about to send 
deputies to solicit the legions in Upper Germany, and that 
the Germans would probably take advantage of the mutiny 
to cross the Rhine, it was resolved to try to appease them. 
A letter was therefore written, in the name of Tiberius, 
giving a total discharge to those who had served twenty, and 
a partial one to those who had served sixteen campaigns; 
and adding, that they should receive double the sum left 
them by Augustus. As two of the legions insisted on being 
paid their money down, Germanicus and his friends had to 
supply it from their own private funds. 

Germanicus then proceeded to the army of Upper Ger- 
many, in which the spirit of mutiny had been very slight; 
and, though the soldiers did not ask for them, he gave dis- 
charges and money as to the other army. On his return to 
the place named The Ubiaiis' Altar, [Bonn,) where two of the 
lately mutinous legions were quartered, he met a deputation 
from the senate, headed by xMunatius Plancus. The soldiers, 
conscious of guilt, began to fear that they were the bearers 
of a decree for annulling the concessions which they had 
extorted by their mutiny ; they again broke into a tumult ; 
they assailed the gate of Germanicus's dwelling in the night, 
and forced him to get up and deliver to them a standard 
which they demanded.* The deputies (especially Plancus, 
whom they fancied to have been the proposer of the ob- 
noxious decree) narrowly escaped with their lives. In tho 

* Tac. Ann. i. 3!). Lipsius thinks it was the red flag which used tc 
be hung out over the general's tent as the signal for battle. 



14 TIBERIUS. [k. D. 14 

doming, Germanicus remonstrated with them on their con- 
duct, but they listened in sullen silence. He then dismissed 
the deputies with an escort of horse of the allies; and, on 
his friends representing to him the imprudence of allow- 
ing his wife and young son to remain in a place of so 
much danger, he resolved to send them to the Trevirians for 
security. 

Agrippina, the wife of Germanicus, was the daughter of 
Agrippa and Julia ; she was a woman of a high spirit, de- 
votedly attached to her husband, and of unsullied chastity; 
and she was now far advanced in pregnancy. Her young 
son, Gains, had been reared in the camp, and been given by 
the soldiers the name of Caligula, from his being made to 
wear the military shoes, which were so called. When, there- 
fore, the soldiers saw the wife and child of their general, 
accompanied by the wives of his friends, all weeping and 
lamenting, about to quit a Roman camp in order to seek the 
protection of provincials, they were filled with grief and 
shame, and more especially with envy of the Trevirians. 
Some stopped them, and insisted on their remaining, while 
others crowded round Germanicus, who now rebuked them 
severely for their conduct. They acknowledged their fault, 
besought him to punish the guilty, to forgive the misguided, 
to lead them against the enemy, but to bring back his wife 
and child, and not deliver the nursling of the legions as a 
hostage to Gauls. He consented to the return of his son, 
but excused that of his wife, on account of her pregnancy 
and the approach of the winter. The soldiers were con- 
tented : they forthwith seized the ringleaders of the mutiny, 
and dragged them, bound, before C. Cetronius, the legate of 
the first legion. They then stood with their swords drawn : 
each of the prisoners was placed on a bank of earth before 
the tribunal: if the soldiers cried out, "Guilty," he was 
thrown down, and they despatched him. Germanicus finally 
made an inquiry into the conduct of the centurions, and 
dismissed the service all who were proved guilty of avarice 
or cruelty. 

Order being thus restored in these two legions, Germanicus 
made preparations for conducting a body of the allies against 
the other two legions, who had begun the mutiny, and were 
now lying at the Old Camp, ( Vt-tera Castra • Santen.') He 
wrote, however, previously, to Cajcina, to say that, if not 
Drevented by the punisliment of the guilty, he would come 
and make a promiscuous slaughter. Caecina secretly com« 



A. D. 15.] GERMANICUS. 43 

municated this letter to the officers and the sound part of the 
army, and it was resolved to fall unawares on the mutineers, 
and slaughter them. The plan was carried into effect, and 
numbers were thus butchered. Germanicus, on coming to 
the camp, shed copious tears, calling it a massacre, and not 
a medicine, and ordered the bodies of the slain to be burnt. 
The soldiers clamored to be led against the enemy, in order, 
by receiving honorable wounds, to appease the Manes of 
their comrades. A bridge was hastily thrown over the river 
and they advanced some way into Germany, where, falling 
on the unsuspecting barbarians on the night of one of their 
solemn festivals, they slaughtered all ages and sexes promis- 
cuously ; they laid the country waste for a space of fifty 
miles, levelling all edifices, sacred and profane, alike. Ger- 
manicus then led them back to winter quarters. 

Tiberius received the account of the suppression of the 
mutiny with mingled feelings. He rejoiced that it was at an 
end, while he was uneasy at the popularity which Germanicus 
must have acquired by his able and vigorous conduct. He, 
however, praised him to the senate ; but it was observed that 
his praises of Drusus, at the same time, though more brief, 
were more sincere. He gave the Pannonian legions all the 
advantages which Germanicus had granted to the German 
army. 

Early in the spring, (15,) Germanicus led his whole army 
over the 'Rhine, and invaded the country of the Chattans, 
where he wasted the land and slaughtered the inhabitants in 
the usual manner. Segestes, the Chattan prince, who, as we 
have seen, through enmity to Arminius, was in favor of the 
Romans, having sent to apprize Germanicus that he was sur- 
rounded by his hostile countrymen, who were under the it - 
fluence of Arminius, the Roman army was instantly marched 
to his relief, and he and his family, (among whom was his 
daughter, the wife of Arminius,) and a large body of his 
clients, were received under the protection of the Romans, 
and given a settlement on the left; bank of the Rhine. 

Germanicus led back his army ; but Arminius, maddened 
at the captivity of his wife, went from place to place, rousing 
the Cheruscans and the conierminous tribes to arms against 
the Romans. He was joined by his uncle, Inguiomer, a man 
whose talents the Romans held in the highest respect ; and 
Germanicus, therefore, judging that the war would be very 
serious, resolved to prevent, if possible, the whole weight of 
it from falling on one place. With this view, he despatched 



46 TIBERIUS. [a. i>. 15 

Caecina, with forty cohorts, through the Bructerian country, 
to the River Ems, (Amiiia,) while the prefect Pedo led tlie 
cavalry through the country of the Frisians; and he liimself, 
putting four legions on shipboard, sailed through the lakes. 
The whole force rendezvoused on the Ems, and all the coun- 
try between it and the Lippe was laid waste. 

As the Teutoburg forest, in which Varus and his legions 
had been slaughtered, was at hand, Germanicus resolved to 
proceed thither, and render the last honors to the slain. On 
arriving at the fatal spot, the Romans found the camp of 
Varus bearing evidence of the fate of the army : around lay 
whitening the bones of men and horses; broken weapons 
strewed the ground ; human heads were fixed on trunks of 
trees; the altars, at which the olhcers had been sacrificed, 
stood in the adjoining woods. The soldiers mournfully col- 
lected the bones of their comrades, and raised a mound over 
them, Germanicus himself laying the first sod. The jealousy 
of Tiberius was offended at this popular act, which, he said, 
tended to damp the spirit of the soldiers. 

The Romans, on their return to the Ems, were fallen on, in 
their march through the woods and marshes, by Arminius, and 
narrowly escaped a defeat. Germanicus then recmbarked 
his legions, sending the cavalry, as before, round the coast. 
He charged Cajciiia to make all the speed he could to. get 
beyond the Long Bridges, as a causeway was named which 
the Romans had some years before constructed in the exten- 
sive marshes which lay not far from the Ems. Caecina ac- 
cordirisjlv advanced with rapidity, but the speed of Arminius 
exceeded his; and, on arriving at the Bridges, he found the 
woods all occupied by the Germans, lie also, to his mor- 
t.-'ication, saw that the causeway had become so decayed with 
time, that it must be repaired before the army could pass it ; 
he therefore resolved to encamp on the spot.' 

The Germans assailed the Romans as they were engaged 
in forming their camp, and the legions were saved from de- 
structif)u only by the intervention of night. As there was 
now little chance of their being able to pass by the Bridges, 
CsBcina saw that his only course was to endeavor to force 
liis way through a narrow plain, which lay between the 
marshes and the hills occupied by the enemy. After passing 
a miserable night, the army set out at dawn ; but the two le- 
gions, which were appointed to cover the flank of the line of 
march, disobeyed orders, and pushed on for the dry ground j 
and Arminius, waiting till he saw the Romans completely en 



4. D. 16.] VICTORIES (Jf GERMANICUS. 4^ 

gaged in the marshes, charged the unprotected line, and broke 
it. The horses were the cliief object of attack ; and, pierced 
by the long spears of the Germans, they fell, and flung their 
riders, or, rushing on, trampled on those before them ; Ca;ci- 
na's own horse was killed under him, and he was near being 
taken by the enemy. Fortunately for the Romans, the bar- 
barians, in their usual manner, fell to plundering, and, at the 
approach of evening, they succeeded in reaching the dry 
ground. Here they were obliged to encamp, but most of 
their implements were lost; they were without tents, they 
had no dressings for their wounded, and their provisions 
were all spoiled ; they, however, succeeded in securing them- 
selves for the night. 

A horse having got loose in the night, the soldiers fancied 
that the Germans hud broken into the camp; and they were 
preparing to fly for their lives, when Cgecina, having ascer- 
tained that the alarm was groundless, called them together, 
and showed them that their only chance of safety was to re- 
main within their ramparts till the enemy should assail them, 
and then to break out and push on for the Rhine. The 
horses, not excepting his own, were then given to the bravest 
men, who were to be the first to charge the enemy. The 
Germans, on their part, were also deliberating how to pro- 
ceed ; Arminius was for letting the Romans quit their camp 
unmolested, and assailing, as before, their line of march ; 
but Inguiomer insisted on storming the ramparts, as there 
would then be more captives made, and the plunder would 
be in better condition. His opinion prevailed, and a general 
assault was made at daybreak. But, while the Germans 
were scaling the ramparts, the signal wag given to the co- 
horts, the trumpets .sounded, and the assailants found them- 
selves attacked in the rear. They made but a feeble resist- 
ance ; they were slaughtered in heaps all through the day 
by ttie legionaries, who next morning pursued their march 
unmolested for the Rhine. 

Germanicus resolved to conduct the next campaign (16) 
on different principles from the preceding ones. He had 
observed that, in consequence of the nature of the country, 
abounding in forests and morasses, the loss of men and horses 
in an invasion of Germany was immense; whereas, if the in- 
fantry were conveyed thither by sea, and the horse led round 
the coast, the campaign might be begun earlier, and the 
troops be exposed to less toil and danger. He therefore 
caused a multitude of vessels of all descriptions to be built 



48 TIBERIUS. [a. r>. 16. 

in various places, and appointed the isle of the Batavians as 
the place of rendezvous and embarkation. When all was 
ready, he put the Roman army of eight legions and their at- 
tendant auxiliaries on board of a fleet of about 1000 vessels, 
of all forms and sizes, and, sailing up the Rhine, through the 
lake, and along the coast of the ocean, entered the mouth of 
the Ems, where having landed his troops, he advanced to the 
Weser. On reaching that river, he found its opposite bank 
occupied by Arminius and the Cheruscan warriors. He, 
however, forced the passage, and, the Germans having given 
him battle in a plain encompassed by hills on one side, on 
the other by the river, they were routed with great slaughter, 
the ground for a space of ten miles being covered with their 
arms and bodies. Undismayed by their reverses, they fell 
once more on the Ronians, as they were marching through a 
narrow, marshy plain, hemmed in by woods and the river; 
but success was once more on the side of discipline and supe- 
rior arms, andGernianicus, in the inscription which he put on 
a pile of the armor of the vanquished Germans, could boast 
of having conquered all the nations between the Rhine and 
the Elbe. As the summer was now far advanced, he sent a 
part of his army to their winter quarters by land ; he himself 
embarked with the remainder in the Ems ; but, when they got 
into the open sea, they were assailed by a furious tempest ; 
some of the vessels were driven on the German coast, others 
on the adjacent islands, others even to Britain ; and the loss 
of horses and baggage was immense. When the storm was 
over, the ships which had escaped were repaired without de- 
lay, and sent to search the islands, and bring off the men 
who had been cast away on them. 

Germanicus and his officers were decidedly of opinion 
that one campaign more would end the war, and complete 
the subjugation of Germany ; but the jealousy of Tiberius 
would not let him permit Germanicus to remain longer at 
the head of so large an army ; and he urged him to return to 
Rome to celebrate the triumph which had been decreed 
him, offering him, as an inducement, a second consulate. 
Germanicus, though he saw through his motives, yielded 
obedience to his wishes; and thus finally terminated the 
projects of the Romans for conquest in northern Germany.* 

* The gallant Arminius aflfrwards engaged in wat with and defcatr 
ed Maroboduns. He finally perished by the treachery of his relations, 
being charged with aiming at royalty. Tacitus (ii. 88) gives him the 
following encomium : " Liberator haud dubie Germanise, ct qui non 



A. D. 17-19.] DEATH OF GERMANICU3. 49" 

On his return to Rome, (17,) Germanicus celebrated his 
triumph over tlie Chattans, Cheruscans, and Angivarians 
Tiberius gave in his name a donation to the people of 300 
sesterces a man, and nominated him his colleague in the 
consulate for the ensuing year. As, about this time, the 
kings of Cappadocia, Commagene, and Cilicia, were dead, 
and the affairs of Armenia were in their usual disorder, and 
Syria and Judiea were applying for a diminution of their 
burdens, Tiberius, who did not wish to let Germanicus re- 
main at Rome, or who, as some suspected, had designs on 
him which could best be accomplished at a distance, took 
advantage of this occasion for removing him ; by a decree 
of the senate, he was therefore assigned the provinces beyond 
the sea, with an authority, when in any of them, paramount 
to that of its actual governor. Tiberius at the same time 
removed Silanus, the governor of Syria, whose daughter 
was affianced to Germanicus's son, and appointed in his 
place Cn. Piso, a man of a fierce and violent temper, and 
whose wife, Plancina, a haughty and arrogant woman, was 
the intimate friend of Livia. It was suspected that they 
were selected as fit agents for the execution of some secret 
design against Germanicus. 

After visiting his brother Drusus, who held the command 
in Illyricum, and with whom he was always on the most 
cordial terms, Germanicus proceeded to Greece, (18,) whence 
he passed over to Asia, where he invested Zeno, son of the 
king of Pontus, with the diadem, and reduced Commagene 
and Cappadocia to the form of provinces. He thence (19) 
proceeded to Egypt, urged chiefly by the laudable curiosity 
of viewing the wonders of that land of mystery. On his 
return to Syria, he fell sick, and it was suspected that the 
cause of his disease was poison, privily administered by 
Piso and Plancina, with whom he was now at open enmity : 
Germanicus himself was of this opinion, and he therefore 
sent Piso orders to quit the province. The disease, however, 
proved fatal, and he died shortly after, with his last breath 
charging his friends to appeal to his father, brother, and the 
senate, for" punishment on Piso and Plancina, as the authors 
of his death. 

prirnordia Pop. Rom. sicut alii reges ducesque, sed florentissimum im- 
perium lacessierit; preeliis ambiguus, belle non victus; xxxvli. annoa 
vitse, xii. potenliap explevit; canitur adhuc barbaras apud gentes ; 
Grajcorum annalibus ignotus, qn\ suatantum mirantur ; Romanis haud 
perinde Celebris, diiin Vetera extolliinus recentium incuriosi." 
CONT N. 5 G 



50 TIBERIUS. [a D. 20. 

Such was the end of the noble Germanicus, n the thirty- 
fourth year of his age. Unlike the Claudian "amily, from 
which he sprang, he was mild, affable, and clement in tem- 
per. Not content with military glory, he songlit fame also 
in the peaceful fields of literature.* He was a faithful 
husband, an affectionate parent, a constant friend ; in fine, 
both in public and private virtues, he has few superiors in 
the pages of history. 

After the death of Germanicus, a consultation was held, by 
such of the senators as were present, on the subject of the 
government of the province of Syria, now vacant, and it was 
resolved to commit it to Cn. Sentius. Meantime Piso, who 
was at Cos when the news of the death of Germanicus 
reached him, consulted as to what he should do. His son 
urged him to pursue his journey to Rome without a mo- 
ment's delay ; but one of his friends, Domitius Celer, advised 
him to return to Syria, and wrest the government of it from 
Sentius. Piso adopted this last course ; but, failing in his 
attempts to seduce the legions, he was besieged by Sentius in 
a castle on the coast of Cilicia, and surrendered on con- 
dition of being allowed to proceed to Rome. 

Agrippina li.id already (20) reached the city with the urn 
whicli contained the ashes of her illustrious husband. The 
mourning of the people was universal and sincere ; but the 
honors of the dead were limited by the jealousy of Tiberius. 
When Dru.sus, after the funeral, returned to Dalmatia, he 
was visited by Piso, who hoped to gain his protection ; but, 
failing in his object, he had to proceed to Rome, where the 
friends of Germanicus made no delay in exhibiting articles 
of accusation against him. The cause was referred by Ti- 
berius to the senate. All the charges but that of poisoning 
were proved ; and Piso, seeing Tiberius, the senate, and the 
people, equally hostile to him, sought a refuge from ignominy 
in a voluntary death. Plancina was acquitted through the 
influence of Augusta, at whose desire Tiberius himself be- 
came her intercessor. 

Before we proceed to notice the internal affairs of the 
empire during the early part of the reign of Tiberius, we 
will mention briefly the slight military movements on the 
frontiers. 

In Africa a Numidian named Tacfarinas, who had served 
in the Roman army, and had then become a freebooter, and 

* The Fasti of Ovid are dedicated to this prinee. 



A. D. 31.] MILITARY MOVEMENTS. 51 

gradually collected a good body of men, being oiiii-.il h'j 
a Moorish chief named Mazippa, began to lay vaste and 
plunder the province, (17.) The proconsul Furius Camillud 
led the Roman troops out against them ; Tacfurinas had the 
courage to give him battle, but his Numidians were easily 
routed; the triumphal insignia were decreed to Caniillu^;, 
who, as the historian observes, was the tirst of his family, 
since the time of the great Camillas and his son, who had 
acquired military glory. Tacfarinas continued to harass the 
province by his incursions for some years ; at length (24) he 
was defeated and slain by the proconsul P. Dolabella. 

The trifling commotions which took place in Thrace, and 
were easily repressed, are not deserving of particular notice; 
but an insurrection which broke out in Gaul (21) threatened 
to be of serious consequence. The origin of it was the 
heavy weight of debt caused by the excessive amount of the 
tributes, to meet which the states were obliged to borrow 
money from the wealthy men at Rome on enormous interest; 
to which were added the pride and severity of the Romat. 
governors. The heads of the revolt were Julius Florus, a 
Trevirian, and Julius Sacrovir, an JEduan, both men of 
great influence, and whose ancestors had been honored with 
the Roman right of citizenship. The people of Anjou and 
Touraine were the first to rise, but they were easily put 
down; Sacrovir, who had not yet declared himself, fighting 
on the occasion in the Roman ranks. Florus, with his Tre- 
virians, occupied the forest of Ardenne, (Ardiunna ;) but 
his unorganized rabble was easily dispersed by a party under 
Julius Indus, another Trevirian, who was at enmity with 
him ; and he slew himself to escape captivity. Sacrovir 
meantime seized on Autun, (Augustodumim,) the capital 
of the ^duans, where most of the young nobility of Gaul 
were placed for the purpose of education, in order that he 
might thus draw their parents and relations in to share in the 
war. He collected 40,000 men, only a fifth of whom were 
completely armed : with these he gave battle to the Roman 
legions ; and, being defeated, he fled with a few companions 
to a country-house near Autun, where he put an end to 
himself. The Gallic war was thus terminated, and the em- 
pire remained at peace during the remainder of the reign of 
Tiberius. 

It is now time that we should trace the conduct of this 
wily prince during the period of which we have related the 
militrry transactions. 



52 TTBERIUS. [a. D. 2l. 

All the historians are agreed that he both disliked and 
feared Germanicus, and that it was the awe in which he 
stood of that favorite of the soldiery and the people that 
caused him to act with so much moderation in his first years, 
in which there is really little to reprehend. 

His plan was to possess the reality of power without ex- 
citincf hatred or envy by the useless display of the show of 
it. He therefore rejected the titles that were offered him 
such as that of Imperator, as a prcenomen, and that of Fathe- 
of his Country ; even that of Augustus, though hereditar; , 
he would only use in his letters to kings and dynasts : abo\e 
all, he rejected that of Master, {Dominus ;) he would only be 
called Cresar, or First of the Senate. This last (which we 
shall henceforth term Prince) was his favorite title : he used 
to say, " I am the Master of my slaves, the Imperator of the 
soldiers, and the Prince of the rest." He would not allow 
any thing peculiar to be done in honor of his birthday, nor 
suffer any one to swear by his fortune ; neither would he 
permit the senate to swear to his acts on new year's day, or 
temples, or any other divine honors, to be decreed him. He 
was affable and ea.sy of approach ; he took no notice oflibels 
and evil reports of which he was the object, while he re- 
pelled flattery of every kind. 

To the senate and the magistrates he preserved (at least 
in apj)earance) all their pristine dignity and power. Every 
matter, great or small, public or private, was laid before the 
senate. The debates were apparently free, and the prince 
was often in the minority. He always entered the senate- 
house without any attendants, like an ordinary senator ; he 
reproved consulars in the command of armies for writing to 
him instead of the senate ; he treated the consuls with the 
utmost respect, rising to them and making way for them. 
Ambassadors and deputies were directed to apply to them, as 
in the time of the republic. It was only by his tribuiiitian 
ricrht of interceding that he exercised his power in the sen- 
ate. He used also to take his seat with the magistrates as 
they were administering justice, and by his presence and 
authority gave a check to the influence of the great in pro- 
tecting the accused ; by which conduct of his, while justice 
gained, liberty, it was observed, suffered.* 

The public morals and the tranquillity of the city were 

■ >ui>l|!i < 'U' • '>!. ! ■ 

* ''Sed dum ' Viritati con^litur libertas corrunipebatur." Tac 
Ann. i. 75. 



A.D. 21.] CONDUCT OF TIBEBTUS. 53 

also attended to. A limit was set to the expenses of plays end 
public shows, and to the salaries of the players, to whom the 
senators and knights were forbidden to show marks of respect, 
by visiting them or attending them in public. Profligacy had 
become so bold and shameless, that ladies were known to 
have entered themselves in the list of professed courtesans in 
order to escape the penalties of the law, and young men of 
family to have voluntarily submitted to the mark of infamy 
in order to appear with safety on tne stage or the arena; 
both these infamous classes were now subjected to the pen- 
alty of exile. Astrologers and .fortune-tellers were expelled 
the city ; the rites and ceremonies of the Egyptian and 
Judaic religions were suppressed. Guards were placed 
throughout Italy to prevent highway robbery ; and those 
refuges of villany of all kinds, the sanctuaries, were regu- 
lated in Greece and Asia. 

Yet people were not deceived by all this apparent regard 
for liberty and justice ; for they saw, as they thought, from 
the very commencement, the germs of tyranny, especially in 
the renewal of the law of treason, [majestas.) In the time 
of the republic, there was a law under this name, by which 
any one who had diminished the greatness {majestas) of the 
Roman people by betraying an army, exciting the plebs to 
sedition, or acting wrong in command, was subject to pun- 
ishment. It applied to actions alone ; but Sulla extended it 
to speeches,* and Augustus to writings against not merely 
the state, but private individuals, on the occasion of Cassius 
Severus having libelled several illustrious persons of both 
sexes. Tiberius, who was angered by anonymous verses 
made on himself, directed the prpetor, when consulted by 
him on the subject, to give judgment on the law of treason 
As this law extended to words as well as actions, it opened 
a wide field for mischief, and gave birth to the vile brood of 
Delators, or public informers, answering to the sycophants, 
those pests of Athens in the days of her democratic despot- 
ism. This evil commenced almost with the reign of Ti- 
berius, in whose second year two knights, Falonius and 
Rubrius, were accused, the one of associating a player of 
infamous character with the worshippers of Augustus, and 
of having sold with his gardens, a statue of that prince, the 
other of having sworn falsely by his divinity, Tiberius, 
hffwever, would not allow these absurd charges to be en- 

* Cic. Sid Pam. Hi. 11. 



54 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 22 

tertained. Soon after, Granius Marcellus, the praetor of 
Bithynia, was charged with treason by his quaestor, Cspio 
Crispinus, for having spoken evil of Tiberius, having placed 
his own statue on a higher site than that of the Cajsars, and 
having cut the head of Augustus off a statue, to make room 
for that of Tiberius. This last charge exasperated Tiberius, 
who declared that he would vote himself on the matter; but 
a bold expression used by Cn. Piso brought him to reason, 
and Marcellus was acquitted. 

After the death of Germanicus, Tiberius acted with less 
restraint; for his son Drusus did not possess the qualities 
sliiled to gain popularity, and thus to control him. In fact, 
except his affection for his noble adoptive brother, there was 
nothing in the Character of Drusus to esteem. He was 
addicted to intettiperance, devoted to the sports of the anv- 
phitheatre, and of so cruel a temper, that a peculiarly sharp 
kind of swords were named from him Drusians. Tiberius 
liiade him his colleague in the consulate,* and then obtained 
for him the tribunitian power, (22;) but Drusus was fated 
to no long enjoyment of the dignity and power thus con- 
ferred on him. A fatal change was also to take place in the 
conduct and government of Tiberius himself, of which we 
must now trace the origin. 

Seius Strabo, who had been made one of the pra.'fects of 
the praetorian cohorts by Augustus, had a son, who, having 
been adopted by one of the il'^lian family, was named, in the 
usual manner, L. /Elius Sejanus. This young man, who 
was born at Vulsinii in Tuscany, was at first attached to 
the service of Caius Caesar, after whose death he devoted 
him.scIfto Til)erius ; and such was his consummate art, that 
this wily prince, dark and mysterious to all others, was open 
and unreserved to him. Sejanus equalled his master in the 
power of concealing his thoughts and designs ; he was daring 
and ambitious, and he possessed the requisite qualities for 
attaining the eminence to which he aspired ; for, though 
proud, he could play the flatterer; he could, and did, assume 
a modest exterior, and he had vigilance and industry, and a 
body capable of enduring any fatigue. 

When Drusus was sent to quell the mutiny of the Panno- 
nian legions, Sejanue, whom Tiberius had made colleague 

* Dion (\v\\. 90) snys that people forthwitli prophpsi<»d the ruin of 
Drusus; or it was observed that every one who had been llberius'a 
colleag-ue in the consulate came to a violent end, as Quirictilius Vania, 
Cn. Piso, Germanicus, and afterwards Drusu" and Sejanus. 



A. D, 23.] RISE OF SEJANUS. 55 

with his father, Strabo, in the command of the praetoiians, 
accompanied him as his governor and director. Strabo was 
afterwards sent out to Egypt, and Sejanus was continued in 
the sole command of the guards; he then represented to 
Tiberius how much better it would be to have them col- 
lected into one camp, instead of being dispersed through tho 
city and towns, as they would be less liable to be corrupted, 
would be more orderly, and of greater efficiency if any in- 
surrection «(hould occur. A fortified camp was therefore 
formed for them near the Viminai gate; and Sejanus then 
began to court the men, and he appointed those on whom 
he could rely to be tribunes and centurions. While thus 
securing the guards, he was equally assiduous to gain parti- 
sans in the senate ; and honors and provinces only came to | \ 
those who had acquired his favor by obsequiousness. In all | I 
these projects he was unwittingly aided by Tiberius, wfeo | I 
used publicly to style him " the associate of his labors ; " aiiMl 1 | 
even allowed his statues to be placed and worshipped in tern- I J 
pies and theatres, and among the ensigns of the legions. ] | 

Sejanus had, in fact, formed the daring project of destroy- j * 

ing Tiberius and his family, and seizing the supreme power. | f 

As, beside Tiberius and Drusus, who had two sons, there | \ 

were a brother and three sons of Germanicus living, he re- ;; I 

solved, as the safer course, to remove them gradually by art | | 

and treachery. He began with Drusus, against whom he | 5 

had a personal spite, as that violent youth had one time pub- | i 

licly given him a blow in the face. In order to effect his I I 

purpose, he seduced his wife, Livia, or Livilla, the sister of I | 

Germaniv.us; and then, by holding out to her the prospect | | 

of a share in the imperial power, he induced her to engage l I 

in the plan for the murder of her husband.* Her physician, | | 

Eudemus, was also taken into the plot ; but it was some time | f 

before the associates could finally determine what mode to I 

adopt. At length a slow poison was fixed on, which was | 

administered to Drusus by a eunuch named Lygdus ; and he \ 

died apparently of disease, (23.) Tiberius, who, while his | 

son was lying dead, had entered the senate-house, and ad- j 

dressed the members with his usual composure, pronounced | 

the funeral oration himself, and then turned to business for j 

consolation. 

So far, all had succeeded with Sejanus, and death carried 
off the younger son of Drusus soon after his father ; but 

* " Neque femina, amissa pudicitia, alia abnuerit," observes Tacitus. •'^ 



5G TIBERIUS. [a. d. 25. 

Nero an] Drusus, the two elder sons of Germanicus, were 
sow growing up ; and the chastity of their mother, and the 
fidelity of those about them, put poison out of the question. 
He therefore adopted another course ; and, taking advantage 
of the high spirit of Agrippina, and working on the jealousy 
of her which Augusta was known to entertain, he managed 
so that both she and Livia should labor to prejudice Tibe- 
rius against Agrippina by talking of the pride which she 
took in her progeny, and the ambitious designs which she 
entertained. At the same time, he induced some of those 
about her to stimulate her haughty spirit by their treacher- 
ous language. He further proposed to deprive her of sup- 
port, by destroying those persons of influence who were 
attached to her family, or the memory of her husband. 
With this view, he selected for his first victims C. Silius 
and Titius Sabinus, the friends of Germanicus, and Silius's 
wife, Sosia Galla, to whom Agrippina was strongly attached, 
and who was therefore an object of dislike to Tiberius, 
Omitting, however, Sabinus for the present, he caused the 
consul Visellius Varro to accuse Silius of treason, for having 
dissembled his kimwledge of the designs of Sacrovir, having 
disgraced his victory by his avarice, and countenanced the 
acts of his wife. Having vainly asked for a delay till hia 
accuser should go out of office, and seeing that Tiberius 
was determinedly hostile to him,* Silius avoided a condem- 
nation by a voluntary death. His wife was banished ; a 
portion of his property was confiscated, but the remainder 
was left to his children. 

Urged by his own ambition, and by the importunity of 
Livia, Sejanus had soon ('25) the boldness to present a pe- 
tition to Tiberius, praying to be chosen by him for her hus- 
band. Tiberius took no offence ; his reply was kind, only 
stating the difficulties of the matter with respect to Sejanus 
himself, but at the same time expressing the warmest friend- 
ship for and confidence in him. Sejanus, however, was 
suspicious; and he began to reflect that, while Tiberius re- 
mained at Rome, many occasions might present themselves 
to those who desired to undermine him in the mind of that 
jealous prince; whereas, could he induce him to quit the 

" " Advcrsatns est Coesar, solitnin quippe magislratibus diem priva- 
tis dicere; nee infringendum consulia jus, cujus vigiliis nitiretur n« 
quod respublica detrinientuin caperet. Proprium id Tiberic fuit see 
lera nuper reperta priscis verbis obtegere." Tac. 



A. D. 25.] SPEECH OF CREMUTIUS. 57 

city, all access to him would be only through himself, all 
letters would be conveyed by soldiers who were under his 
orders, and gradually, as the prince advanced in years, all , 

the affairs of the state would pass into his hands. He there- | \ 
fore, by contrasting the noise and turbulence of Rome with \ 

the solitude and tranquillity of the country, gradually sought | 

to bend him to his purpose, which he effected in the follow- j | 

ing year. \ | 

During this time, the deadly charge of treason was brought [ I 

against various persons. The most remarkable case was that ] t 

of A. Cremutius Cordus, the historian. He had made a free \ | 

remark on the conduct of Sejanus; and, accordingly, two of i ! 

that favorite's clients were directed to accuse him of treason, | ) 

for having in his history called Cassius the last of the Ro- i' I 

mans.* Cremutius, when before the senate, observing the ' | 

sterrmess of Tiberius's countenance, took at once the resolu- j | 

tioii of abandoning life, and therefore spoke as follows : - — 1 1 

" Fathers, my words are accused, so guiltless am I of { i 

acts ; but not even these are against the prince or the ] | 

prince's parent, whom the law of treason embraces. I am > i 

said to have praised Brutus and Cassius, whose deeds, while i| 

several have written, no one has mentioned without honor. I 

Titus Livius, who is preeminent for eloquence and fidelity, | 

extolled Pompeius with such praises, that Augustus used to | 

call him a Pompeian ; nor was that any hinderance of their { 

friendship. He nowhere calls Scipio, Afranius, this very I 

Cassius, this Brutus, robbers and parricides, which names \ 

are now given them ; he often speaks of them as distin- f 

guished men. The writings of Asinius Pollio transmit an I 

illustrious record of them ; Messala Corvinus used to call | 

Cassius his general ; and both of them flourished in wealth 1 

and honors. To the book of Marcus Cicero, which extolled I 

Cato to the skies, what did the dictator Caesar but reply in I 

a written speech, as if before judges 1 The letters of Auto- t 

nius, the speeches of Brutus, contain imputations on Augus- l 

lus which are false, and written with great bitterness. The I 

verses of Bibaculus and Catullus, which are full of abuse of i 

the Caesars, are read; nay, the divine Julius himself, the f 

divine Augustus himself, both bore with them and let them \ 

remain ; I cannot well say whether more through modera- | 

tion or wisdom ; for what are despised go out of mind ; if | 

* He probably only used the words of Brutus, who spoke thus of 3 
C^assius. See Hist, of Rome, p. 459. 

H , 

I 



58 TIBERIUS. [i. D. 26. 

you are angry with them, their truth seer.is to be acknowl- 
edured. I speak not of .the Greeks, among whom not only 
liberty but license was unpunished ; or if any one did take 
notice, he avenged himself on words by words. But there 
was the greatest freedom, and no reproach, when speaking 
of those whom death had removed from enmity or favor. 
Do I, in the cause of civil war, inflame the people by my 
harangues, while Brutus and Cassius are in arms, and occu- 
pying the plains of Philippi ? Or do they, who are now 
dead these seventy years, as they are known by their images, 
which the conqueror did not destroy, retain in like manner 
their share of memory hi literary works? Posterity allots 
his meed to every one ; nor, should a condemnation fall on 
me, will there be wanting those who will remember not only 
Brutus and Cassius, but also meJ" 

Having thus spoken, Cordus left the senate-house, and, 
returning to his own abode, starved himself to death. The 
senate decreed that the copies of his work should be col- 
lected and burnt by the aediles ; but some were saved by his 
daughter Marcia, and were republished in the succeeding 
\ reign.* 

At length, (26,) Tiberius quitted Rome, and went into Cam- 
pania, under the pretext of dedicating a temple to Jupiter at 
Capua, and one to Augustus at Nola ; but with the secret 
intention of never returning to the city. Various causes, 
all perhaps true, are assigned for this resolution. The sug- 
gestions of Sejanus were not without effect ; he was grown 
thin, and (^looped ; he was quite bald, and his face was full 
of blotches and ulcers, to which he was obliged to have 
plasters constantly applied ; and he may therefore have 
sought, on this account, to retire from the public view. It 
is further said that he wished to escape from the authority 
of his mother, who seemed to consider herself entitled to 
share the power which he had obtained through her exer- 
tions ; but perhaps the most prevalent motive was the wish 
to be able to give free course jo his innate cruelty and lusts 
when iu solitude and secrecy. 

He was accompanied only by one senator, Cocceius Ner- 

* Sec Sen. Cons, ad Marciam; .Si*pt. Cal. 16. "Quo ina^is socor- 
djam [i. e. vecordiam] eorum inridere Ticet," observes Tacitus, "qui 
prsBsenti potentia credunt exlinjrui posse etiam sequentis tevi niemori- 
am ; nam contra, punitis ingeniis gliscit auctoritas ", neque aliud ex- 
terni r«ges, aut qui eeidem acvitia uai sunt, nisi dcdecus sibi atque iltia 
gloriain peperere." 



A. D. 27.] TIBERIUS IN CAMPANIA. 5^ 

va, who was deeply skilled, in the laws, by Sejanue and 
another knight, and by some persons, chiefly Greeks whc 
were versed in literature. A few days after he set out, an 
accident occurred, which was near being fatal to him, but 
proved fortunate for Sejanus. As, at one of his ountry- 
seats, near Fundi, named the Caverns, (SjjelunccB,) tie was, 
for the sake of the coolness, dining in one of the natural 
caverns, whence the villa derived its appellation, a great 
quantity of the stones, which formed its roof, fell down and 
crushed some of the attendants to death. Sejanus threw 
himself over Tiberius, to protect him with his own body, and 
was found in that position by the soldiers who came to their 
relief. This apparent proof of generous self-devotion raised 
him higher than ever ui the estimation of the prince. 

While Tiberius was rambling from place to place in 
Campania, (27,) a dreadful calamity occurred at Fidena;, in 
consequence of the fall of a temporary amphitheatre erected 
by a freedman named Atilius, for giving a show of gladia- 
tors; the number of the killed and maimed is said to have 
been fifty thousand. The conduct of the nobility at Rome, 
on this melancholy occasion, showed that all virtue had not 
departed from them ; they threw open their houses for the 
sufferers, and supplied them with medical attendance and 
remedies; so that, as the great historian observes, the city 
wore the appearance of the Rome of the olden time, when, 
after battles, the wounded were thus humanely treated. 
This calamity was immediately followed by a tremendous 
fire on the Caelian Hill ; but Tiberius alleviated the evil, by 
giving the inhabitants the amount of their losses in money. 

Having dedicated the temples, and rambled for some time 
through the towns of Campania, Tiberius finally fixed on the 
islet of Capreae, in the Bay of Naples, as his permanent abode. 
This isle, which lay at the short distance of three miles from 
the promontory of Surrentum, was accessible only in one 
place; it enjoyed a mild temperature, and commanded a 
most magnificent view of the Bay of Naples and the lovely 
region which encompassed it.* But the delicious retreat 
was speedily converted by the aged prince into a den of 
infamy — such as has never perhaps found its equal ; his vi- 
cious practices, however, were covered by the veil of secre- 
cy, for he still lay under some restraint. 

* Augustus was so taken with the charms of this island, that he 
gave lands in exchange for it to the people of Naples, to whom it be- 
longed. Dion lii. 43. 



60 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 28-29 

When Tiberius left Rome, Sejanus renewed his niachi!ia- 
tions against Agrippina and her children and friends. He 
directed his first efforts against her eldest son, Nero, whom 
he surrounded with spies; and as this youth was married to 
a daughter of Livia's, his wife was instructed by her aban- 
doned mother to note and report all his most secret words 
and actions. Sejanus kept a faithful register of all he could 
learn in these various ways, and regularly transmitted it to 
Tiberius. He also drew to his side Nero's younger brother 
Drusus, a youth of a fiery, turbulent temper, and who hated 
him because he was his mother's favorite. It was, however, 
Sejanus's intention to destroy him also, when he should 
have served his purpose against Nero. 

At this time also he made his final and fatal attack on 
Titius Sabinus, whose crime was his attachment to the fam- 
ily of Germanicus. The bait of the consulate, of which 
Sejanus alone could dispose, induced four men of praetorian 
dignity to conspire his ruin. The plan proposed was, that 
one of them, named Latinius Latiaris, who had some knowl- 
edge of Sabinus, should draw him into conversation, out of 
which a charge of treason might be manufactured. The 
plot succeeded : Latiaris, by praising the constancy of Sabi- 
nus in friendship, led him gradually on to speak as he 
thought of Sejanus, and even of Tiberius. At length, un- 
der pretence of having something of great importance to 
reveal, he brought him into a chamber where the other 
three were concealed between the ceiling and the roof A 
charge of treason was therefore speedily concocted and for- 
warded to Tiberius, fron) whom a letter came on new 
year's day, (28,) plainly intimating to the senate his desire 
of vengeance. This sufficed for that obsequious body, and 
Sabinus was dragged forth and executed without delay. 

In his letter of thanks to the senate, Tiberius talked of 
the danger he was in, and of the plots of his enemies, evi- 
dently alluding to Agrippina and Nero. These unfortunate 
persons lost their only remaining refuge, the following year, 
(29,) by the death of the prince's mother, Julia Augusta,* 
whose influence over her son, and regard for her own de- 
scendants, had held Sejanus in restraint. This soon ap- 
peared by the arrival of a letter from Tiberius, accusing 

" VVrit?rs differ as to her afffi. Tacitus merely says extrema alate. 
Pliny (XV. 8) makes her 82, Dion (Iviii. 1) 8H years old. This last 
sceins tc be the more correct, as her son Tiberius was now 70 yean 
of age. 



A;D. 31.] ARTS OF SEJANUS. 61 

Nero of unnatural practices, and speaking of the arrogance 
of Agrippina ; but, while the senate were in debate, the 
people surrounded the house, carrying the images of Agrip- 
pina and Nero, and crying out that the letter was forged, 
and the prince deceived. Nothing therefore was done on 
that day, and Sejanus took the opportunity of irritating the 
mind of Tiberius, who wrote again to the senate ; but, as 
in the letter he forbade their proceeding to extremes, they 
passed a decree, declaring themselves prepared to avenge 
the prince, were they not hindered by himself 

Most unfortunately the admirable narrative of Tacitus 
fails us at this point; and for the space of more than two 
years, and those the most important o7the reign of Tiberius, 
we are obliged to derive our knowledge of events from the 
far inferior notices of Dion Cassius and Suetonius. We are 
therefore unable to display the arts by which Sejanus effected 
the ruin of Agrippina and her children, and can only learn 
that she was relegated to the isle of Pandateria, where, while 
she gave vent to her indignation, her eye was struck out by 
a centurion ; and that Nero was placed in the isle of Pontia, 
and forced to terminate his own life. The further fate of 
Agrippina and Drusus we shall have to relate. 

Sejanus now revelled in the enjoyment of power ; every 
one feared him, every one courted and flattered him. " In 
a word," says Dion, " he seemed to be emperor, Tiberius 
merely the ruler of an island;" for, while the latter dwelt in 
solitude, and apparently unthought of, the doors of the former 
were thronged every morning with saluting crowds, and the 
first men of Rome attended him on his way to the senate. 
His pride and insolence, as is always the case with those 
who rise otherwise than by merit, kept pace with his power, 
and men hated while they feared and flattered him. 

He had thus ruled for more than three years at Rome, 
with power nearly absolute, when (31) Tiberius made him 
his colleague in the consulate — an honor observed to be fatal 
to every one who had enjoyed it. In fact, the jealous tyrant, 
who had been fully informed of all his actions and designs,* 
had secretly resolved on his death ; but fear, on account of Se- 
janus's influence with the guards, and his uncertainty of how 
the people might stand affected, prevented him from pro- 

* According to Josephus, (Antiq. xviii. 6,) Antonia, the widow of his 
hroUier Drusus, wrote him a full account of Sejanus's proceedings, and 
sent it by a trusty slave named Pallas. 
c :ntin. 6 



■■ .J 



62 TIBERIUS. [a. I>. 31. 

ceeding openly against him. He therefore had recourse t6 
artifice, in which he so much delighted. At one time, he 
would write to the senate, and describe himself as so ill th:ii 
his recovery was nearly hopeless; again, that he was in per- 
fect health, and was about to return to Rome. He would 
now praise Sejanua to the skies, and then speak most 
disparagingly of him ; he would honor some and disgrace 
others of his friends solely as such. In this way both Seja- 
nus himself and all others were kept in a state of the utmost 
uncertainty. Tiberius further bestowed priesthoods on Se- 
ianus and his son, and proposed to marry his daughter to 
Drusus, the son of Claudius, the brother of Germanicus; yet, 
at the s une time, when Sejanus asked permission to go to 
Campania, on the pretext of her being unwell, he desired 
him to remain where he was, as he himself would be coming 
to Rome immediately. 

All this tended to keep Sejanus in a state of great per- 
turbation ; and this was increased by the circumstance of 
Tiberius, when appointing the young Cuius to a priesthood, 
having not merely praised him, but spoken of him in some 
sort as his successor in the monarchy. He would have pro- 
ceeded at once to action, were it not that the joy manifested 
by the people on this occasion proved to him that he had 
oiily the soldiers to rely on ; and he hesitated to act with 
them alone. Tiberius then showed favor to some of those 
to whom he was hostde ; and, when writing to the senate on 
the occasion of the death of Nero, he merely called him 
Sejanus, and directed them not to offer sacrifice to any man, 
nor to decree any honors to himself, and of consequence to 
no one else. The senators easily saw whither all this tend- 
ed ; and their neglect of Sejanus was now pretty openly 
displayed. 

Tiberius, having thus made trial of the senate and the 
people, and finding he could rely on both, resolved to strike 
the long-meditated blow. In order to take his victim more 
completely at unawares, he gave out that it was his intention 
to confer on him the tribunitian power. Meantime he gave 
to Ntevius Sertorius Macro a secret commission to take the 
command of the guards, made him the bearer of a letter to 
the senate, and instructed him fully how to act. Macro 
entered Rome at night, and communicated his instructions 
to the consul, C. Memmius Regulus, (for his colleague was 
a creature of Sejanus,) and to Gr^cinus Laco, the com- 
mander of the watchmen, and arranged with them the plan 



A.D. 31.] TALL OF SEJANUS. 63 

of action. Early in the morning, he went up to the temple 
of the Palatine Apollo, where the senate was to sit that day 
and, meeting Sejanus, and finding him disturbed at Tiberius's 
having sent him no n)essage, he whispered him that he had 
the grant of the tribunitian power for him, Sejanus then 
went in highly elated ; and Macro, showing his commission 
to the guards on duty, and telling them that he had letters 
promising them a largess, sent them down to their camp, and 
put the watchmen about the temple in their stead. He then 
entered the temple, and, having delivered the letter to the 
consuls, immediately went out again, and, leaving Laco to 
watch the progress of events there, hastened down to the 
camp, lest there should be a mutiny of the guards. 

The letter was long and ambiguous; it contained nothing 
direct against Sejanus, but first treated of something else, 
then came to a little complaint of him, then to some other 
matter, then it returned to him again, and so on ; it conclu- 
ded by saying that two senators, who were most devoted to 
Sejanus, ought to be punished, and himself be cast into 
prison ; for, though Tiberius wished most ardently to have 
him executed, he did not venture to order his death, fearing 
a rebellion. He even implored them in the letter to send 
one of the consuls with a guard to conduct him, now an old 
man and desolate, into their presence. We are further told 
that such were his apprehensions, that he had given orders, 
in case of a tumult, to release hrs grandson Drusus, who 
was in chains at Rome, and put him at the head of those 
who remained faithful to his family ; and that he took his 
station on a lofty rock, watching for the signals that were 
to be made, having ships ready to carry him to some of the 
legions, in case any thing adverse should occur. 

His precautions, however, were needless. Before the letter 
was read, the senators, expecting to hear nothing but the 
praises of Sejanus and the grant of the tribunitian power, 
were loud in testifying their zeal toward him ; but, as the 
reading proceeded, their conduct sensibly altered ; their 
looks were no longer the same ; even some of those who 
were sitting near him rose and left their seats ; the praetors 
and tribunes cbsed round him, lest he should rush out and 
try to raise the guards, as he certainly would have done, had 
not the letter been composed with such consummate artifice. 
He was in fact so thunderstruck, that it was not till the 
consul had called him the third time that he was able to 
reply. All then joined in reviling and insulting him' he 



64 TIBERIUS. [a. D. 31. 

was conducted to the prison by the consul and the oth- 
^r magistrates. As he passed along, the populace poured 
curses and abuse on him ; they cast down his statues, cut the 
heads off of them, and dragged them about the streets. The 
senate, seeing this disposition of the people, and finding that 
the guards remained quiet, met in the afternoon in tlje tem- 
ple of Concord, close to the prison, and condemned him to 
death. lie was executed without delay ; his lifeless body 
was flung down the Gemoriian steps, and for three days it 
was exposed to every insult from the populace; it was then 
cast into the Tiber.* His children also were put to death : 
his little daughter, who was to have been the bride of the 
prince's grand-nephew, was so young and innocent, that, as 
they carried her to prison, she kept asking what she had 
done, and whither they were dragging her, adding that she 
would do so no more, and that she might be whipped if 
naughty. Nay, by one of those odious refinements of bar- 
barity which trample on justice and humanity while adhering 
to the letter of the law, because it was a thing unheard of 
for a virgin to be capitally punished, the executioner was 
made to deflower the child before he strangled her. Apica- 
ta, the divorced wife of Sejanus, on hearing of the death of 
her children, and seeing afterwards their lifeless bodies on 
the steps, went home ; and, having written to Tiberius a full 
account of the true manner of the death of Drusus, and 
of the guilt of Livilla, pat an end to herself. In conse- 
quence of this discovery, Livilla, and all who were concerned 
in that murder, were put to death. 

The rage of the populace was also vented on the friends of 
Sfcjanus, and many of them were slaughtered. The praeto- 
rian guards, too, enraged at being suspected, and at the 
watchmen being preferred to them, began to burn and plun- 
der houses. The senators were in a state of the utmost per- 
turbation, some trembling on account of their having paid 
court to Sejunus, others, who had been accusers or witnesses, 
from not knowing how their conduct might be taken. All, 
however, conspired in heaping insult on the memory of the 
fallen favorite. 

Tiberius, now free from all apprehension, gave loose tc 
his vengeance. From his island retreat he issued his orders, 
and the prison was filled with the friends and creatures of 

* See the graphic picture of the fall of Sejanus in Juvenal, Sat. x 
66, sej. 



A. D. 32—33.] SEJANUS'S FRIENDS 6Sl 

Sejanus; the baleful pack of informers was unkennelled, 
and their victims of both sexes were hunted to death. Some 
were executed in prison ; others were flung from the Capitol ; 
the lifeless remains were exposed to every kind of indignity, 
and then cast into the river. Most, however, chose a volun- 
tary death ; for they thus not only escaped insult and pain, 
but pr-^served their property for their children. 

In the following year, (32,) Tiberius ventured to leave his 
island, and sail up the Tiber as far as Csesar's gardens; but 
suddenly, no one knew why, he retreated again to his soli- 
tude, whence by letters he directed the course of cruelty at 
Rome. The commencement of one was so remarkable that 
historians have thought »t deserving of a place in their works ; 
it ran thus : " What I shall write to you, P. C, or how I shall 
write, or what I shall not write, at this time, may the gods and 
goddesses destroy me worse than I daily feel myself perishing, 
if I know."* A knight named M. Terentius, at this time, 
when accused of the new crime of Sejanus's friendship, had 
the courage to adopt a novel course of defence. Tie boldly 
acknowledged the charge, but justified his conduct by saying 
that he had only followed the example of the prince, whom it 
was their duty to imitate. The senate acquitted him, and 
punished his accusers with exile or death, and Tiberius ex- 
pressed himself well pleased at the decision. But, in the suc- 
ceeding year, (33,) his cruelty, joined with avarice, (a vice 
new to him,) broke out with redoubled violence. Tired of 
murdering in detail, he ordered a general massacre of all who 
lay in prison on account of their connection with Sejanus. 
Without distinction of age, sex, or rank, they were slaugh- 
tered ; their friends dared not to approach, or even be seen to 
shed tears ; and as their putrefying remains floated along the 
Tiber, no one might venture to touch or to burn them. 

The deaths ofhis grandson Drusus, and his daughter-in- 
law Agrippina, were added to the atrocities of this year. 
The former perished by the famine to which he was destined, 
after he had sustained life till the ninth day by eating the 
stuffing of his bed. The tyrant then had the shamelessness 

* Suet. Tib. 67. Tac. Ann. vi. 6. " Adeo," adds Tacitus, « facinora 
dtque flagitia auaipei quoque in suppliciura verterant. Neque frustra 
prffistantissimus sapientios [Plato] firniare solitus est, si recludantur 
tyrannorum mentes posse aspici laniatus et ictus ; quando ut corpora 
verberibus, ita sisvitia, libidine, mails consultis animus dilaceretur : 
quippe Tiberium non fortuna non eolitudines protegebant quin tor 
menta pectoris suasque ipse poenas fateretur." 

G* 1 



66 TIBERIUS. [a. d. 33-37 

to cause to be read in the senate the diary which had been 
kept of every thing the unhappy youth had said or done for 
a course of years, and of the indignities which he had endured 
from the slaves and guards who were set about him. Agrip- 
pir.a had cherished hopes of meeting with justice after the 
fall of Sejanus ; but, finding them frustrated, she resolved tp 
starve herself to death. Tiberius, when informed, ordered 
food to be forced down her throat; but she finally accom- 
plished her purpose : he then endeavored to defame her mem- 
ory by charging her with unchastity. As her death occurred 
on the same day as that of Sejanus, two years before, he di- 
rected it to be noted ; and he took to himself as a merit that 
he had not caused her to be strangled or cast down the Ge- 
monian steps. The obse(|uious senate returned him thanks 
for his clemency, and decreed that, on the 18th of October, 
the day of both their deaths, an offering in gold should be 
made to Jupiter. 

The Caesarian family was now reduced to Claudius, the 
brother, and Caius, the son of Germanicus, and his three 
daughters, Agrippina, Drusilla, and Livilla, (whom Tiberius 
had given in marriage respectively to Cri. Domitius, L. Cas- 
eins, and M. Vinicius,) and Tiberius and Julia, the children 
of Drusus, which last had been married to her cousin Nero, 
and now was given in marriage to Rubellius Blandus. 

From his very outset in life, Tiberius had been obliged 
more or less to conceal his natural character. Augustus, 
Germanicus, Drusus, his mother, had successively been a 
check on him ; and even Sejanus, though the agent of his 
cruelty, had been the cause of his lusts being restrained.* 
But now all barriers were removed ; for Caius was so abject 
a slave to him, thai he modelled himself on his character 
and his words, only seeking to conceal his own vices. t He 
therefore now at length gave free course to all his vicious 
propensities ; and it almost chills the blood to read the details 
of the horrid practices in which he indulged amidst the rocks 
of Capreae. Meantime there was no relaxation of his cruelty ; 
Macro was as bad as Sejanus, only more covertly ; there was 
no lack of delators, and men of rank perished daily. 

Nature, however, at last began to give way. He had quit- 
ted his island, and approached to within seven miles of Rome, 
(37 ;) but terrified, it is said, by a prodigy, he did not ven 
tare to enter the city. As he was or his way back to Cam 

• Tic. Ann. vi. 51. t Id. ib. 20 



A. D. 33.] LAST ILLNESS OF TIBERIUS. 67 

pania, he fell sick at Astura ; having recovered a little, ho 
went on to Circeii, where, to conceal his condition, he ap« 
peared at the public games, and even flung darts at a wild 
boar which was turned out into the arena. The effort, how- 
ever, exhausted him, and he became worse ; still he went 
on, and reached the former abode of Lucullus at Misenum. 
Each day he lay at table and indulged as usual. A physi- 
cian named Charicles, under pretence of taking leave, one 
evening contrived to feel his pulse. Tiberius perceived his 
object, and, ordering more dishes up, lay longer than usual, 
under the pretext of doing honor to his departing friend ; but 
Charicles was not to be deceived; he told Macro that he 
could not last two days, and measures were forthwith taken 
for securing the succession of Caius. On the 16th of March, 
he swooned away, and appeared to be dead. Caius was con- 
gratulated by most of those present, and was preparing to 
assume the imperial power, when word was brought that 
Tiberius had revived and called for food. All slank away, 
feigning grief or ignorance : Caius remained in silence, ex- 
pecting his fate, when Macro boldly ordered clothes to be 
heaped on him; and Tiberius thus was smothered to death, 
in the 78th year of his age. 



CHAPTER IV.* 

CAIUS JULIUS C^SAR CALIGULA. 

A. V. 790—794. A. D. 37—41. 

ACCESSION OF CAIUS. HIS VICES AND CRUELTY. BRIDGE 

OVER THE BAY OF BAIiE. HIS EXPEDITION TO GERMANV. 

HIS MAD CAPRICES. HIS DEATH. 

The intelligence of the death of Tiberius diffused univer^ 
sal joy. The memory of Germanicus, and the hard fate of 
his family, recurred to men's minds, and led them to think 
favorably of his son, and to conceive hopes of happiness 

* Authorities : Suetonius and Dio i. 



6^3 CAius. [a. d. 37 

under his dominion. As Caius,* therefore, in a mourning 
habit, and in attendance on the corpse of his grandfather 
moved from Misenum to Rome, joyful crowds poured forth 
to meet him, altars were raised and victims slain on the way, 
and the most endearing epithets greeted him as he passed 
aiong.t 

When he reached Rome, he proceeded to the senate-house, 
and the will of the late prince was opened and read. It ap- 
peared that he had left Caius and Tiberius tlie son of Drusus 
joint heirs ; but the will was at once set aside, under the pre- 
text of the testator not having been in his right mind, and 
the sole power was conferred on Caius, so entirely with the 
public approbation, that it was computed that in less than 
three months upwards of 1CU,000 victims were slain in testi- 
mony of the general joy. Caius, in return, was lavish of pro- 
fessions, assuring the senate that he would siiure his power 
with them, and do every thing that pleased them, calling 
himself their son and foster-ciiild. He then released all who 
were in prison on charges of treason, and he burned (or 
rather pretended to do so) all the papers relating to them 
which Tiberius had left behind him, saying that he did so in 
order that, if he should feel ill disposed toward any one on 
account of his mother and brothers, he might not have it in 
his power to gratify his vengeance. 

As soon as he had celebrated the obsequies of his grand- 
father, whose funeral oration he pronounced himself, he got 
on shipboard, and, though the weather was tempestuous, 
passed over to the isles of Pandateria and Pontia ; and, hav- 
ing collected, and with lus own hand inurned the ashes of his 
mother and brother, he brought them to Rome, and deposited 
them in the Mausoleum of Augustus. He appointed annual 
religious rites in their honor ; he directed the month of Sep- 
tember to be called Gerinanicus, after his father ; he caused 
all the honors, which had ever been bestowed on Livia Au- 
gusta, to be conferred, by one decree, on his grandmother 
Antonia; he made his uncle Claudius, who had hitherto been 
in the equestrian order, his colleague in the consulate; he 
adopted his cousin Tiberius the day he took the virile toga, 
and named him Prince of the Youth ; he caused his sisters' 

* So he i3 called by all the historians. For the origrn of his sattbri 
quet " Caligula," see above, p. 44. 

t " Fausta otnina sidus et pidlum et puppum et tUumnum appellao 
tiuin.' Suet. Cal 13. 



1. D. 38.] FIRST ACTS OF CAIUS. 69 

names to be associated with his own in oaths and other so- 
lemnities.* 

He drove from the city all the ministers of the monstrous 
lusts of Tiberius, being with difficulty withheld from drown- 
ing them. He permitted the works of Cremutius Cordus and 
others to be made public. He gave the people abundance 
of public shows, and he distributed to them and the soldiers 
all the money that had been left them by Tiberius and Livia 
Augusta. 

Such was Caius in the first months of his reign. He then 
had a severe fit of illness, in consequence of which his intel- 
lect, it would seem, became disordered, for his remaining 
acts were those of a madman ; and the world witnessed the 
dreadful sight of a monster, devoid of reason, possessed of 
unlimited power. There, however, seems to have beeji no 
reason to expect that, under any circumstances, Caius would 
have made a good prince; he was already stained with every 
vice. While yet a boy, he was, it was said, guilty of incest 
with his sister Drusilia. On the death of his wife, Junia 
Claudilla, the daughter of M. Silanus, he formed an adulter- 
ous connection with Ennia, the wife of Macro, and gave her 
an engagement to marry her if he should attain the empire. 
Though he conducted himself with the most consummate 
dissimulation, and manifested such obsequiousness to Tibe- 
rius as gave occasion to the well-known saying of Passienus, 
that " there never was a better slave nor a worse master," 
yet the sagacious old prince saw his real character ; and, as 
Caius was one day in his presence speaking with contempt 
of Sulla, he told him that he would have all Sulla's vices and 
none of his virtues ; he also said at times that Caius lived for 
his own destruction and that of all others, and that in him 
he was rearing a serpent for the Roman people and a Phae- 
thon for the earth. 

One of the first acts of Caius, after his restoration to 
health, was to put his cousin Tiberius to death, under the 
pretext of his having prayed that he might not recover. He 
also forced his father-in-law, Silanus, to terminate his own 
life, because he had not accompanied him on his late voyage, 
pretending that he intended to occupy the empire if any 
thing adverse had befallen him, though Silanus's only reason 

* " Auctor fuit ut omnjbus sacramentis adjiceretur, Keque me libe- 
rosquc rnr.os airiores hahrbo qiiam Caium sororesque ejus. Item rela- 
tionibus consuluin. Quorf bonum felixque sit C. Casari so^orihisqut 
tjus.'' Suet. Cal. 15, 



70 CAios. [a. r 38. 

had been dislike of the sea. A knight had vowed to fight as 
a gladiator, and another person to die, if Cuius should re- 
cover ; and, instead of rewarding them as they expected, he 
forced them to perform their vows. 

Thus passed the first nine months of Caius's rule. He be- 
gan the next year (38) auspiciously, by directing that the 
accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the revenue should 
be made public, according to the practice adopted by Augus- 
tus, but intermitted by Tiberius. lie also revised the eques- 
trian order, removing unworthy members, and introducing men 
of birth and property. He restored to the people the right of 
election, and abolished the excise duty of one per cent. — 
measures, however, both, it is said, condemned by men of 
sense, who deemed that no good could arise from giving 
power to those wlio knew not how to exercise it, and from 
diminishing without cause the regular revenue of the state. 

On the other hand, he sliowcd the natural ferocity of hi*? 
disposition by the delight with which he regarded the mas- 
sacres of the amphitheatre, where, on one occasion, the num- 
ber of condcnmed persons who were to be exposed to the 
wild beasts proving short, he ordered some of th(! spectators 
to be seized and cast to them, having previously cut out 
their tongues, to prevent their crying out or reproaching him. 
He made Macro and his wife, Eimia, be their own execu- 
tioners, and he put to death numbers of persons on the 
charge of having been the enemies of his parents or his 
brothers, producing against them the very papers which he 
pretended to have burnt. It was in fact the desire to gain 
possession of their properties that was his motive; for the 
vast treasures accumulated by Tiberius had already been 
dissipated. 

Caius had renewed his incestuous commerce with his sis- 
ter Drusilla, whom he took from her husband, L. Cassias, 
and then married to M. Lepidus, also the partaker in his 
vices. She died, however, in the course of the year ; and 
nothing could exceed the grief which he manifested. He 
gave her a magnificent public funeral, and proclaimed so 
strict a Justitmm, that it was a capital offence to laugh, 
bathe, or dine with one's own family or relations. All the 
honors which had been conferred on Livia were decreed to 
her ; her statue was placed in the senate-house and forum. 
A temple was built and priests appointed in her honor ; 
women, in giving testimony, were to swear by her divinity; 
a festival like that <»f the Mother of the Gods was to be cele- 



A. D. 39 J CAIUs's PROFLIGACY. 71 

brated on her birthday, and under the name of Panthea she 
received divine honors in alJ the cities of the empire. A 
senator named Livius Geminius obtained a large reward by 
swearing, imprecating destruction on himself and his chil- 
dren if he lied, that he saw her ascending into heaven and 
mingling with the gods. Caius, in the first vehemence of 
his grief, fled from Rome in the night, and never stopped 
till he reached Syracuse, whence he returned with his hair 
and beard grown to a great length. His oath ever after, 
when addressing the people or the soldiers, was by the deity 
ofDrusilla. He lived in an incestuous commerce with his 
other sisters also, and at meals they used to lie by turns be- 
low him in the triclinium, while his wife lay above ; yet he 
used to prostitute them to the ministers of his lusts. 

His first wife, after he came to the empire, was Livia 
Orestilla; this lady was married to C. Piso ; but Caius, when 
invited to the nuptial feast, took a fancy to her, and saying 
to Piso, " Do not touch my wife," carried her off; and next 
day he issued an edict, saying " that he had purveyed him a 
wife after the fashion of Romulus and Augustus." Within 
a few days, however, he divorced her ; and, two years after, he i = 

banished her for having resumed her intimacy with her first )\ 

husband. Hearing the beauty of the grandmother of Lollia \\ 

Paullina praised, he summoned that lady from the province «! 

where her husband, Memmius Regulus, was in the command J 

of the troops, and, having obliged Regulus to divorce her^ he | 

made her his wife. k | 

The following year (39) witnessed the same scenes of 
cruelty and of reckless extravagance ; it was distinguished 
by the novel caprice of bridging over the sea from Baire to | I 

Puteoli, a space of more than three miles and a half All 
kinds of craft were collected, so that, in consequence of the 
want of foreign corn, a great scarcity prevailed throughout 
Italy ; and, these not proving sufficient, a large number were 
built for the purpose : they were anchored in two lines, and \ 

timber laid across them, and a way thus formed similar to 
the Appian road. Places for rest and refreshment were 
erected at regular distances, and pipes laid for conveying 
fresh water. When all was completed, Caius, putting on the 
breastplate (as it was said to be) of Alexander the Great, a 
military cloak of purple silk adorned with gold and precious 
stones, and girding on a sword, and grasping a shield, his 
brows crowned with oak, and having previously sacrificed 
to Neptune and some other gods, (particularly to Envy, to 



escape her influence,) entered the bridge from Br iae, mount- 
'i ed on a stately horse, aiid followed by horse and foot hi 

I warJike array, and, passing along rapidly, entered Puteoli as 

* a captured city. Having rested there as after a battle, he 

I returned the next day along the bridge in a two-horsed 

[ chariot, drawn by the most famous winning hcyses of the 

I circus. Spoils and captives (among whom was Darius, aa 

I Arsacid, one of the Parthian hostages then at Rome) pre- 

I ceded the sham conqueror ; his friends followed in chariots, 

I and the troops brought up the rear. The glorious victor 

I ascended a tribunal erected on a ship about the centre of the 

I bridge, and harangued and extolled his triumphant warriors. 

' He then caused a banquet to be spread on the bridge as if 

f) it were an island, and, all who were to partake of it crowding 

r round it in vessels of every kind, the rest of the day and 

^ the whole of the night were spent in feasting and revelry. 

R Lights shone from the bridge and the vessels ; the hills 

I which enclose the bay were illumined with lires and torches; 

I the whole seemed one vat<t theatre, and night converted 

F into day, as sea was into land. But the monster, for whose 

I gratification all these effects had been produced, could not 

I refrain from indulging his innate ferocity. When his spirits 

I were . elevated with meat and wine, he caused several of 

I those who were with him on the bridge to be flung into the 

I sea, and then, getting into a beaked ship, he sailed to and fro, 

jj striking and sinking the vessels which lay about the bridge, 

' filled with revellers. Some were drowned; but, owing to 

the calmness of i\\^ sea, the greater part, though they were 
drunk, escaped. 

Various causes were assigned for this road freak of bridg- 
ing over the sea. Some ascribed it, and probably with rea- 
son,, to the wish to surpass Xerxes; others said that his 
object was to strike with awe of his power the Germans and 
jBritons, whose countricsheimeditated to invade. Suetonius 
), pays that,' when a boy, he heard from his grandfather that the 

reason assigned by the people of the palace was a desire to 
give t"he He to a declaration of the astrologer Trasyllns, who, 
pn being consulted by Tiberius about the succession, had 
5aid that " Cuius would no more reign than he would drive 
Jiorses tfirough the Bay of Baia>," 

Whatever was the cause, the effect was the destruction of 
an additional number of the Roman nobility, for the sake of 
(Confiscating their properties, in order to replace the euor- 
^uous si^ms which the bridge had absorbed. When Rome 



I 



k. D. 39.] GERMAN EXPEDITION. 73 

and Italy had been thus tolerably well exhausted of their 
wealth, the tyrant resolved to pillage in like manner the i 

opulent provinces of Gaul, and then those of Spain. Under I 'i 

the pretext of repelling the Germans, he suddenly collected j f 

an army, and set out for Gaul, going sometimes so rapidly | ( 

that the praetorian cohorts were obliged to put their stand- I I 

ards on the beasts of burden, at other times having himself \ i 

carried in a litter, and the people of the towns on the way i i 

being ordered to sweep and water the roads before him. He 'i ] 

was attended by a large train of women, gladiators, dancers, j | 

running-horses, and the other instruments of his luxury. ] I 

When he reached the camp of the legions, he affected the \ \ 

'haracter of a strict commander, dismissing with ignominy | I 

fuch of the legates as brought up the auxiliary contingents i' I 

filowly. He then turned to robbing both officers and men, ' f 

by dismissing them a little before they were entitled to their '[ \ 

discharge, and cutting down the pensions of the rest to 1 1 

6900 sesterces. 1 1 

The son of Cinobellinus, a British prince, who was ban- .^ j 

ished by his father, having come and made his submission 1 1 

to him, he wrote most magniloquent letters to Rome, as if 1 1 

the whole island had submitted. He crossed the Rhine as \\ 

if in quest of the German foes ; but some one happening to 1 1 

siy, as the troops were engaged in a narrow way, that there 'i | 

would be no little consternation if the enemy should then ap- \l 

pear, he sprang from his chariot in a fright, mounted his 1 1 

horse, and gallopped back to the bridge, and, finding it filled I \ 

with the men and beasts of the baggage-train, he scrambled ji \ 

over their heads to get beyond the river. On anothe"- occd- 1 1 

sion, he ordered some of his German guards to conceal them- | | 

selves on the other side of the Rhinfe, and intelligence to be x | 

brought to him, as he sat at dinner, that the enemy was at \ I 

hand; he sprang up, mounted his horse, and, followed by his \ I 

friends and part of the guards, rode into the adjoining wood, [l | 

and, cutting the trees and forming a trophy, returned with it f. l 

to the camp by torch-light. He then reproached the cow- | | 

ardice of those who had not shared his toils and dangers, and ( I 

rewarded with what he called exploratory/ croivns those who I | 

had accompanied him. Again, he took the young German f | 

hostages from their school, and, having secretly sent them on, I 1 

l>e jumped up from a banquet, pursued them, as if they were I | 
running away, with a body of cavalry, and brought them 

back in chains. In an edict he severely rebuked the senate i 

and people of Rome for holding banquets, and frequenting [ j 

CONTIN. 7 J 



74 CAius. [a. d. 39. 

theatres and delicious retreats, while Caesar was tarrying on 
I war, and exposed to such dangers. 

I (i His invasion of Britain was, if possible, still more ridicu- 

I I lous. He marched his troops to the coast, and drew them 
up witii all their artillery on the strand. He then got aboard 
of a g;illey, and, going a little way out to sea, returned, and, 
ascending a lofty tribunal, gave the signal for battle, and, at 
the sound of trumpets, ordered them to charge the ocean, 
and gatlier its shells as spoils due to the Capitol and Pala- 
tiuin. He bestowed a large donative on his victorious 
troops, and built a lighthouse to commemorate the conquest 

I of ocean. 
Meantime he was not neglectful of the purpose for which 

5 he came. He pillaged indiscriminately, and put to death 

ij numbers whose only crime was their wealth. One day, 

:! when he was playing at dice, he discovered that his money 

ij was out ; he retired, and, calling for the census of the Gauls, 

.' selected the names of the richest men in it, ordering them to 

i be put to death ; then, returning to his company, he said, 

II " Yim are playing for a few denars, but 1 have collected a 
M hundred and fifty millions." He afterwards caused the most 
!( precious jewels and other possessions of the monarchy to be 
d sent to him, and put them up to auction, saying, " This was 
\ my father's ; this was my mother's ; this Egyptian jewel be- 
3 longed to Antonius; this to Augustus ; " and so on, at the 
|i same time declaring that distress alone caused him to sell 
)j them. The buyers were of course obliged to give far beyoi>d 
^ the real value of the articles. 

t Among those put to death while be was in Gaul was M. 

!; Lepidus, the husband of his beloved Drusilla, and the sharer 

j! in all his vices and debaucheries. The pretext was a con- 

spiracy of Lepidus with Livilla and Agrippina against his 
j life. He wrote to the senate in the most opprobrious terms 

5 of his sisters, whom he banished to the Pontian isles. As he 

■i was seuding them back to Italy for this purpose, he obliged 

I Agrippina to carry the whole way in her bosom the urn 

J I whicli contained the ashes of Lepidus. To commemorate 

I his escape, he sent three daggers to be consecrated to Mars 

I the Avenger. 

j At this time also he put away Lollia PauUina, under the 

( pretext of her infecundity, and married Milonia Caesonia, a 

woman neither handsome nor young, and of the most disso< 
lute habits, and the mother already of three daughters. She 
was at the time so far gone with child by him that she was 



11 



11 



A. D. 40.] CAIUS IN GAUL. 75- 

delivered of a daughter immediately after her marriage. He 
loved her ardently as long as he lived ; he used to exhibit 
her naked to his friends, and take her riding about with him 
through the ranks of the soldiery, arrayed in a cloak, helmet, 
and light buckler. Yet he would at times, in his fondness, 
protest that he would put her to the rack to make her tell 
why he loved her so much. 

Before he left Gaul, (40,) he proposed to massacre the 
legions which had mutinied against his father. He was dis- 
suaded from this course ; but nothing would withhold him 
from decimating them, at the least. He therefore called them 
together unarmed, and surrounded them with his cavalry ; 
but, wiien he observed that they suspected his design, and 
were gradually slipping away to resume their arms, he lost 
courage, and, flying from the camp, hastened back to Rome, 
breathing vengeance against the senate. To the deputies, sent 
to entreat him to hasten his return, his words were, " I will 
come — I will come ; and this with me," striking the hilt ot 
his sword ; and he declared that the senate would find him 
in future neither a citizen nor a prince. He entered Rome 
in ovation instead of triumph on his birthday, (Aug. 31,) the 
last he was to witness; for the measure of his guilt was full, 
and the patience of mankind nearly exhausted. 

It may be worth while to notice some of the acts of which 
a madman possessed of absolute power was capable. 

Caius declared himself to be a god, and had a temple 
erected to his deity, in which stood a golden statue of him, 
habited each day as he was himself. Peacocks, pheasants, 
and other rare birds, were offered in sacrifice every day : his 
wife CfEsouia, his uncle Claudius, and some persons of great 
wealth, (who had to purchase the office at a high rate,) wero 
the priests. He added himself and his horse Incitatus to the 
college. He appeared in the habit find with the insignia 
sometimes of one, sometimes of another god or goddess. He 
used to invite the moon, when shining full and bright, to de- 
scend to his embraces. He would enter the temple of the 
Capitoline Jupiter, and engage in confidential discourse, as 
it were, with the god, sometimes even chiding or threatening 
him. Being invited, he said, to share the abode of that 
deity, he threw a bridge, for the purpose, over the Forum, 
from the Palatium to the Capitol, It would be endless to 
relate all his freaks of this kind. 

He devised new and extraordinary taxes. He laid an im- 
post on all kinds of eatables; he demanded two and a half 



76 cXius. [a. d. 40. 

per cent, on all lawsuits, and severely punished all those 
who compounded their actions. Porters were required to pay 
an eighth of their daily earnings ; prostitutes were taxed in 
a similar manner. He even opened a brothel in his palace, 
which he filled with respectable women, and sent persons 
through the Forum inviting people to resort to it. When 
his daughter was born, he complained bitterly of his pov- 
erty, and received presents for her support and dower. On 
new year's day, he used to stand at the porch to receive the 
gifts which were brought to him. He would often walk 
barefoot on heaps of gold coin, or lie down and roll himself 
on them. 

His natural cruelty made him delight in the combats of 
gladiators : he was equally fond of chariot-races; and, as he 
chose to favor the sea-colored faction, he used to cause the 
best drivers and horses of their rivals (the green) to be poi- 
soned. I He was so fond of one of his own horses named 
Incitatus, that he used to invite him to dinner, give him 
gilded barley and wine out of golden cups, and swear by his 
safety and his fortune ; and he was only prevented by death 
from raising him to the consulate. 

One day, at a show of gladiators, he ordered the awning, 
which screened the spectators from the burning rays of the 
sun, to be withdrawn, and forbade any one to be let go out. 
Another time, when the people applauded contrary to his 
wishes, he cried out, " O that the Roman people had but 
one neck ! " 

A conspiracy at length delivered the world from the mon- 
ster who thus oppressed it. The principal freedmen and 
officers of the guards were concerned iti it ; they were actu- 
ated by a principle of self-preservation, and not by any patri- 
otic views or generous aspirations after the liberty and 
happiness of the Roman people. t was, in effect, such a 
conspiracy as most usually occurs m absolute and despotic 
governments.* The most active agents were Cassius Chre- 
rea and Cornelius Sabinus, two tribunes of the guards, 
who had private motives of revenge, in particular Cas- 
sius, whom, though advanced in years, and a man of great 
strength and courage, Caius used to term effeminate, and to 
give Venn? or Priapus, or some such lascivious term, when 
he came to h.m for the watchword. 



* A very ciicurrjstantial accountof the murder of Cni us, 
Ession of Clajdius, is given by Josephus, Antiq. xix. 1 — 4 



and the 6U« 



i.. D. 41.] DEATH OF CAIUS. TII' 

On the 24th of January, (41,) a little after noon, though 
his stomach was suffering from the effects of the previous 
day's excess, Caius yielded to the instances of his friends, 
and was proceeding from the theatre, where he had passed 
the morning, to the dining-room. As he was going along 
the vaulted passage leading to it, he stopped to inspect some 
boys of noble birth from Ionia, whom he had caused to 
come to Rome to sing in public a hymn made in his honor. 
While thus engaged, he was fallen on and slain by Chjerea, 
Sabinus, and other officers of the guards. A centurion, by 
the order of Chaerea, killed, in the course of the night, his 
wife, Ca3sonia, and the brains of their infant daughter were 
dashed out against a wall. Such was the end of this execra- 
ble tyrant, in the twenty-ninth year of his age, after a reign 
of somewhat less than four years. After his death, there 
were found in his cabinet two books, the one having for its 
title the Sword, the other the Dagger, and containing the 
names of those whom he intended to put to death. There 
was also discovered a large chest full of all kinds of poisons. 



ill 



-L 



CHAPTER v.* 
TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS DRUSUS CiESAR. 
A. u. 794—807. A. D. 41—55. 

ACCESSION OF CLAUDIUS. HIS CHARACTER. HIS USEFUL 

MEASURES. MESSALINA AN'D THE FREEDMEN. HER 

LUST AND CRUELTY. CLAUDIUS IN BRITAIN. VICIOU3 

CONDUCT OF MESSALINA. HER DEATH. — CLAUDIUS MAR- 
RIES AGRIPPINA. IS POISONED BY HER. 

As soon as the death of Caius was known, the cohsuls'set 
guards throughout the city, and assembled the senate on the 
Capitol, where the remainder of the day and all the night 
were spent in deliberation ; some wishing to reestablish the 
republic, others to continue the monarchy. But while they 
were deliberating, the question had been already determined 
in the camp of the praetorian cohorts. 

(\l .!>Hl' 

* Authorities: Tacitus, Suetoniud, ahd' Dion. 



78 



CLAUDIUS. 



[a. D. 41 



Whtn Caius was slain, his uncle Claudius, in his terror, 
hid himself behind the door curtains of one of the rooms. A 
common soldier, who was running through tl)e palace in 
quest of j)liinder, happening to see his feet under the cur- 
tain, dragged him out. Claudius fell on his knees, suing 
for mercy; but the soldier, recognizing him, saluted him em- 
peror, and led him to his comrades, vvlio placed him in a 
litter, and carried him, trembling for his life, to their camp. 
The consuls sent the tribunes of the people to summon him 
as a senator to come and give his presence at their delibera- 
tions ; but he replied that he was detained by force. In the 
morning, however, finding the troops unanimous in their 
design of conferring the supreme power on him, he con- 
sented to accept it, promising them a gratuity of 15,000 
sesterces a man — thus introducing the pernicious practice 
of bargaining for the support of the guards. The senate, 
unable to agree among themselves, finding the people indif- 
ferent, and being deserted by the urban cohorts, abandoned 
the futile project of restoring the republic, and quietly yield- 
ed submission to the behest of the soldiery. 

Tiberius Claudius Drusus Cssar, who was thus unexpect- 
edly raised to empire, was the younger brother of Germani- 
cus. lie was from infancy of a sickly, delicate constitu- 
tion, and the disease of his body affected his mind. His 
mother, Antonia, used to call him a portent of a man begun 
but not completed by nature; and when she would describe 
any one as particularly stupid, she would say he was a great- 
er fool than her son Claudius. His grandmother Livia 
held him in the most supreme contempt. Augustus had so 
mean an opinion of him, that he would not confer on him 
any of the honors of the state. Tiberius treated him in a 
similar manner. Caius, in the first days of his reign, made 
him his colleague in the consulate; but it was only his con- 
tempt for his folly (which Claudius cunningly affected be- 
yond nature) that saved him from sharing the fate of so 
many better men. 

Mental ability is very distinct from good sense and wis- 
dom. It need not therefore surprise us to learn that this 
prince, whose name in his own family was synonymous vvith 
stupidity, was learned, and wrote with ease and elegance in 
both the Greek and Latin languages.* He also, as is usual- 
ly the case with such persons, exhibited occasional glimpses 



' Suetonius (Claud. 41) speaks rather favorably of his aistrirical 
wn tings. He seems to have been honest and impartial. 



A; D. 42.] ACTS OF CLAUDIUS. 79 

of shrewdness and sagacity, and made just ojservations, and 
conceived or proposed judicious plans. In fact, in examin- 
ing tlie history and character of Claudius, one is often re- 
minded of James I. of England, though the advantage, it 
must be allowed, is greatly on the side of the British mon- 
arch. 

The first act of Claudius was to declare a full and com- 
plete amnesty (to which he faithfully adhered) of all that 
had been said and done in the last two days. He executed, 
however, Cha3rea, and some of the other assassins of Caius, 
not out of regard to him, but to deter others from attempt- 
ing the life of an emperor ; Sabinus died by his own hand. 
Claudius exhibited no enmity against those who had injured 
or insulted him in the two last reigns, of wliom the number 
was necessarily not small. He entirely abolished the law 
of treason ; and, taking the Sword and Dagger, and all the 
papers which Caius had pretended to burn, he showed them 
to the senate, and, letting them see the names of the writers, 
and of the persons against whom they were written, burned 
them in good earnest. While he sedulously abolished all the 
wild innovations of Caius, he was anxious to have all kinds 
of honors bestowed on the memory of his family. He re- 
called his nieces Agrippina and Livilla from their exile, and 
restored to them their property. 

Claudius, who was fifty years of age, and whose life had 
been passed chiefly in the study of antiquity, understood and 
wished to coiiforuj as much as possible to the forms of the 
ancient constitution. He declined to use the prEenomen 
emperor ; be refused excessive honors ; he celebrated the 
weddings of his two daughters as if he had been a simple citi- 
zen ; he did nothing of public import without the authority 
of the senate ; he showed all due marks of respect to the 
consuls and the other magistrates. By this conduct, he so 
won the popular favor, that, when one time he went to Ostia, 
and a rumor was spread that he had been assassinated, the 
people assembled and poured their maledictions on the sen- 
ate and the guards, as murderers and traitors, and were not 
pacified till they were assured by the magistrates of his 
safety. 

In the second year of his reign, (42,) Claudius commenced 
a work of great utility, but of enormous expense. For many 
years past, tillage had been so completely abandoned in Ita- 
ly, that nearly all the corn that was used in Rome was im- 
ported from Africa and Sicily. But, as there were no secure 



80 CLAUDIUS. [a. d. 4% 

ports or lan4ing>-places at the mouth of the Tiber, the sup- 
plies could only be brought in during the fine season ; and, if 
a sufficient quantity was not then warehoused for the winter's 
consumption, a famine was the sure consequence. To rem- 
edy this evil, Claudius, undeterred by the magnitude of the 
estimate given in by the surveyors, resolved to construct a 
port at Ostia. It was formed in the following manner : A 
large basin was dug in the land, on the right bank of the 
river, and the sea let into it ; two extensive moles were then 
run out into the sea, including another large basin, at the 
entrance to which, on an artificial island, stood a Pharos or 
lighthouse to direct vessels into it.* By nienns of this port, 
corn could be brought in at all times (»f the year, and the 
danger of famine in the city was greatly diminished. An- 
other public work, effected by Claudius, was the bringing the 
stream named the New Anio to Rome, and distributing it 
there into a number of handsome reservoirs. He attempted 
a still greater work, namely, the draining of the Fucine lake, 
in the Marsinn country, of which we shall hereafter have 
occasion to speak. Another of his public works was the 
rebuilding of the theatre of Pompeius, which had been de- 
stroyed by fire. 

The conduct of Claudius had been so far commendable ; 
but constancy was not to be expected in a man of his feeble 
character. It was observed that he took immoderate delight 
in the barbarous sports of the amphitheatre, and hence it was 
inferred that he would shed blood without any repugnance ; 
but what caused greater apprehension was his absolute sub- 
mission to his wife and freedmen, of whose will he was 
merely the agent. His wife was Valeria Messalina, the 
daughter of his cousin Barbatus Messala, a woman whose 
name has become proverbial for infamy. His most distin- 
gnish(^d t'reedmen were the eunuch Posidus ; Felix, whom 
he made governor of Judaea, and who had the fortune to be 
the husband of three queens; and Callistus, who retained the 
power which he had acquired under Caius. But far supe- 
rior in point of influence to these were the three secretaries, 
(as we may term them,) Polybius, Narcissus, and Pallas. 
The first was the assistant of his studies, (« sturliis,) and 
ranked so high that he might be often seen walking between 
the two consuls; Narcissus was his private secretary, {ab 

" Dion, ]x. 11. Suet. Claud. SO. Juvenal (Sat. xii. 75,»ej.) altfi de- 
«er'bes this port. 



A D. 42.] MESSALINA AND THE FREEDMEN. 81 

epistolis ;) and Pallas (the brother of Felix) was treasurer, 
(rt rationibus.) The two last were in strict league with 
Messalina; she only sought to gratify her lusts; they longed 
for honors, power, and wealth ; and such were the riches 
they acquired, that when Claudius was one time complain- 
ing of the poverty of his exchequer, some one told him that 
he would be rich enough if he could induce his two freed- 
men to take him into partnership. 

Their plan, when they would have any one put to death, 
was to terrify Claudius (who, like weak people in general, 
was a consmnmate coward) by tales of plots against his life. 
They commenced in his very second year, by assailing C. 
Annaeus Silanus, whom Claudius had summoned from Spain, 
where he was governor, given him in marriage the mother 
of Messalina, and treated him as one of his most intimate 
friends. The abandoned Messalina soon cast an eye of lust 
on her stepfather ; and, on his rejecting her advances, she 
plotted with Pallas to destroy him. Accordingly, Pallas 
came, early one morning, into Claudius's chamber, and told 
him that he had had a dream, in which he saw him slain 
by Silanus. Messalina helped to increase his alarm, and an 
order was obtained for the execution of the innocent no- 
bleman. 

This wanton murder caused general alarm, and was the 
occasion of a conspiracy against Claudius, in whi<5h the 
principal person engaged was Annasus Vinicianus, a man of 
high rank. As he had no force to oppose to the guards, he 
sent to Furius Camillus Scribonianus, who commanded in 
Dalmatia, inviting him to join in the conspiracy, and holding 
out to him a prospect of the empire. Camillus assented ; 
many senators and knights repaired to him ; he took the 
title of emperor, and wrote to Claudius, desiring him to re- 
tire into a private station — a command which the feeble 
prince had thoughts of obeying. Bu. the legions of Ca- 
millus, though at first inclined to second him, when they 
heard him speak of the people, and of ancient liberty, began 
to think that a revolution would not be for their advantage. 
They therefore refused to obey him, and he fled to an island 
off the coast, and put an end to his life. Messalina and the 
freedmen now gave a loose to their passion for blood fjnd for 
plunder. Slaves and freedmen were admitted as witnesses 
against their masters; and, though Claudius had sworn, at 
his accession, that no freeman should be put to the torture, 
knights and senators, citizens and strangers, were tortured 

K 



82 CLAUDIUS. [a. b. 43 

alike. Vinicianus and some others anticipated the execu- 
tioner. Men and women perished alike, and their bodies 
were indiscriminately flung down the Gemonian Steps. 
Yet some, and those of the most guilty, escaped, partly by 
favor, partly by money given to the freedmen ; and the cliil- 
dren, without exception, of those who perished remained 
uninjured ; some even obtained part of the property of their 
family. 

Among those who suffered, there wore two whose cases 
are deserving of notice. Gala^sus, a freedman of Camillus, 
when brought before Claudius and the senate, exhibited 
great constancy and courage. Pallas, stepping forward 
presumptuously, said to him, " What would you have done, 
Gah-rsus, if Camillus had become the monarch? " "I would 
have stood behind him and held my tongue!" was the reply 
of the undaunted freedman. The other case was that of 
Caicina Pa-tus and his wife, Arria. When Pa3tus, who was 
engaged with Camillus, was put on board a ship to be con- 
veyed to Rome, Arria besought the soldiers to allow her to 
go in the vessel with him, saying that surely they would let 
a man of consular rank have some slaves to dress him and 
to attend him at table, and that she would discharge these 
offices. They, however, refused, and she then hired a small 
fishing-boat, and followed the ship.* When Pietus was con- 
demned to die, this high-minded woman, though she might 
have lived in honor by the favor of Messalina, who had 
much regard for her, disdained to survive him ; and not 
merely so, but when she saw him hesitating to die, she took 
the sword, and, having stabbed herself, handed it to him, 
saying, "See! P.-etus; I am in no pain." "They were 
praised," adds the historian Dion ; for, from the continuance 
of evil, matters were come to that state that nothing but 
dying courageously was counted virtue. 

At length, when no more victims remained, the persecu- 
tion ceased, (43.) Claudius then, as usual, made some use- 
ful acts of legislation, such as diminishing the number of 
holidays, and obliging governors to repair betimes to their 
provinces, and not to remain in the city. He also deprived 
many unworthy persons of the right of citizenship, and con- 
ferred it on others. In this Messalina and the freedmen 
carried on a most extensive trade; and, in their eagerness to 
catch at all that could be obtained, they brought down so 

• Plin. Ep. Hi. 16. 



A. D. 44.] CRUELTY OF MESSALfNA. 83 

much the price, (whick used to be very high, | that it became 
a common saying that one had only to give a parcel of bro- 
ken glass to be n\ade a citizen. 

Messalina now set no bounds to her vicious courses. Not 
content with being infamous herself, she would have others 
so; and she actually used to compel ladies to prostitute 
themselves even in the palace, and before the eyes of their 
husbands, whom she rewarded with honors and commands, 
while she contrived to destroy those who would not acquiesce 
in their wives' dishonor. Her cruelty extended also to her 
own sex, and to her husband's kindred; she had already (41) 
caused Livilla to be put to death, on a charge of adultery, 
(in which the philosopher Seneca was implicated, and in 
consequence exiled to Corsica;) but the real ground of of- 
fence was Livilla's beauty, and her intimacy with her uncle. 
She now became jealous of Julia, the granddaughter of Ti- 
berius, whom she soon contrived to deprive of life. Mean- 
time her own excesses were unknown to her husband, for 
she generally caused one of her maids to occupy her place 
in his bed ; and she bought off by benefits, or anticipated by 
punishments, those who could give him information.* 

The wars on the frontiers had been of late against the 
Germans in Europe, and the Moors in Africa, and Ser. 
Sulpicius Galba, the future emperor, had vanquished the 
Chattans, and C. Suetonius Paulinus had carried the Roman 
arms to the foot of Atlas. The plan of conquering Britain 
was now resumed, and partly effected.! An exiled British 
prince having applied to Claudius, orders were sent to A. 
Plautius, who commanded in Gaul, to lead his troops into 
the island. Plautius obeyed, and subdued a part of the 
country south of the Thames. At his desire, Claudius him- 
self proceeded to Britain ; and, having crossed that river, 
and defeated an army of the natives, he returned to Rome 
(after a stay of only sixteen days in the island) and celebrated 
a triumph, (44.) The title of Britannicus was decreed by 
the senate to himself and to his young son, and honors were 
conferred on Messalina similar to those enjoyed by Livia 
Augusta. 

Little of importance occurred for the next two or three 
years. As the 800th year of the city arrived in his reign, 

* Tlie picture of the depravity of this abandoned woman given b^ 
luvenal (vi. 114, seg.) is not overcharged. 

t For the affairs of Britain, the reader is referred to the author's 
History of England. 



84 • CLAUDIUS. [a. 1 . 47 

(47,) Claudius celebrated the sjecular games, alleging (it 
would seem with truth, though he had asserted the contrary 
ill his own historical works) that Augustus had anticipated 
the proper time. The proclamation being made in the usual 
form, caused a good deal of merriment ; for the crier invited 
the people to games " which no one had seen before nor 
would ever see again," whereas there were many who well 
remembered those of Augustus in the year 737, and even 
some of the actors who had then performed appeared now 
on the stage.* 

While Claudius was celebrating his games, and regula- 
ting, often advantageously, the affairs of the empire, Messali- 
na still r;'n her mad career of vice, often making her stupid 
husband the broker, as it were, of her pleasures. Thus, 
when Mnester, a celebrated dancer, with whom she fell 
violently in love, could be seduced neither by her promises 
nor her threats, sheobtaine<l from Claudius (pretending some 
other purpose) an order to him to do whatever she should 
require of him. Mnester therefore, thinking that she had 
full license from her husband, complied with her desires. 
The same was tlie case with many others, who deemed that 
they were acting in obedience to the wishes of the prince 
when intriguing with his wife. 

The chief object of her affection at this time was C. Sil- 
ius, the handsomest man in Rome, and then consul elect. 
She drove awny his wife, Junia Silana, that she might have 
the sole possession of him; and Silius, knowing ihat to re- 
fuse would be his destruction, while by compliance he might 
possibly escape, yielded to his fate. The adulteress had 
now become so secure, that she disdained concealment; she 
went . openly tp his house ; she heaped wealth and honors 
on him ; the glaves, the freedmen, the whole property, as it 
\vere, of the prince, were transferred to the house of her 
paramour. Messalina thought not of danger; but Silius saw 
that he was so deep in guilt, that he or Claudius must fall. 
lie tJiercfore proposed to his mistress the murder of her 
husband, and the seizure of the supreme power, offering 
then to marry her, and to adopt her son. She hesitated, 
not from affection to her husbi.ad, but from fear lest Silius 
should, when in power, cast her off. The prospect o" a 
more eminent degree of infamy finally prevailed with her, 

* [Both tliese statements are highly improbable, not to say impossi- 
blej'Mb Ifess* than 63 years hiving pissed between the times. — J. T. S.J 



A. D. 48.] CONDUCT OF MESSALiXA. 85 

and she even resolved to become the wife of Silius at 
once. 

What followed, Tacitus thought would be regarded as :so 
utterly beyond belief, that he deemed it necessary to assure 
his readers, that he Authfuily recorded the accounts trans- 
mitted by contemporary writers. Taking advantage of the 
absence of Claudius, who was gone to celebrate a sacrifice 
at Ostia, (48,) Messalina and Silius had their marriage pub- 
licly performed, with all the requisite forms and ceremonies; 
and, as it was now the season of the vintage, they and their 
friends, habited as Bacchanals, acted all kinds of extrav- 
agances in the gardens of Silius's house. The freedmen, 
meantime, consulted how they should act. The confidence 
between them and Messalina was at an end, for slie had 
caused Polybius to be put to death, and they saw that no 
reliance could be placed on her. The others hesitited, but 
Narcissus resolved to run all risks, and inform Claudius of 
her conduct. Having made the rest promise not to give 
Messalina any warning, he hastened down to Ostia, and 
there prevailed on Calpurnia and Cleopatra, two mistresses 
of the prince, to communicate to him the intelligence. 
Accordingly, when they were alone with him, Calpurnia, 
throwing herself at his knees, exclaimed that Messalina was 
married to Silius; Cleopatra confirmed her words; Narcissus 
was then called in. He craved pardon for having concealed 
her former transgressions, but said that this was a more se- 
rious case, cind that the empire itself was at stake. Claudius, 
then consulted with his friends, and it was their unanimous 
opinion that he should hasten at once to the camp of the 
prsGtorians, and secure (heir fidelity. As, however, Geta, their 
commander, could not be relied on, Narcissus, seconded by 
those who stood in equal peril with himself, declared that it 
was absolutely necessary that the command of the guards 
should for that one day be transferred to one of the freed- 
men, and offered to take the charge on himself Then, fear- 
ing lest L. Vitellius and' P. Largus Caecina, who were the 
creatures of Messalina, should succeed in moving Claudius 
to pity on his way to Rome, he asked and obtained a seat in 
the same carriage with him and them. 

Intelligence of what was going on at Ostia soon rtciched 
Rome. The guilty pair were struck with consternation. 
Messalina retired to the gardens of Lucullus, for the sake of 
which (a Roman Jezebel) she had, by means of her creature 
L. Vitellius, lately caused their owner, Valerius Asiaticus, 

CONTIN. 8 



86 CLAUDIUS. [a. V. 4ft 

to be judicially murdered. Siiius, to conceal his fears, went 
about his public duties; but some centurions soon arrived, 
who put him and many others in bonds. Messalina resolved 
to try the effect of her presence on her weak husband. She 
ordered his children Britannicus and Octavia to be brought 
to hei ; she implored Vibidia, the eldest of the Vestals, to 
come and intercede for her. She then, with only three com- 
panions, crossed the city on foot, and, getting into a gar-, 
doner's cart, set out on tiie road to 0.>^tia. 

When she met her husband, she cried out to him frpm'afai 
to hear the mother of Octavia and Britannicus; but Narcis 
suH reiterated Siiius and her marriage, and gave Claudius 
the records of her infamy to read. As he was entering the 
city, his children were presented to him ; but Narcissus 
desired them to be removed. Vil)i(lia then appeared, and 
required that he would not condenm his wife unheard. Nar- 
cissus replied that she should have an opportunity of defend- 
ing herself, and bade the Vestal meantime to go and attend 
to her sacred duties. 

Narcissus conducted Claudius to t^e house of Siiius, that 
he might have ocular proof of his guilt, ile thence took 
him to the camp, where Claudius, at his dictation, addressed 
a few words to" the soldiers, who replied with a shout, calling 
for judgment on the guilty. Siiius was brought before the 
tribunal ; he made no defence, atid only prayed for a speedy 
death. His example was followed by several illustrious 
knights. The only case that caused any delay was that of 
the dancer Mnester, who pleaded the prince's command for 
what he had done. Claudius was dubious how to act ; but 
the freedmen urged that it would be tbtly to think of a player 
when so many noblemen were put to death, and that it mat- 
tered not whether he acted voluntarily or not in committing 
such a crime. Mnester also was therefore put to death. 

Messalina had returned to the gardens of Lucullus. She 
did not yet de.-;pair, if she could but get access to her husband. 
As Claudius, when he grew warm with wine at his dinner, 
desired some one to go tell that wretcln d woman (so he 
termed her) to be prepared to make her defence the next 
day, Narcissus saw that all was again at take. He there- 
fore ran out, and told the tribune and ce-iturions on gijard 
that the emperor had ordered his wife to be put to death. 
They proceeded to the gardens of Lucullus, where they found 
her lying on the ground, her mother Lepida, who in her 
pros-perity had avoided '-er, sitting beside her, and persuading 



A. D. 43.] DEATH OF MESSALINA. 87 

her to take refuge in a voluntary death. The unfortunate 
woman's mind, however, was too much enervated by luxury 
for her to possess sufficient courage for such an act. The 
freedman who accompanied the officers having loaded her 
with abuse, she took a sword and made some ineffectual at- 
tempts to stab herself; the tribune then ran her through. 
Claudius, when informed of her fate, testified neitlier joy nor 
grief By a decree of the senate, all memorials of Messalina 
were abolished, and the quaestorian ensigns were voted to 
Narcissus. 

The freedmen now had the task of selecting another wife 
for their feeble prince, who was not capable of leading a 
single life, and who was sure to be governed by the successful 
candidate. The principal women in Rome were ambitious j | 

of the honor of sharing the bed of the imperial idiot; but \\ 

the claims of all were forced to yield to those of Loliia '] I 

Paulina, the former wife of Caius, Julia Agrippina, the \ I 

daughter of Germanicus, and MVia. Petina, Claudius's own 1 1; 

divorced wife. The first was patronized by Callistus, the ] | 

second by Pallas, the last by Narcissus. Agrippina, how- ■ | 

ever, in consequence of her frequent access to her uncle, 1 1 

easily triumphed over her rivals; the only difficulty that pre- ^ I 

sented itself was that of a marriage between uncle and niece I 

being contrary to Roman manners, and being even regarded ^ 

as incestuous. This difficulty, however, the compliant L. \ 

Vitellius, who was then censor, undertook to remove. He p 

addressed the senate, stating the necessity of a domestic ^ 

partner to a prince who had on him such weighty public | 

cares. He then launched forth in praise of Agrippina; as | 

to the objection of the nearness of kindred, such unions, he | 

said, were practised among other nations, and, at one time, i 

first cousins did not use to marry, which now they did so \ 

commonly. The servile assembly outran the speaker in I 

zeal ; they rushed out of the house, and a promiscuous rab- 5 

ble collected, shouting that such was the wish of the Roman I 

people. Claudius repaired to the senate-house, and caused | 

a decree to be made legalizing marriages between uncles and 
nieces ; and he then formally espoused Agrippina. Yet such 
was the light in which the incestuous union was viewed, 
that, corrupt as the Roman character was become, only two 
persons were found to follow the imperial example.* 



* The Church of Rome forbids both these marriages, but grants dis- 
pensations for them. In Popish countries, the marriages of uncle and 



« 



88" CLAUDIUS. [a. d. 48-52. 

Agrippina also proposed to unite her son Doniitiu3 with 
Oetuvia, the daughter of Claudius; but here there was a 
difficulty also, for Octavia was betrothed to L. Silanus. 
Ao-ain, however, she found a ready tool in the base Vitellius 
toi whose son Junia Calvina, the sister of Silanus, had been 
married. As the brother and sister indulged their affection 
imprudently, though not improperly, the worthy censor took 
the occasion to make a charge of incest against Silanus, and 
to strike him out of the list of senators. Claudius then 
broke off the match, and Silaims put an end to himself on 
the very day of Agrippina's marriage. His sister was ban- 
ished, and Claudius ordered some ancient rites expiatory of 
incest to be performed, unconscious of the application of 
them which would be made to himself 
f The woman who had now obtained the government of 

I Claudius and the Roman empire, was of a very differerrt 

character from the abandoned Messalina. The latter had 
noihincr noble about her ; she was the mere bondslave of lust, 
and cruel and avaricious only for its gratification ; but Agrip- 
pina was a woman of superior mind, though utterly devoid 
of principle. In hrr, lust was subservient to ambition; it 
was the desire of power, or the fear of death, and not wanton- 
[ ness, that made her submit to the incestuous embraces of her 

i" brutal brother Caius, and to be prostituted to the companions 

t of his vices. It was ambition and parental love that made 

I her now form an incestuous union with her uncle. To 

I neither of her husbands, Cn. Domitius or Crispus Passienus, 

I does she appear to have been voluntarily unfaithful ; the bed 

i of Claudius was, however, not fated to be unpolluted ; for, as 

[j a means of advancing her views, Agrippina formed an illicit 

I' connection with Pallas. 

!The great object of Agrippina was to exclude Britannicus, 
and obtain the succession for her own son, Nero Domitius, 
now a boy of twelve years of age. She therefore caused 
\ Octavia to be betrothed to him, and she had the philosopher 

Seneca recalled from Corsica, whither he had been e.xiled by 
the arts of Messalina, and committed to him the education of 
her son, that he might be fitted for empire. In the following 
year, (5.1,) Claudius, yielding to her influence, adopted him. 
In order to bring Nero forward, Agrippina caused hini to 
assume the virile toga before the usual age, (52;) and the 

niece are common. The late queen of Portugal was married to hei 
ujick'; the preBent m married ttvo brothers iti succession. 



A. D. 52—55.] AGRIPPINA. 89 

servile senate desired of Claudius that he might be consul at 
the age of twenty, and meantime be elect with proconsular 
power without the city. A donative was given to the sol- 
diers, and a congiary (congiarium) to the people, in his j 
name. At the Circensian games, given to gain the people, ; 
Nero appeared in the triumphal habit; Britannicus, in a i 
simple jjrcetexta. Every one who showed any attachment to ? 
this poor youth, was removed, on one pretence or another, i 
and he was surrounded with the creatures of Agrippina. ^ ; 
Finally, as the two commanders of the guards were supposed j, 
to be attached to the interests of the children of Messalina, U 
she persuaded Claudius that their discipline would be much |' 
improved if they were placed under one commander. Ac- • | 
cordingly, those officers were removed, and the command !■ 
was given to Burrus Afranius, a man of high character for 
probity, and of great military reputation, and who knew to j 
whom he was indebted for his elevation. j. 

The pride and haughtiness of Agrippina far transcended f 

any thing that Rome had as yet witnessed in a woman. 1 

When (51) the British prince Caraictacus and his family, l 

whom P. Ostorius had sent captives to the emperor, were led | 

before him, as. he sat on his tribunal in the plain under the 1 

praetorian camp, with all the troops drawn out, Agrippina | 

appeared, seated on another tribunal, as the partner of his | 

power. And again, when (.53) the letting off of the Fucine \ 

lake was celebrated with a naval combat, she presided with f- 

him, habited in a military cloak of cloth of g'old. I 

Agrippina at length (55) grew weary of delay, or fearful i 

of discovery. Narcissus, who saw at what she was aiming, % 

appeared resolved to exert all his influence in favor of Bri- I 

t^nnicus; and Claudius himself, one day, when he was ] 

drunk, was heard to say, that it was his fate to bear with the | 

infamy of his wives, and then to punish it. He had also I 

begun to show peculiar marks of affection for Britannicus. 1; 

She therefore resolved to act without delay; and, as Clau- I., 

dius, having become unwell, had retired to Sinuessa for 
change of air and the benefit of the waters, she proposed to 
take advantage of the ©pportunity thus presented. She pro- 
cured, from a woman named Locusta, infamous for her skill 
in poisoning, a poison of the mo.st active nature. The eu- V. 

uucli Halotus, who was his taster, then infused it in a dish )> 

of mushrooms, a kind of food in which he delighted. The 
poison, however, acted violently on his bowels, and Agrippi- j 

na, in dismay lest he should recover, made a physician who 
8» L 



90 



NERO. 



was at hand introduce a poisoned feather into his tliroat, by 
way of making him discharge his stomach; and in this man- 
ner the nefarious deed was completed. The death of Clau- 
dius was concealed till all the preparations for the succession 
of Nero should be made, and the fortunate hour marked by 
the astrologers be arrived. He then (Oct. 13) issued from 
tiie palace, accompanied b Burrus ; and, being cheered by 
the cohort which was on gnard, he mounted a litter, and 
proceeded to the camp. He addressed the soldiers, prom- 
ising them a donative, and was saluted emperor. The senate 
and provinces acquiesced without a murmur in the will of 
the guards. 

Claudius was in his sixty-fourth year when he was poi- 
soned ; and he had reigned thirteen years and nine months, 
wanting a few days. 



CHAPTER VI.* 

NERO CLAUDIUS CjESAR. 

A. u. 808—821. A. D. 55—68. 

OEC1.INE OF AGRIPPINA's POWER, — POiSONlNG OP BRITANNlCrS 

MURDER OF AGRIPPINA. NERO APPEARS ON THE STAGE. 

MURDER OF OCTAVIA. EXCESSES OP NERO. BURNING 

OF ROME. CONSPIRACY AGAINST NERO. DEATH OF SEN- 

KCA. DEATHS OF PKTRONIUS, THRASEAS, AND SOHANUS. 

NERO VISITS GREECE. GALBA PROCLAIMED EMPEROR. 

DEATH OF NERO. 



The new emperor t was only seventeen years of age. On 
account of his youth and his obligations to her, Agrippina 
hoped to enjoy the power of the state ; but Nero was not 
feeble-minded, like Claudius, and Seneca and Burrus were 
resolved to keep in check tl)e influence of a haughty, unprin- 
cipled woman. All outward honors, however, were shown 
her. When the tribune, according to custom, asked the 
emperor for the word, he gare, ' My best Mother ; ' the sen- 

• Authorities: Tacitus, S^ie^oniuB, and, Dinn. 

t We shall henceforth employ tliis teiai. ; Its original meaning mu»t 
be fanuliar to tlie reader. ■ «.'-»'> i < l l i. 



A. D. 56.J DECLINE OF AGBIPPINa's POWER. 9 . 

ate decreed her sundry privileges, but Burrus and Seneca 
o.hecked her lust of blood. She had, however, caused Junius 
Silanus, the proconsul of Asia, to be poisoned for being of the 
imperial family, and she forced Narcissus to be his own exe- 
cutioner. When the senators were summoned to the palace 
on any affair of state, she used to stand behind the door cur- 
tain, that she might be present and share in the debate with- 
out being seen ; and when ambassadors came from Armenia, 
she was abQut to ascend the tribunal with her son, had not 
Seneca bidden the emperor to go and meet his mother ; and 
thus, by the shovy of fil^^l. ^4.i4y:i t|i6 disgrace to the majesty of 
Rome was avoided. ■ ■-■,•. . 

All now was full of promise. The young emperor made 
speeches, the compositions of Seneca, replete with sentiments 
of clemency and justice. He declared that Augustus should 
be his model in government. He diminished the taxes, and 
reduced the rewards of informers to a fourth. When re- 
quired to sign the warrant for the execution of a criminal, 
" How I could wish," said he, " that I were ignorant of let- 
ters ! " He practised many popular arts, and acted in a char- 
acter easy to assume, but difficult to maintain if not prompted 
by nature. 

The power of Agrippina received its first shock (56) by 
the passion of her son for fi freedwoman named Acte, a native 
of Asia, and^ as he fiin would have it. a descendant of the 
kings of Pergamus, His graver friends were willing to wink 
at this attachment, for, aa he J;estified an aversion for hia 
chaste and modest wife, Octavia, they thought it would be a 
means of keeping him from debauching women of rank. 
But the violent Agrippina at first set no bounds to her rage ; 
then, passing to the other extremes, she offered him her purse 
and her apartments for the gratification of his wishes. Nero 
and his friends, however, saw through her arts, and the plan 
for reducing her power was steadily pursued. Accordingly 
Pallas was now deprived of his office of treasurer. This again 
drove her furious; she menaced her son with setting up Bri- 
tftnnicus against him, declaring that she would take him to the 
camp, and, as the daughter of Germanipus, appeal to the sol- 
diers against her unworthy son. 

Nero now becawie alarmed; he knew of what his mother 
was capable, and a ate incident* had shown him that Britan^ 

i' .li w i.iii-li.i| <,il iiiiii jiifijii-. i!f ji Jim Jt-j.j ::ii:-)ii m -lUii 

' • i(M .;-i(iiilii' 'iii'toH )r.,\t ir.\n Bulf i.l vMiiitm'j -■ tf <" ! li.'^^ 

* In the Saturnalit vhenboys were, as nsual, grvmg the kingdom 

oy lot, it fell to Nero As all were then bound to obey his commands, 



92 



Nero. 



' A. D. 56i 



iiicus was not without spirit, and was posst-^ed of friends. He 
therefore resolved to ren»6ve him, and for this purpose had a 
poison procured from Locusta, and administered by those' 
about the youth. It proved, however, too weak; and the em- 
peror, sendifig for Locusta, beat her with his own hands, and 
made her prepare a stronger dose, of which he made trial on 
a kid and a pig, till he was satisfied of its efficacy. He then 
had it brought into the dining-roonl, and given in some cold 
water to Britannicus, as he sat at dinner. The unhappy youth 
dropped suddenly dead ; Nero said carelessly, that he had 
been subject to epilepsy from his' infancy, and that he would 
soon recover. Agrippina was struck with terror and conster- 
nation, but did not venture to express them. Octavia, young 
as she was, had learned to conceal her feelings. So, after a 
brief interval of silence, tiie entertainment was resumed. The 
body of Britannicus was burnt that very night, the arrange- 
ments for it having been previously made. 

To stilie the memory of this atrocious deed, Nero be- 
stowed large gifts on the persons about him of most influ- 
ence. By many Seneca and Burrus were much blamed for 
accepting them, while others excused them by the plea of ne- 
cessity. Nothing, however, could soften Agrippina ; she em- 
braced Octavia; she held secret meetings with her friends; 
she collected money; she courted the officers of the guards; 
she treated the remaining nobility with great respect. Nero, 
in return, deprived her of the guard of honot which had been 
hitherto assigned her, appointed a different part of the palace 
for her residence, and never visited her without a party of 
centurions. 

The enemies of Agrij)pina were now imboldened to attack 
her life. Junia Silana,** who had been her intimate friend, 
irritated by her having been the means of depriving her of an 
advantageous match, caused two of her clients, named Iturius 
and Calvitius, to accuse her of a design to marry Rubellius 
Plautus, who was related to Augustus in tVie same degree 
that Nero wae, and to set him up as his rival for the empire. 
This information was communicated to Atimetus, a freed- 
man of Domitia, Nero's aunt, who also was at enmity with 



he ordered Britannicus to stand in the middle and sing a song. Bri- 
tannicus obeyed ; but the song he sang was one expressive of his own 
fate in being cast out from empire and liis paternal scat. Tac. An 
xiij. 15. It is probably to this play that Horace alludes, Ep. i. 1, 59. 
It is also the original of our Twelfth-day kings. 
*" See above, p. 84. 



k. D. 56-^59.] ATTACK ON AGRIPPINA. 93 

Agrippiiia ; and he urged Paris the actor, anotaer of her fteed- 
men, to go at once and inform the emperor of the danger that 
menaced him. Paris hastened to the palace. It was late at 
night when he arrived. Nero, who had been drinking freely, 
was dreadfully alarmed at this intelligence. In the first ac- 
cess of his terror, he would have had both his mother and 
Plautiis put to death immediately ; but he was withheld for the 
present by the instances of Burrus. In the morning, Burrus, 
Seneca, and some of the freedmen, waited on Agrippina. 
She treated the charge with disdain, exposed its absurdityj 
and assigned the motives of its inventors. She insisted on 
being admitted to an audience of her Son ; and, when she saw 
him, she demanded, and she obtained, rewards for her friends, 
and vengeance on her enemies. Silana was exiled, Calvitius 
and Iturius were relegated, Atimetus was put to death; but 
Paris was too necessary to the pleasures of the prince to 
allow of his being punished. 

Pallas and Burrus were now accused of a design tq set up 
Cornelius Sulla, the son-in-rlaw of Claudius. But the charge 
was so manifestly absurd, that the accuser was sent into 
v^xile. A remarkable instance of the pride and insolence of 
Pallas appeared on this occasion; when the freedmen vyho 
were his confidants were named, he replied that in his house 
he always indicated his wishes by a nod or by a sign of his 
hand, or, if many things were to be expressed, he wrote them 
down, that he might not mingle his voice with those of his 
servants. 

Little of importance occurred at Rome during the three 
succeeding years. The matter of most note was the connec- 
tion which Nero formed (59) with a lady named Poppaea 
Sabina. This woman, who, as Tacitus remarks, possessed 
every thing but virtue, was at this time married to M. Salvius 
Otho, for whom she had quitted her former husband, Rufius 
Crispinus. Otho, who was one of Nero's greatest intimates, 
could not refrain from boasting frequently before him of the 
beauty and elegance of his wife. Nero's desires were in- 
flamed ; he soon managed to become acquainted with Pop- 
p<Ea ; arid this artful woman pretended to be captivated with 
his beaiity, but at the same time declared that she vvas strong- 
ly attached to Otho, on account of the noble and splendid life 
which he led, while Nero, the associate of the freedwoman 
Acte, could not be expected to be any thing but meajj and 
servile. This line of conduct succeeded completely; Nero 



^ 



NERO. 



[Xia>. 59-^60. 



became nil her own, and Otho, that he might not be in the 
way of tlieir aniours, was sent out as governor of Lusitania. 

It w;is now that Agrippina was in real danger. Poppaja, 
whose power over her lover contimially increased, knew that, 
as long as his mother lived, she could not hope to succeed in 
making him divorce Octavia and marry herself.' She there- 
fore had recourse to her usual art.s, calling him a ward, tell- 
ing him that he did not possess freedom, much less empire ; 
and tauntingly asking him, was it on account of her noble an- 
cestors, or her beauty, or her fecundity, or her spirit, that hd 
delayed espousing her, and so forth. 

Tacitus relates, on the authority of several writers, and of 
common fame, that Agrippina's desire for the retentiou of 
power was such, that she actually sought to seduce her son 
to the commission of incest ; and her design was only prevent- 
ed by Seneca's making Acte tell the prince that the fame of 
it was gone abroad, and that the soldiers would not submit to 
the rule of a profane prince. Others said that the guilty 
party was Nero himself, but that he was diverted from his de- 
sign by Acte, as just related. Nothing, we fear, is too bad to 
be believed of either mother or son. i/' 

Be the truth as it may, Nero henceforth avoided all ocbd* 
sions of being alone with his mother ; and he secretly resolved 
on her death. The difficulty was how to accomplish it; poi- 
son was out of the question against a woman of such cau- 
tion ; a violent" death could not be concealed, and he also 
feared that he could get no one to attempt her life. At length 
Ailicetus, a freedman who commanded the fleet at Misenum, 
pro^)osed the expedient of a ship which should go to pieces. 
The prince embraced the idea, and, as he was s|>ending the 
festival of the Quinquatrus at Baia;, ((U),) he invited his 
mother, who was at Antium, to visit him there, saying that 
children should bear with the temper of their parents. He 
met her on the way, and conducted her to a villa named 
Bauli, on the sea-coast. Among the vessels lying there was 
one superior to the others, as if to do her honor. Slie was 
invited to proceed in it to Baire ; but it is said that she had 
gotten warning, and therefore declined, and proceeded thither 
in her litter. The caresses of her son, however, dispelled lier 
sus])icion9, if she had any; the banquet was prolonged into 
the night, and, when she rose to depart, the emperor attended 
her to the shore where she was to embark, and, as he was 
taking leave of her, he kissed her eyes and bosom repeatedly 



A. D. 60.] MURDER OF AGRIPPINA. 95 

either the more completely to veil his purpose, or possibly 
from some remnants of the feelings of natui^e. 

The night was starlight — the sea was calm: Agrippina, 
attended only by Creperius Gallus and her maid Acerronia, 
went on board. The vessel had proceeded but a little way, 
when, as Creperius was standing near the lielm, and Acerronia 
was reclining over the feet of her mistress, and congratulating 
her on the recent reconciliation, the deck, which was laden 
with lead, at a given signal came down on them: Creperius 
was killed on the spot ; the strength of the sides of the bed 
saved Agrippina and Acerronia ; the ship did not go to 
pieces, as intended. The rowers then attempted to sink it 
by inclining it to one side, but did not succeed. Acerronia 
foolishly crying out that she was Agrippina, and calling to 
them to aid the mother of the prince, was despatched with 
blows of boat-hooks and oars. Agrippina, who preserved 
silence, only received a wound in the shoulder ; and she 
floated along till she was picked up by some small boats, 
and conveyed to her villa on the Lucrine lake. She now 
saw through the whole design of her impious son ; but, deem- 
liig it her wisest course to dissemble, she sent Agerinus, one 
of her freedmen, to inform him of the escape which the 
goodness of the gods had vouchsafed her, begging him not 
to come to visit her, as she required repose 

Nero's consternation was extreme when he hea»d of her 
escape. He deemed that she would now set no bounds to 
her vengeance ; that she would arm her slaves, and appeal t6 
the soldiers, the senate, and the people, against her parricidal 
«on. He summoned Burrus and Seneca to advise him. They 
both maintained a long silence : at length Senega, seeing 
that either Nero or Agrippina now must fall, looked at Bur- 
rus, and asked if a soldier should be ordered to slay her? 
Burrus replied that the soldiers would not touch the issue of 
Germanicus, and added that it would be better for Anicetus 
to go through with what he had coihmenced. Nero was 
overjoyed when Anicetus declared his willingness. Just 
then Agermus arrived ; and, as he was delivering his message, 
Nero cast a sword at his feet, and then caused him to be put 
in chains, that he might be able to say that his mother had 
sent her freedman to assassinate him, and had killed herself 
out of shame when she had failed in her design. 

When Anicetus arrived at Agrippina's villa, he dispersed 
the crowds which had assembled to congratulate her on her 
escape. He set a guard round the house, and then, with a 



96 , , ,=T iHi NERO. [a.d.. 60 

captain of a galley and a centurion of the nrarines, entered 
her chamber, where she was waiting with extreme anxiety 
for intelligence. The only; maid about her was leaving her 
" Do you also desert nie I " said she ; and, looking around, 
she beheldjAnicetus. She told him, if he canie to see her, to 
say that she was recovered; if to perform a crime, she would 
not believe that her son would command the murder of his 
mother. The captain struck her with a stick on the head ; 
as the centurion was drawing his sword, she showed her 
womb, crying out, ," Strike here : " she was then despatched 
with several wounds. Such was the termijiation of the guilty 
ambition of the highly-gifted, daughter of Germanicus. It 
was said tliat she had long foreknown her fate ; for, having 
one time consulted the astrologers on the future fortunes of 
her son, they replied that he would reign, but that he would 
kill his mother. " Let him kill me," cried she, " provided 
that he reigns." 

Some writers related that Nero came to view the dead 
body of his mother, and that he criticised tlic various parts, 
observing, on the whole, that he did not think she had been 
so handsome. Yet conscience asserted its rights : terrific 
dreams scared him from his couch ; the aspect of the smiling 
shores of tlie Bay of Baiai became gloomy to his view; 
imagination heard the wailing of trumpets from the place 
where tlie unhonored ashes of Agrippina lay. Though 
the officers of the guards, at the impulsion of Burrus, came 
to congratulate him on his escape from the treachery of 
his mother ; though his friends and the adjacent towns of 
Campania wearied heaven with thanksgivings, and the ob- 
sequious senate decreed supplications and honors of all kinds, 
his mind could not find rest, and for years he was haunted by 
the memory of his murdered parent. 

Nero went first to Naples, and, having remained some time 
in Campania, dubious of the reception he might meet with 
at Rome, he was at length impelled by his flatterers to enter 
the city boldly. He did so, and found that he had had no 
just cause for alarm ; for senate and peo:)le alike, all ages 
and sexes, vied in servility and adulation. His entrance was 
like a triumph, and lie ascended the Capitol and returned 
thanks to the gods. 

The restraint of his mother being removed, Nero now gave 
a free couree to his idle or vicious propensities. He had 
always been fond of driving a chariot, and of singing to the 
lyre after his dinner, justifying it by the example of ancient 



4. D. 60-63.] NERO ON THE STAGE. 97 

kings and heroes, such as the Homeric Achilles. Seneca 
and Barrus thought it advisable to humor him in the Ijormer 
propensity, and a space was enclosed in the Vatican valley 
tor his chariot driving. But he was not contented till the 
people were admitted to witness and to applaud his skill. 
In order that the infamy of his exhibitioins might be dimin- 
ished by diffusion, he obliged some of the noblest of both 
sexes to appear on the stage, the arena, and the circus. He 
also instituted games called Juvenal ia, (from his then first 
shaving,) in which, in theatres erected in his gardens, he 
himself sang and danced; and he forced the nobility of all 
ages and sexes, without any regard to the honors they had 
borne, to do the same. A lady, for example, named /Elia 
Catella, rich and noble, and eighty years of age, was thus 
obliged to dance in public ! He finally appeared on the pub- 
lic stage; and the lord of the Roman world was seen to come 
forward, lyre in hand, wearing a long, trailing robe, and, hav- 
ing addressed the audience in the usual form, ("Gentlemen, 
hear me with favor," ) sing to his chords the story of Attis 
or the Bacchge. The officers of the guards stood around, 
Burrus grieving and applauding. He further selected five 
thousand young men, named Augustans, who were divided 
into companies, whose task was to applaud him when he was 
singing. 

The death of Burrus, (63,) which some ascribed to poison, 
removed another check from the vices of Nero. The com- 
mand of the guards was again divided ; Fenius Rufus, an 
honest but inactive officer, being joined in it with Sofonius 
Tigellinus, a man polluted by every vice, but whom similarity 
of manners had recommended to the favor of the prince. 
Seneca, finding his influence reduced by the death of Burrus, 
and himself marked as the object of attack by the base 
minions of the court, craved an audience of the prince, and 
requested to be allowed to restore all the possessions which he 
had bestowed on him, and permitted to retire into the shades 
of private life. But Nero, accomplished in hypocrisy, made 
the most affectionate objections, would not hear of his retire- 
ment, and lavished caresses on him. Seneca returned thanks 
and retired ; but he altered his mode of life, and henceforth 
avoided publicity as much as possible. 

Cornelius Sulla and Rubellius Plautus, being both de- 
scended in the female line from Augustus, were objects of 
alarm to Nero ; he had therefore removed them from the 
city ; the former resided in Gaul, the latter in Asia. But 

CONTIN. 9 - M 



NERO. 



[a. D. 68. 



Tigellinus, now pretending extreme solic jjde for the safety 
of il.e prince, and exaggerating the dangers to be apprehend- 
ed from those noblemen, obtained permission to murder 
them. Sulla therefore was slain as he was sitting at dinner 
at Marseilles, and Plautus as he was engaged in gymnic ex- 
ercises. Their heads were brought to Nero, who mocked 
at the first as gray before his time, and observed of the sec- 
ond, that he was not aware of his having had so large a nose. 
He, moreover, when he saw the head of Plautus, cried out, 
that now he might venture to put away Octavia, blameless 
and loved of the people as she was, and espouse his dear 
Pioppaja. Accordingly, having informed the senate of the 
deaths of Sulla and Plautus, and finding that supplications 
and so forth were decreed without hesitation, he judged 
that he had nothing to apprehend from that spiritless as- 
sembly ; he therefore at once put away Octavia, on the pre- 
tence of sterility, and married Poppaea, who then attempted 
to convict Octavia of an intrigue with a flute-player named 
Euceriis. But the noble constancy of the greater part of 
that lady's female slaves, whom all the tortures of the rack 
could not induce to testify falsely against their mistress, de^ 
foated the iniquitous project. The murmurs of the populace 
soon obliged Nero to take back Octavia, and the public joy 
was manifested in the most signal manner; the statues of 
Poppaea were flung down, and those of Octavia were carried 
about covered with flowers, and placed in the temples. 
Po[)paja, liow seriously alarmed for her safety, exerted all 
her influence over Nero ; and he obliged the notorious 
Anicetus to confess a criminal intercourse with Octavia. 
Pretending, then, that her object had been to gain over the 
fleet, he caused her to be confined in the fatal isle of Pan- 
dataria ; and a few days after, orders were sent for her death. 
The poor young woman, to whom, though only in her 
twenty-second year, life had ceased to yield any pleasure, 
still feared to die ; but she was bound, her veins were 
opened, and she was placed in a warm bath. When life 
was extinct, her head was cut off and brought to Poppasa. 
Thanks to the gods were of course decreed by the senate.* 
The murder of Octavia was succeeded by the deaths (by 

* " Quod ad eum finem memoravimuB^" says Tacitus,** utqiiicumqve 
casu!; teinporum illorum, nobis vel alits auctoribus, noscent, praesutnp- 
lum liabeant, quotiens fugas et ctedes jussit princeps, totiens grates 
di'ib ac'as, qinque rerum secundamm olini torn publice cladis insi^'nia 
fuisse.' 



A. D. 64-65.] NERO AT NAPLES. 9J 

poison, as was believed) of Pallas and some of the other freed 
men. The crime of Pallas was his detaining, by living toe 
long, his immense wealth from the covetous prince. 

At length, (64,) to his excessive joy, Nero became a father 
Poppaea being delivered of a daughter at Antium, the place of ' 
his own birtk The senate, who had already commended the • 
womb of Poppaea to the gods, now decreed to her and the in- ' 
fdnt the titlfe of Augusta ; supplications, temples, games, and 
all other honors, were voted; and when the baby died, in its 
fourth month, it was deified by the obsequious and impious 
assembly, and a temple and priest were voted to it. 

Hitherto Nero had confined the exercise of his scenic pow-"f 
ers to his palace and gardens ; but he longed for a more am-*' 
pie field of display. He would not yet, however, venture to ' 
insult the prejudices and feelings of the people by appearing 
on the stage openly at Rome; and he therefore selected 
Naples, as a Grecian city, for the place in which he would 
make his debut in public, intending then to pass over to 
Greece, and contend at all the great games of that country, ' 
and thus overcome the prejudices of the Romans. He ac- 
cordingly appeared, (65,) before a large audience, in the 
theatre of Naples; and even the shock of an earthquake, 
which rocked the building, did not prevent him from finish- 
ing his piece. Instead, however, of proceeding directly to 
Greece, he returned to Rome, and there, declaring that his 
absence would not be long, he ascended the Capitol to pray 
to the gods for the success of his journey ; but when he en- 
tered the temple of Vesta, he was seized with a violent tremor 
in all his limbs, (the effect probably of the stings of con- 
science ;) and he gave up his design for the present, to the 
great joy of the populace, who feared a scarcity of corn in 
his absence . to the senate and nobles it was uncertain wheth-" 
er his absence or his presence was the more to be dreaded. • - 

To prove to the people that he preferred Rome to all other 
places, he made the whole city, as it were, his house, and hold 
his banquets in the public places. Historians have deemed 
one of these, given by Tigellinus, deserving of memory; [but 
the details are far too disgusting to be repeated. The in- 
famy to which Nero reduced himself was of the lowest and 
vilest kind.] 

Rome was at this time visited by a calamity worse than 
?iiy that had befallen her since she was a city. On the 19th 
of July, a fire broke out in a part of the circus which was 
full of shops containing inflammable substances. The 



100 KERO. [a. D. 65 

flames spread rapidly, the wind accelerating their career. 
It was not till the sixth day, that, by pulling down houses, 
the course of the conflagration was stopped at the foot of 
the Esquiline. The loss of lives and property was immense : 
of the fourteen quarters into which the city wrs divided, 
four only escaped ; three were totally destroyed, and of the 
other seven but little remained standing. 

Nero, who was at Antiuni, did not return till he heard 
that the flames were spreading to his palace; butiwhen he 
arrived, he was unable to save it. He threw open his gardens, 
the Campus Martins, and the monuments of Agrippa to the 
sufferers ; he caused supplies of all kinds to be fetched from 
Antium aiid other places, and he reduced the price of corn 
considerably. All he could do, however, would not remove 
the suspicion that the city had been tired by his own orders. 
It was said that he longed for an opportunity of rebuilding it 
with more of regularity and beauty ; and it was asserted that, 
while the fire was raging, he asceiided a tower in the gardens 
of Maecenas in his scenic dress, and, charmed with what 
he termed "the beauty of the flame," snng to his lyre The 
Taking of Ilium. He caused the Sibylline books to be con- 
sulted, and, in obedience to them, supplications to be made to 
various deities ; he spared no expense in the rebuilding of 
the city; and when all would not avail to clear him, he laid 
the guilt on the innocent. The members of the society 
named Christians, which had arisen some years before in 
Judaea, were now numerous at Rome. From causes which 
we will hereafter assign, they were objects of general aver- 
sion, and any charge against them was likely to gain credit. 
Some of them were seized and forced to confess : on their 
evidence, a great multitude of others were taken and con- 
demned. They were put to death with torture and insult, 
some being sewed up in the skins of wild beasts, and then 
torn to pieces by dogs, some crucified, and others wrapped in 
pitch and other inflammable materials, and seton fire to serve 
for lamps in the night. The scene of their agonies was Ne- 
ro's gardens; and he, at the same time, to please the populace, 
gave Circensian games, driving about at Rome in the dress 
of a charioteer. Still the sufferers, though believed to be 
guilty of crimes, were pitied, as the victims of the real 
criminal. 

The city' was rebuilt (at the heavy cost of Italy and the 
provinces) with more of regularity and beauty than it had ever 
befote possessed. Many, however, complained of the width 



A. D. 66.] CONSPIRACY AGAINST NERO. lOi 

of tlie streets, as, when narrow, they had enjoyed more of 
shade and coolness. But the great object of Nero's ambition 
was to rebuild his palace on a scale of unexampled magnifi- 
cence. He had already extended it from the Palatine to the 
Esquiline ; and it was thence called the Transitory-house : the 
new one was named the Golden-house, from the quantity of 
gold and precious stones employed in it. It covered an im- 
mense extent of, ground on the Palatine and Esquiline, con- 
taining within its bounds woods, plains, vineyards, ponds, 
with animals both wild and tame, and a great variety of 
buildings. The numerous dining-rooms were ceiled with 
ivory plates, which were movable, to shower down flowers, 
and perforated, to sprinkle odors on the guests. The prin- 
cipal one was round, and made to revolve day and night, in 
imitation of the world. The baths were supplied with 
water from the sea and from the river Albula. When the 
whole was completed, Nero observed that at length he had 
begun to dwell like a man. 

Men, however, were grown weary of being the objects of the 
tyrannic caprice of a profligate youth, and a widely-extended 
conspiracy to remove him and give the supreme power to C. 
Piso, a nobleman of many popular qualities, was organized, 
(66.) Men of all r,anks, civil and military, were engaged in 
it, — senators, knights, tribunes, and centurions, — some, as is 
usual, on public, some on private grounds. While they were 
yet undecided where it were best to fall on Nero, a cour- 
tesan named Epicharis, who had a knowledge (it is not 
known how obtained) of the plot, wearied of their indecision, 
attempted to gain over the officers of the fleet at Misenum. 
She made the first trial of an officer named Volusius Proc- 
ulus, who had been one of the agents in .the murder of 
Agrippina, and who complained of the ill return he had met 
with, and menaced revenge. She communicated to him the 
fact of there being a conspiracy, and proposed to him to join 
in it ; but Proculus, hoping to gain a reward by this new 
service, went and gave information to Nero. Epicharis was 
seized ; but as she had mentioned no names, and Proculus 
had no witnesses, nothing could be made of the matter. She 
was, however, kept in prison. 

The conspirators became alarmed ; and, lest they should 
be betrayed, they resolved to delay acting no longer, but to 
fall on the tyrant at the Circensian games. The plan ar- 
ranged was, that Plautius Lateranus, the consul elect, a man 
■>f great courage and bodily strength^ should sue la the em- 
9* 



1 02 NERO. [a. d. 66 

peror fa, relief to his family affairs, and in so doing should 
grasp his knees and throw him down, and that then the of- 
ficers should despatch him with their swords. Meantime 
Piso should be waiting at the adjacent temple of Ceres; and, 
when Nero was no more, the pra^fect Fenius Rufus and 
others should come and convey him to the camp. 

Noiwilhstanding the number and variety of persons en- 
gaged in the plot, the secret had been kept with wonderful 
fidelity. Accident, however, revealed it as it was on the very 
eve of e«ecution. Among the conspirators was a senator 
named Flavius Scevinus, who, though dissolved in luxury, was 
one of the most eager. lie had insisted on having the first 
part in the assassination, for which purpose he had provided 
a dagger taken from a temple. The night before the attack 
was to be made, he gave this dagger to one of his freedmeu, 
named Milichus, to grind and sharpen. He at the same time 
sealed his will, giving freedom to some, gifts to others of his 
slaves. He supped more lu.xuriously than usual; and, though 
he affected great cheerfulness, it was manifest from his air 
that he had something of importance on his mind. He also 
directed his freedniiiii to prepare bandages for wounds. The 
freedman, who was either already in the secret, or had his 
suspicions now excited, consulted with his wife, and at her 
impul.sion set off at daylight, and revealed his suspicions to 
Epnphroditus, one of Nero's freedmcn, by whom he was 
conducted to the emperor. On his information, Scevinus 
was arrested ; but he gave a plausible explanation of every 
thing but the bandages, which he positively denied. He 
might have escaped, were it not that Milichus's wife suggested 
that Antonius Natalis had conversed a great deal with him 
in secret of late, and that they were both intimate with Pis<>. 
Natalis was then sent for, and, as he and Scevinus did not 
agree in their accounts of the conversation which they had 
they were menaced with torture. Natalis's courage gave 
way; he named Piso and Seneca. Scevinus, either through 
weakness, or thinking that all was known, named several 
others, among whom were AnnaBus Lucanus, the poet, the 
nephew of Seneca, Tullius Senecio, and Afranius Q,uinc- 
lianus. The.<e at first denied every thing ; at length, on the 
Dromfse of pardon, they discovered some of their nearest 
friends, Lucan even naming his own mother, Atilla. 

Nero now called to mind the information of Proculus, and 
he ordered Epicharis to be put to the torture. But no pain 
could overcome the constancy of the heroic woman and 



A. D. 66.] CONSPIRACY AGAINST NERO. 103 

next day, as, from her weak state, she was carried in a chair 
to undergo the torture anew, she contrived to fasten her bell 
to the arched back of the chair, and thus to strangle herself 

When the discovery was first made, some of the bolder 
spirits urged Piso to hasten to the camp or to ascend the 
Rostra, and endeavor to excite the soldiers or the people to 
rise against Nero. But he had not energy for such a course, 
and he lingered at home till his house was surrounded by the 
soldiers sent to take him. He then opened his veins, leaving 
a will filled, for the sake of his wife, a profligate woman, 
with the grossest adulation of Nero. Lateranus died like a 
hero, with profound silence; and though the tribune who 
presided at the execution was one of the conspirators, he 
never reproached him. 

But the object of Nero's most deadly enmity was Seneca. j [; 

A\\ that was against this illustrious man was, that Natalissaid j \ 

that Piso had one time sent him to Seneca, who was ill, to 1 I 

see how he was, and to complain of his not admitting him, | \ 

and that Seneca replied that " it was for the good of neither I 

that they should meet frequently, but that his health depended ' f 

on Piso's safety." The tribune Granius Silvanus (also one J ? 

of the conspirators) was sent to Seneca, who was now at his ;! i 

villa, four miles from Rome, to examine him respecting the 1 1 

conversation with Natalis. He found him at table with i | 

his wife, Pompeia Paulina, and two of his friends. Seneca's 1 1 

account agreed with that of Natalis ; his meaning, he said, 1 1 

had been perfectly innocent. When the tribune made his | i 

report to Nero and his privy council, Poppaea and Tigellinus, ^ | 

he was asked if Seneca meditated a voluntary death. On his | | 

reply, that he showed no signs of fear or perturbation, he was S f 

ordered to go back and bid him die. Silvanus, it is said, | | 

called on Fenius on his way, and asked him if he should I | 

obey the orders; but Fenius, with that want of spirit which \ f 

was the ruin of them all, bade him obey. Silvanus, when | I 

he arrived, sent in a centurion with the fatal mandate. ':, ) 

Seneca calmly called for his will, but the centuric n would ■>, | 

not suffer him to have it. He then told his friends that, as he \ I 

could not express his sense of their merits in the way that he ' I 

wished, he would leave them the image of his life, to which j i 

if they attended, they would obtain the fame of virtue and of | 

constancy in friendship. He checked their tears, showing 
that nothing had occurred but what was to have been e.x- ; 

pected. Then, embracing his wife, he began to console and j 

fortify her ; but she declared her resolution to die with him. 



104 



NERO. 



[a. D. 66 



Not displeased at her generous devotion, and happy that one 
so dear to him should not remain exposed to injury and mis- 
fortune, he gave a ready consent, and the veins in the arma 
of both were opened. As Seneca, on account of his age, 
bled slowly, he caused those of his legs and thighs to be 
opened also ; and as he suffered very much, he persuaded his 
wife to go into another* room; and then, calling for amanuen- 
ses, he dictated a discourse vvliich was afterwards published. 
Finding himself going very slowly, be asked his friend, the 
physician, Statius Annaeus, for the hemlock-juice which he 
had provided, and took it; but it had no effect. He finally 
went into a warm bath, sprinkling, as he entered it, the ser- 
vants who were about him, and saying, " I pour this liquor to 
Jove the Liberator." The heat caused the blood to flow 
freely; and his suff'erings at length terminated. His body 
was burnt without any ceremony, according to the directions 
which he had given when at the height of his prosperity. 

Paulina did not die at this time ; for Nero, who had no en- 
mity against her, and wished to avoid the imputation of gratui- 
tous cruelty, sent orders to have her saved. She survived 
her husi)aiid a few years, her face and skin remaining of a 
deadly paleness, in consequence of her great loss of blood. 

The military men did not remain undiscovered. Fenius 
Rufus died like a coward ; the tribunes and centurions, like 
soldiers. When one of them, named Subrins Flavius, was 
asked by Nero what caused him to forget his military oath, — 
" I hated you," said he; " and there was none of the soldiers 
more faithful while you deserved to be loved. I began to 
hate you when you became the murderer of your mother and 
wife, a chariot-driver, a player, and an incendiary." Nothing 
in the whole aff'air cut Nero to the soul like this reply of the 
gallant .soldier. 

The consul Vestinus was not implicated by any in the 
conspiracv ; but Nero hated him ; and, as he was sitting at 
dinner with his friends, some .soldiers entered to say that their 
tribune wanted him. He arose, went into a chamber, had his 
veins opened, entered a warm bath, and died. Lucan, when or- 
dered to die, had his veins also opened ; when he felt his ex- 
tremities growing cold, he called to mind some verses of his 
Pharsalia which were applicable to his case, and died re- 
peating them.* Senecio Quinctianus, and Scevinus, and 



* They are supposed by Lipsius to be iii. 638 — ^i46, by Vertraniusi, 
'.X. SOQ — 814. Lipsius is in our opinion right. 



A. D. 67.] DEATH OF POPPiEA. 105 

many others, died ; several were banished. Natalis, Milichus, 
and others, were rewarded ; offerings, thanksgivings, and so 
forth, were voted in abundance by the senate. 

This obsequious body, however, sought to avert the dis- 
grace of the lord of the Roman world appearing on the stage 
at the approaching Quinquennial games, by offering him 
the victory of song and the crown of eloquence. But Nero 
said that there needed not the power nor the influence of 
the senate ; that he feared not his rivals, and relied on the 
equity of the judges. He therefore sang on the stage, and, 
when the people pressed him to display all his acquirements, 
he came forth in the theatre, strictly conforming to all the 
rules of his art, not sitting down when weary, wiping his 
face in his robe, neither spitting nor blowing his nose, and 
finally, with bended knee, and moving his hand, waited in 
counterfeit terror for the sentence of the judges. 

At the end of the games, he in a fit of anger gave Poppsea, 
who was pregnant, a kick in the stomach, which caused her 
death. Instead of burning her body, as was now the general 
custom, he had it embalmed with the most costly spices, and 
deposited in the monument of the Julian family. He him- 
self pronounced the funeral oration, in which he praised her 
for, her beauty,* and for being the mother of a divine infant. 

The remainder of the year was marked by the deaths or 
exile of several illustrious persons, and by a pestilence which 
carried off great numbers of all ranks and ages. " Of the 
iinights and senators," observes Tacitus, " the deaths were 
less to be lamented ; they anticipated, as it were, by the com- 
mon fate, the cruelty of the prince." 

The first deaths of the succeeding year (67) were those 
of ?. Anteius, whose crime was his wealth and the friend- 
ship of Agrippina; Ostorius Scapula, who had distinguished } 
himself in Britain; Annasus Mella, the father of Lucan ; 
Anicius Cerealis, Rufius Crispinus, and others. They all ! 
died in the same manner, by opening their veins. The most ] 
remarkable death was that of C. Petronius, a man whose ? 
elegance and taste in luxury had recommended him to the i 
special favor of Nero, who, regarding him as hi« ' arbiter of 
elegance,' valued only that of which Petronius approved. \ 
The envy of Tigellinus being thus excited, he bribed one of i 

* Poppaea was so solicitous about her beauty, that she used to bathe j 

every day in the milk of 500 she-aases, which she kept for tlie purpose 
Dion, Ixii. 28. 

N 



I s 



i I 



106 



NERO. 



[a. d. 67. 



Petronius's slaves to charge his master with being the fiiend 
ofScevinus. His death Ibllowed, of course; the mode of it 
however, was peculiar. He caused his veins to be opened, 
then closed, then opened again, and so on. He meantime 
went ou conversing with his friends, not, like a Socrates or 
a Seneca, on the immoitality of the soul or the opinions of 
the Avise, but listening to light and wanton verses. He re- 
warded some of his slaves, he had others flogged, he dined, 
he slept ; he made, in short, his compulsive death as like a 
natural one as possible. He did not, like others, pay court 
to Nero or Tigellinus, or the men in power, in his will ; but 
he wrote an account of the vices and crimes of the prince 
and court, under the names of flagitious men and women, and 
sent it sealed up to ihe emperor. He broke his seal-ring, 
lest it might be used to the destruction of innocent persons. 

" After the slaughter of so many illustrious men," says 
Tacitus, "Nero at length sought to destroy virtue itself, by 
killing Thraseas Partus and Bareas Soranus." The former, 
a man of primitive Roman virtue, was hated by him not 
merely for his worth, but because he had, on various occa- 
sions, given public proof of his disapproval of his acts. Such 
were his going out of the senate-house when the decrees 
were made on account of the murder of Agrippina, and his 
absence from the deification and funeral ofPoppaea. Further 
than his virtue, we know of no cause of enmity that Nero 
could have against Soranus. 

The accu.«ers of Thraseas were Capito Cossutianus, whom 
he had made his enemy by supporting the Cilician deputies 
who came to accuse him of extortion, and Marcellus Eprius, 
a profligate man of eloquence. A Roman knight named 
Ostorius Sabinus appeared as the accuser of Soranus. The 
time selected for the destruction of the.se eminent men was 
that of the arrival of the Parthian prince Tiridates, who was 
coming to Rome to receive the dindem of Armenia, either 
in hopes that the domestic crime would be shrouded by the 
foreign glory, or, more probably, to give the Oriental an idea 
of the imperial power. Thraseas received an order not to 
appear among those who went to meet the king; he wrote to 
Nero, requiring to know with what he was charged, and as- 
serting his ability to clear himself if he got an opportunity 
Nero in reply said that he would convoke the senate. Thra- 
seas then consulted with his friends, whether he should go to 
the senate-house, or expect his ,doom at home. Opinions 
were, as usual, divided ; he, however, did not go to the senate. 



^. D. 67.] THRASEAS AND SORANUS. 101 

Next morning the temple in which the senate sat was sur- 
rounded with soldiery. Cossutianus and Eprius appeared as 
the accusers of Thraseas, his son-in-law Helvidius Priscus, 
Paconius Agrippinus, and Curtius Montanus. The general 
charge against them was passive rather than active disloyalty, 
Thraseas being held forth as the seducer and encourager of 
the others. Ostorius then came forward and accused Sora- 
nus, who was present, of friendship with Rubellius Plautus, 
and of mal-conduct in the government of Asia. He added, 
that Servilia, the daughter of the accused, had given money 
to fortune-tellers. Servilia was summoned. She owned the 
truth — that she had sold her ornaments and given the money 
to the soothsayers, but for no impious purpose, only to learn 
if her father would escape. Witnesses were then called, and 
among them, to the indignation of every virtuous man, ap- 
peared P. Egnatius, the client and friend of Soranus, and a 
professor of the Stoic philosophy, who now had sold himself 
to destroy his benefactor by false testimony. 

The accused were all condemned, of course — Thraseas, 
Soranus, and Servilia, to death; the others to exile. Of the 
circumstances of the end of Soranus and his daughter, we 
are not informed. Thraseas having prevented his wife, Arria, 
from following the example of her mother, of the same name, 
by entreating her not to deprive their daughter of her only 
remaining support, caused his veins to be opened in the 
usual ma»ner; and, as the blood spouted forth, he said to the 
quaestor who was present, " Let us pour out to Jove the 
Liberator. Regard this, young man. May the gods avert 
the omen ; but you have been born in times when it is ex- 
pedient to fortify the mind by examples of constancy." He 
died after suffering much pain. 

These sanguinary deeds were succeeded by the splendid 
ceremony of giving the diadem of Armenia to Tiridates. 
The scene was the Forum, which was filled during the night 
by the people arranged in order, wearing white togas and 
bearing laurel, while one part of it was occupied by the sol- 
diers brilliantly armed. The roofs of the houses also were 
thronged with spectators. At daybreak, Nero, in a triumphal 
robe, followed by the senate and his guards, entered the 
Forum, and took his seat on his tribunal. Tiridates and his 
attendants then advanced through the lines of soldiery. An 
immense shout was raised when he appeared; he was filled 
with terror; but, when silence was restored, he went forward 



108 



NERO. 



[a. d. 67 



and addressed the prince. Nero made a suitable reply, and, 
inviting him up, and making him sit at his foot, placed the 
diadem on his head, while the shouts of the multitude filled 
the air. 

This Tiridates was the brother of the Parthian king Volo- 
geses". In the first year of Nero's reign, as this prince hac" 
occupied the throne of Armenia, the conduct of the war 
which it was resolved to undertake against him, was com 
mitted to Domitius Corbulo, a man of great military talen. 
and experience. The war, which was of the usual kind be- 
tween Europeans and Asiatics, in which the advantage of 
skill and discipline is on the side of the former, that of num- 
bers and knowledge of the country on that of the latter, had 
been tarried on with various success, till at length an ar- 
rangement was effected by Corbulo's agreeing that Tiridates 
should be king of Armenia on condition of his acknowledging 
the supremacy of Rome, and receiving his diadem from the 
hands of the emperor. 

Nothing of importance occurred in the time of Nero on 
the frontiers of tlie Rhine and Danube. In Britain, Sue- 
tonius Paulinus conquered the isle of Mona, the great seat 
of the Druidic religion ; and a war headed by Boadicea, 
queen of the Icenians, which commenced by the massacre 
of two Roman colonies, was terminated with a prodigious 
slaughter of the Britons. 

At length Nero put his long-cherished design of visiting 
Greece into execution. Leaving his freedman Helius with 
unlimited power in Rome, he crossed the Adriatic at the 
head of a body of men, numerous enough, as to mere num- 
bers, it was said, to conquer the Parthians; but of whom the 
greater part were armed with lyres, masks, and theatric bus- 
kins. He contended at all the games of Greece ; for he made 
them all be celebrated in the one year. When contending, 
he rigidly followed all the rules and practices of the citharoe- 
dic art; he addressed the judges with fear and reverence; he 
openly abused or secretly maligned his rivals. The Greeks, 
adepts in flattery, bestowed on him all the prizes ; and even 
when, at the Olympic games, he attempted to drive ten-in- 
hand, and was thrown from the chariot, he still was pro- 
claimed victor. In return, he bestowed liberty on the whole 
province, and gave the judges the rights of citizenship and a 
large sum of money. This, in imitation of Flamininus, he 
himself proclaimed aloud from the middle of the stadium at 



A.D. 67.] NERO IN GREECE. 109 

the Isthmian games. These amusements, however, gave no 
check to the cruehy and rapacity of himself and Tigellinus. 
Greece was plundered as by an enemy ; numbers were put to 
death for their property ; many persons were even summoned 
thither from Italy and other parts for the sole purpose of be- 
ing executed. Among these was the gallant Corbulo, whom 
Nero lured thither by the most hypocritical expressions of 
affection, and ordered to be slain as soon as he landed. 
Corbulo took a sword, and plunged it into his body, crying, 
'* I deserve it." 

While in Greece, Nero celebrated another marriage. The 
bride, on this occasion, was a youth named Sporus, who, it is 
said, bore some resemblance to Poppcea. Having emascu- 
lated him, and essayed all the powers of art to convert him 
into a woman, he espoused him with the most solemn forms, 
Tigellinus acting as the bride's father on the occasion. He 
henceforth had him dressed as his empress, and carried about 
with him in a litter. Some one observed that " it had been 
well for the world if his father Domitius had had such a 
wife." He also, while in Greece, attempted to dig a canal 
through the Isthmus, for which purpose he assembled a great 
number of workmen from all parts. When, from supersti- 
tious motives, they hesitated to touch the ground which was 
sacred to the sea-god, he took a spade, and set them the ex- 
ample himself. The project, however, owing to subsequent 
events, came to nothing. 

Helius had for some time been urging the emperor by 
letters to return to Rome, on account of the aspect of affairs 
there. Finding his letters unheeded, he came over in per- 
son ; and, on his representations, Nero saw the necessity of 
leaving Greece. When he landed in Italy, he proceeded to 
Naples, the scene of his first musical glory. He entered it 
in a chariot drawn by white horses, and through a breach in 
the walls, as was the custom of victors in the public games. 
He did the same at Antium, Albanura, and Rome itself He 
entered this last city in the triumphal car of Augustus, in a 
purple robe studded with silver stars, the Olympic wrea.h of 
wild olive on his head, the Pythian laurel in his hand. The 
crowns which he had won, and boards showing the names 
and forms of the places where he had gained them, preceded 
his chariot; the senate, knights, and soldiers, followed, shout- 
ing, "Olympic victor! Pythian victor! Augustus! Nero Her- 
cules! Nero Apollo!" and such like. In this manner he 

CONTIN. 10 



\]0 



NERO. 



[a. d. 68. 



proceeded to the Capitol, and thence to the palace. The 
crowns, eighteen hundred in number, were hung round an 
Egyptian obelisk, Nero then resumed his former occupa- 
tions as a player and charioteer. 

The Roman world had thus long submitted to be the sport 
of a monster in human form ; but the day of vengeance was 
at hand. We are ill-informed of the circumstances and na- 
ture of the revolt against him, (C8;) we are only told that 
its author was C. Julius Vindex, a man of high birth in 
Aquitanian Gaul, whose father had been a Roman senator, 
and w ho was himself at this time proprsEtor of Gaul. As the 
people were harassed beyond endurance by exactions, he 
proposed to them to have recourse to arms, and deprive the 
unworthy wretch, under whose tyranny they groaned, of the 
power to oppress the Roman world any longer. Vindex was 
too prudent a man to set himself up as the rival of Nero; he 
proposed that the empire should be offered to Ser. Sulpicius 
Galba, the governor of Tarragonian Spain, a man of high 
character, of much military experience, and who was at the 
head of a large army. Deputies were accordingly sent to 
Galba, to whom Vindex also wrote, strongly urging him to 
become the deliverer and leader of the human race. Galba, 
who had discovered that Nero had resolved on his death, and 
whom favorable signs and omens encouraged, called his sol- 
diers together, and, placing before his tribunal the images of 
a great number of persons whom Nero had put to death, de- 
plored the condition of the times. The soldiers instantly 
saluted him emperor; he, however, cautiously professed him- 
self to be merely the legate of the Roman senate and peo- 
ple, and forthwith commenced his levies. He formed a kind 
of senate of the leading persons in the country, and selected 
a body of youths of the equestrian order to act as his body- 
guard. 

Meantime Verginius Rufus, who commanded m Germany, 
when he heard of the insurrection in Gaul, advanced and 
laid siege to Besan'on. Vindex came to its relief, and, 
having encamped at a little distance, he and Verginius had a 
private meeting, in which it was suspected that they agreed 
to unite against Nero ; but, shortly after, as Vindex was lead- 
ing his forces toward the town, the Roman legions, attack- 
ing them without orders, as was said, slew 20,000 of them, 
vindex also fell by their swords, or, as was more gener- 
ally believed, by his own hand. The soldiers would faio 



A D. 63.] INSURRECTION OF VINUEX. Ill 

have saluted Verginius emperor; but that noble-minded man 
steadfastly refused the honor, affirming that the senate and 
people alone had a right to confer it.* 

Nero was at Naples when intelligence reached him of the 
insurrection in Gaul. He made so light of it, that some 
thought he was rejoiced at the occasion which it was likely 
to offer for plundering those wealthy provinces. During 
eight days he took his ordinary amusements. At length, 
stung by the contumelious edicts of Vindex, he wrote to the 
senate, excusing his absence on account of the soreness of 
his throat, as if, observes the historian, he was to have sung 
for them ; and when he came to Rome, he assembled the 
principal men of both orders, but, instead of deliberating 
with them on the affairs of Gaul, he spent the time in ex- 
plaining some improvements which he had made in the hy- 
draulic organ, adding that he would shortly produce it in the 
theatre, if Vindex would allow him. 

When, however, he heard of the revolt of Galba and the 
Spains, his consternation was extreme. He revolved, it is 
said, the wildest and most nefarious projects, such as sending 
persons to kill all the governors of provinces, massacring the 
exiles and all the Gauls that were at Rome, poisoning the 
senate, setting fire to the city, and letting the wild beasts 
loose on the people. He began to levy troops ; but his first 
care was to provide carriages to convey his theatric proper- 
ties, and to dress and arm a party of his concubines as Ama- 
zons to form his guard. The urban cohorts having refused 
to serve, he called on all masters to furnish a certain number 
of their slaves, and he took care to select the most valuable, 
not even excepting the stewards or amanuenses. He likewise 
required all persons to give him a part of their property. 

Intelligence of further revolts having reached him as he 
was at dinner, he overturned, in his terror, the table, and broke 
his two precious Homeric cups, as they were named, from 
the scenes from Homer which were carved on them. Taking 
then with him in a golden box some poison prepared for him 
by Locusta, he went to the Servilian gardens, and sent some 
of his most faithful freedmen to Ostia to get shipping ready. 
He then tried to prevail on the officers of the guards to ac- 
company his flight ; but some excused themselves, others re- 

* Verginius caused the following lines to be placed on his tomb, (Plin 
Ep. vi. 10. :) " Hie situs est Rufus, pulso qui Vindice quondam, 
Imperium asseruit non sibi, sed patriae." 



112 



NER0.1 



[A.D.ea 



fused, and one even repeated the line of Virgil, Usque adeu- 
ne mori miscrum est ? One time he thought of flying to 
the Partliians, another time to Galba, then of ascending the 
Rostra, and asking public pardon for his transgressions, and 
praying for even the government of Egypt. He retired to 
rest; but, awaking in the middle of the night, and finding 
that his guards had left him, he sprang up and sent for some 
of his friends. When none came, he arose, and went to 
some of their houses; but every door was closed against him. 
On his return, he found his bed-chamber pillaged, and his box 
of poison gone. He sought in vain for some one to kill him. 
"Have 1 neither a friend nor an enemy?" cried he, and 
rushed to the Tiber, to throw himself into it. His courage, 
however, failed him ; and his freedman Phaon having offered a 
country-house which he had four miles from the city for a 
retreat, he mounted a horse, and set out with Sporus and 
three others, concealed in a dark cloak, with his head covered 
and a handkerchief before his f:ice. As he was quitting the 
city, the ground seemed to rock beneath him, and a broad 
flash of lightning struck terror to his heart ; and, as he passed 
the praetorian camp, hia ears were assailed by the shouts 
of the soldiers execrating him and wishing success to Gal- 
ba. " There they go in pursuit of Nero," observed one of 
those whom they met; another inquired of them if there was 
any news of Nero in the city- His horse starting in the 
road, his handkerchief fell, and he was recognized and salu- 
ted by a praitorian soldier. They had to quit their horses 
and scramble through a thicket to get to the rear of Phaou's 
villa, and then to wait till an aperture was made in the wall 
to admit them. Phaon urged him to conceal himself, mean- 
time, in a sand hole ; but he replied that he would not bury 
himself alive, and, taking some water up in his hand from a 
pool to quench his thirst, he said, " This is Nero's prepared 
water." * He then picked the thorns out of his cloak, and, 
when the aperture was completed, he crept through it, and lay 
down on a miserable pallet in a slave's cell. Though suffer- 
ing from hunger, he would not eat the coarse bread that was 
offered him ; but he drank some warm water. 

Every one now urged him to lose no time in saving him- 
self (rooa the impending insults. He directed them to dig a 



" Decocta. Nero is said to have introduced the practice of boiling 
water and then cooling it in snow to give it a greatJer degree of cold 
Plin. N. H. x.xxi. 3. 



A. D. 68.] DEATH OF NERO. 113 

grave on the spot, and to prepare the requisite water and 
wood for his funeral : meantime he continued weeping and 
saying, " What an artist is lost!" A messenger coming 
with letters to Phaon, he took them, and, reading that he was 
declared an enemy by the senate, and sentenced to be pun- 
ished more majorum, he inquired what that meant. Being 
told that it was to be stripped naked, have the head placed 
in a fork, and be scourged to death, he took two daggers he 
had with him, and tried their edge, then sheathed them 
again, saying that the fatal hour was not yet come. One 
moment he desired Sporus to begin the funeral wail, then he 
called on some one to set him an example of dying, then 
he upbraided his own cowardice. At length, hearing the 
trampling of the horses of those sent to take him, he hur- 
riedly repeated an appropriate line of Homer, and, placing a 
dagger at his throat, with the aid of his secretary Epaphro- 
ditus, drove it in. A centurion, entering before he was dead, 
put his cloak to the wound, pretending that he was come to 
his aid. " 'Tis too late! Is this your fidelity ?" said the 
bleeding tyrant, and expired. 

Such was the well-merited end of the emperor Nero, in the 
31st year of his age and the 14th of his reign. We have not 
ventured to pollute our pages with the appalling details of 
his lusts and vices, which historians have transmitted to us; 
or by so doing we should injure rather than serve the cause 
3f moral purity and of virtue. Monster as he was, the pop- 
ulace and the prfEtorian soldiery, missing the gifts and the 
shows which he used to bestow on them, soon began to re- 
gret him ; and for many years his tomb continued to be vis- 
ited and his memory to be held in honor. No more con- 
vincing proof could be given of the utter degradation of the 
Roman people. 



I On looking through the reigns of the four immediate suc- 
cessors of Augustus, one cannot fail to be struck with the 
singular failure of all the projects of that prince for securing 
the happiness of the Roman world. It can hardly be regard- 
ed as fortuitous that such monsters should have attained to 
unlimited power ; and those should not be regarded as super- 
stitious who see in this event a fulfilment of that great law of 
the moral world, the visitation on the children of the sins 
10* o 



1 14 NERO. 

and errors of the parents. The Roman loblcs had, in the 
last century of the republic, robbed and oppressed the people 
of the provinces in the most nefarious manner, and by their 
civil contentions at home they had demoralized the people 
and caused the downfall of public liberty ; their descendant* 
were therefore the victims of the most capricious and mer- 
ciless tyranny, against which virtue or innocence was no se- 
curity. For we may observe that, with slight exceptions, it 
was solely against the noble and wealthy that the cruelties 
of the emperors were directed. 

The whole of the people of Rome, nobles and plebeians 
alike, were debased and degraded. Though we may not 
place implicit faith in the exaggerated statements of the de- 
claimers and satirists of the time, we must yet recognize the 
foundation of truth on which their exaggerations rest. The 
nobles were sunk in luxury and sensuality to a degree rarely 
equalled. Vice, unrestrained by that regard to appearance 
and public opinion which acts as so salutary a check in 
modern times, reigned in their splendid mansions, and boldly 
affronted the public view. But all were not equally debased. 
In the history of the time, we meet with many splendid ex- 
amples of virtue ; and, had we the records of private life, we 
should probably find much to (latter our more exalted views 
of human nature. Tliey, in general, cultivated literature. 
The rigid precepts of the Stoic doctrine were adopted by 
those of more lofty aspirations, while the votaries of sensual 
enjoyment professed llie degenerated system of Epicurus. 

The common people, now degenerated into mere lazza- 
roni, living on the bounty or charity of the sovereign, and 
utterly destitute of even the semblance of political power, 
thought only of the public games,* and contendeil with mort^ 
passion for the success of the blue or green faction of the 
Circus than their forefathers had shown for the elevation of 
a Scipio or a Marius.to the highest dignities of the state. 
They were also completely brutalized by the constant view 
of the slaugliter of gladiators, the combats of men with the 
wild beasts to which they were exposed, and the massacre of 
animal!^, many brought for the purpose from the most distant 
regions, in the amphitheatre. For such were the amuse* 

* " Ex quo suifragia nuUi 
Vendiinus efTudit euros; nam qui dabatolim 
Imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se 
Continet, atque duas tantum res anxius optat, 
Panein et Circenses." Juv. Sat. x. 77. 



STATE OF THE EMPIRE. 115 

meiits with which the emperors, continuing in truth only the 
usage of the commonwealth, sought to gratify the populace 
of Rome. 

The fine rural population of Italy, the hardy yeomanry and 
stout farm laborers, whose vigor and courage had won the 
victories which gave Rome her empire, had been greatly di- 
minished. Tillage had ceased in a great measure ; and Italy, 
divided into huge estates, the latifundia of the nobles, con- 
tained only vineyards, oliveyards, pastures, and forests, in 
which all the labor was performed by gangs of slaves. The 
corn which was to relieve the wants of the imperial city was 
all supplied by Africa and Egypt ; the existence of the Ro- 
man people was at the mercy of the winds, and any one who 
could obtain the possession of Egypt could starve the capi- 
tal. In every point of view, this policy was bad; it should 
be the object of every prudent government to maintain a 
sound agricultural population. 

Literature had greatly declined after the time of Augustus. 
The only historian of any note remaining from this period is 
C. Velleius Paterculus, an agreeable and ingenious writer, 
but the abject flatterer of the tyrant Tiberius. The philo- 
sophic writings of Seneca display a pure morality, conveyed 
in a style affected and epigrammatic, which, attractive from 
its very faults, operated very injuriously on the literature of 
the age. Of the actions of Seneca we have had occasion to 
speak in the preceding pages; and it is clear that his life 
did not strictly correspond with the high-strained principles 
of the Stoic philosophy which he professed. He is accused 
by Dion of having caused the insurrection of the Britons, in 
the reign of Nero, by his avarice; and that historian hints 
that the charge of adultery against him was not without 
foundation. On the other hand, Tacitus always speaks of 
him with great respect. Seneca, in effect, as he himself fre- 
quently confesses, had the failings of a man : he was rich ; he 
increased his wealth in the ordinary Roman manner, by put- 
ting his money out at interest in the provinces; he lived in a 
splendid manner; but he was moderate and temperate in his 
habits, and kind and amiable in all the relations of private 
life, and we should not hesitate to regard him as a good man. 
The unfortunate circumstances under which he was placed 
with respect to his imperial pupil, may plead his excuse for 
such of his public acts as are morally objectionable. 

Of the poets of this period we possess only two, M. 
Annseus Lucanus, the nephew of Seneca, and A. Persius 



116 



THE CHRISTIAN RF.LIGION. 



Flaccus. Both of these poets embraced the Stoic philoso- 
phy, and both died young. Lucan, following the example of 
Ennius, sought the materials of a narrative poem in the his- 
tory of Rome. But his subject, the war between Ciesar and 
Pompeius, was too recent an event, and the poet was there- 
fore impeded in his efforts by the restrictions of truth. The 
Pharsalia, consequently, though full of vigor and spirit, is 
rhetorical rather than poetical ; and we meet in it the severe 
truths of history, and the strict precepts of philosophy, instead 
of the beguiling illusions of fiction, the proper ornaments 
of poetry. 

Persius has left six satires, written in a tone of pure and 
elevated morality, but in a harsh, rugged style. Horace was 
the great object of his admiration ; but no contrast can be 
greater than that which the style and manner of their respec- 
tive compositions present. 



CHAPTER VII. 
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

THE JEWISH MESSIAH. JESUS CHRIST. HIS RELIGION. ITS 

PROPAGATION. CAUSES OF ITS SUCCESS. CHURCH GOV- 
ERNMENT. 



While such was the condition of the Roman empire under 
the successors of Augustus, the religion which was to super- 
sede the various systems of polytheism in Europe and a part 
of Asia, was secretly and noiselessly progressing, and making 
converts in all parts of the Roman dominions. 

The inspired books of the Jews in many places spoke of 
a mighty prince of that nation, named the Messiah, i. e. the 
Anointed-one, who would rule over all mankind in justice 
and equity, and exalt his own peculiar people to an extraor- 
dinary degree of power and preeminence. He was to be 
born of the line of their ancient sovereigns of the house of 
David ; and the interpreters of the prophetic writings had 
fixed the time of his advent to a period coinciding with the 
-eign of Augustus. Interpreting their prophecies in a literal 
sense, they viewed the promised Deliverer as a great temporal 



JESUS CHRIST. 117 

prince, who would wrest the supremacy of the world from 
Rome, and confer it on Judaea ; and the whole Jewish people 
were looking forward with hope and exultation to the predes- 
tined triumph of their arms and their creed. 

The promised Saviour came at the appointed time, but 
under a widely different character from what the expounders 
of the Law and the Prophets had announced. His mother, 
an humble maiden of the house of David, the wife of a car- 
penter in one of the towns of Galilee, brought him forth at 
Bethlehem, the city of David. He grew up in privacy and 
obscurity; at the age of thirty he entered on his destined of- 
fice as a teacher of mankind ; by many wonderful works, he 
proved his mission to be from on high, and himself to be the 
promised Messiah, whose triumph was to be over sin and the 
powers of darkness, and not over the arms of Rome. Many, 
struck by his miraculous powers, and won by the beauty and 
sublimity of his doctrines, and their accordance with the 
writings of the prophets of Israel, became his followers; but 
a mild and beneficent system of religion was distasteful to 
the nation in general ; the heads of the Jewish religion grew 
alarmed for their own power and influence; they therefore 
resolved on his destruction ; and they forced the Roman gov- 
ernor to condemn him to death as a spreader of sedition 
against the Roman authority. The death which the Son of 
God endured was that of the cross, (the usual mode pit the 
time ;) but, as he had foretold to his disciples, he rose from 
the dead on the third day, and, after an abode of forty days 
on the earth, he ascended, in their view, to heaven, leaving 
them a charge to disseminate bis religion throughout the 
whole world. 

None, we should suppose, require to be told what is the 
religion of Jesus Christ. All must know that its essence 
is the love of God and the love of man, that it inculcates 
every virtue, teaches to shun all evil, promises to the good 
eternal bliss, and menaces the wicked with eternal misery, in 
a future state of existence. So lovely is it, so mild, peaceful, 
and beneficent is its character, that, were its precepts gener- 
ally, though but imperfectly, obeyed, even the present world 
would become a paradise. We speak of the religion which 
is contained in the sacred books of the New Testament, in 
the words of Christ himself and his apostles, and not of the 
corrupted system which grew up and usurped its place, the 
progress of which it will be our task to relate. There is 
perhaps no moral phenomenon so extraordinary ss the 



118 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

change of the purity and simplicity of the gospel into the 
polytheism and idolatry which afterwards assumed the name 
and office of Christianity ; yet, as will appear, it is a phe- 
nomenon not difficult of explanation. 

The religion of Christ was founded on that of Moses ; but 
while the latter was limited to one people and one country, 
and burdened with a wearisome ceremonial, and many peculi- 
arities about meats and drinks, and such like, the former, un- 
limited and unencumbered, was adapted to all parts of the 
earth, and suited to all those who had capacity to understand 
and follow its precepts. Its Divine Author therefore directed 
his disciples to preach it to all nations; and so bold and ener- 
getic were they in the performance of their commission, and 
so powerfully were they aided by the Divine Spirit which 
was promised them, that the religion was in the space of a 
few years diffiised throughout the greater part of the Roman 
empire. 

The first societies of the Christians (named churches *) 
were necessarily in Judaja, and the principal one at Jeru- 
salem, where the apostles or original companions of Christ 
chiefly resided. Gradually, by means of missionaries, the doc- 
trine was spread beyond the limits of Judaea, and churches 
were established at Damascus, Antioch, and other towns. 
The most powerful and effective of these missionaries was 
Saul, (or, as he was afterwards named, Paul,) who had been 
originally a persecutor of the church, but, being converted by 
miracle, as he was on his road to Damascus, became a most 
zealous preacher of the truth which he had opposed. To 
zeal and ardor he united the advantages of learning and 
eloquence ; he was versed in the literature of his own nation 
and of the Greeks, and was thus eminently qualified for the 
office assigned him, of being the apostle of the Gentiles. By 
means chiefly of this eminent man, within the space of five- 
and-twenty years from the death of Christ, churches had 
been formed in the principal towns of Syria, Asia Minor, 
Macedonia, Greece, and even in the city of Rome. 

The mode in which Paul and the other missionaries pro- 
ceeded was as follows: The Jews were now (for the pur- 
poses of traffic, it would appear) established in most of the 
great towns of the Roman empire ; and wherever they were, 

* T he term employed in the New Testament is ixxXyjola, " assem- 
bly." Church J8 usuall}' derived from llie phrase o toO xvqIov oixot, 
"the Lord's House, ' which was also employed to designate the be* 
Jiev rs in Christ. 



ITS PROPAGATION. 119 

liiey had their synagogues or places of worship. On arriving 

at any town, therefore, Paul, (to take him for an exam.)le,) as j 
being a Jew, used to enter the synagogue on the Sabbath day, 

where, taking advantage of the custom which prevailed in the j 

synagogues, of inviting any persons wlio seemed inclined to i 

address the congregat on,* he undertook to prove to them I 

that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah. If the Jews were I; 

convinced and believed, they became the nucleus of a church; j 

if they did not, (as was more generally the case,) the apostle 'I 

"' turned to the Gentiles," that is, preached the gospel to the | 

heathen, or the followers of the worship of false gods. The j 

church of each town was usually composed of converts from ' 

among both Jews and Gentiles, but chiefly of the latter, the ■ 

Jews being in general the implacable enemies of the religion \ 
which was to supersede their own, and which disappointed 

all their lofty anticipations. ) 

In the moral as in the natural world, there is no effect i 

without a preceding cause; no change is produced without \ 

a due preparation of circumstances. We may therefore in- ] 

quire, without presumption, what were the circumstances that i 

favored the rapid progress of the Christian religion. ; 

The able historian of The Decline and Fall of the Roman I 

Empire assigns five causes for this great effect, namely, the ;, 

zeal of the Christians — the doctrine of a future life — the | 

miraculous powers ascribed to the church — the pure and aus- I 

tere morals of the Christians — and the union and discipline I 

of the Christian republic. In his examination of each of ^ 

these causes and its effects, he exerts all his powers of sneer \ 

and irony to throw discredit on the early Christians, to repre- | 

sent them as weak dupes or artful impostors, and their reli- ij 

gion as no more divine than those of Greece and Italy. We ) 

shall endeavor to examine them in a different spirit. ^ 

The first of the causes assigned by the historian is doubt- 5 

less a true one. Without zeal, no system of philosophy, far \ 

less of religion, will ever make rapid progress in the world. | 
The second cause is also true. The doctrine )f a future 
^tate, as taught by the apostles, had in it a degree of purity, 
determinateness, and certainty, unattainable by the polytheism 
of the heathen, and which foimed no part of the law given to 
the Jews by Moses. But we must not suppose, as the his- 

* " And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of 
Ihe synagogue sent unto them, saying : Ye men and brethren, if ye 
Iiave any word of exhortation for the people, say on,' Acts xiii. 15. 



I 



1:20 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

ioriaii would have us, that a future state was noi »elieved 
generally at that time by the Greeks and Romaws. The 
philosophers and men of education, doubtless, disgusted by 
the absurd details of the future world, furnished by poets and 
adopted in the popular creed, and findiljg no demonstrative 
arguments for a future existence, had reasoned themselves 
into skepticism on the subject, and the doctrine therefore had 
little or no effect on their lives and conduct ; but the vulgar 
still clung pertinaciously to the faith transmitted to them by 
their forefathers, and believed the poetic creed of the future 
world with all its incongruities.* The religious aspect of 
the Roman world at that time in fact very much resembled 
that of Catholic Europe at the present day; the popular re- 
ligion was a mass of absurdities revolting to the understand- 
ing ; the men of education rejected it, and were skeptics or 
infidels; while the vulgar lay grovelling in idolatry and super- 
stition. 

The historian's third cause — the miraculous powers of the 
church — is the one liable to most dispute. The infidel to- 
tally denies their reality ; the believer is convinced of their 
truth. On this point no a" priori arguments should be ad- 
mitted ; the inquirer should, for example, give no heed to 
reasonings from the steadiness and regularity of the course 
of nature, for we know not what that course is, and whether 
the effects which, as being uinisual, we denominate miracu- 
lous or wonderful, may not form a part of it, and have been 
arranged so as to coincide in point of time with the promul- 
gation of certain moral principles. The whole is in effect a 
question of evidence, and those who find the proofs offered 
for the authenticity of the New Testametit convincing, must 
acknowledge that the promise of divine aid made by Jesus 
to his disciples was fulfilled, and that the Holy Spirit enabled 
them to perform many wonderful works.t At the same time, 

• In Lucian (De Luctu 2) will be found a proof of the tenacity with 
which the vulvar adhered to the traditional creed. The chief cause of 
Gibbon's error seems to have been his ignorance of the difTerence be- 
tween tlie rehgious systems of Greece and Italy. CiBsar and Cicero 
might deride the poetic under-world ; Juvenal might say, (ii. 149,) 

" Esse aliquid Manes et subterranea regna, 
Et contum, et Stygio ranas in gurgite nigras, 
Atque una tranfsire vadum tot millia cymba, 
Nee pueri credunt nisi qui nondum cere lavantur." 
But these are all Grecian, not Roman, ideas on the subject, and the 
vuljrar at Rome might make trght or them, and yet believe (as the vul- 
gu; every where do) in a future statt*. 

♦ The most convincing work on the evidences of Christianity, in 



CAt:SES OF ITS SUCCESS. 121 

there are no safe grounds for supposing that this aid was 
continued beyond the age of the apostles. The Deity does 
nothing in vain ; and, when once the Christian religion was 
firmly rooted in the world, supernatural assistance was with- 
drawn. In fact, the accounts of all subsequent miracles ex- 
hibit the marks of error or imposition. 

The fourth cause was, beyond all question, a most effica- 
cious one. The virtues of the early Christians (to which we 
may add the purity of their system of morals) must have 
shone forth with preeminent lustre amid the moral darkness 
which then obscured the world. Not that virtue was totally 
e.xtinct ; for God never suffers it to become so among any 
people; but from the language used by the apostle Paul, and 
from the history of the times, and the writings which have 
come down to us, we may infer that morality was never at a 
lower ebb than at that period of the Roman empire. There 
certainly was then no sect nor society which showed the phi- 
lanthropy and spirit of mutual love displayed by the early 
Christians. " Behold how these Christians love one another ! " 
was the language of the admiring heathens. 

The last cause assigned by the historian — the government 
of the church — could hardly have had much efficacy in the | I 

period of which we now treat. What the original form of 
church government was, is a question which was once agitated 
with a degree of violence and animosity which testified little 
for the acquaintance of the combatants with the true nature 
and spirit of the gospel. It is now, we believe, pretty gen- 
erally agreed among rational and moderate divines, that nei- 
ther Christ nor his apostles intended to institute any particu- 
lar form; leaving it to the members of the church to regulate | j! 
it according to their ideas of what would best accord with ( I 
the political constitution under which they lived. And, in | 
fact, if we are fo judge by the effects, we might say that 
forms of ecclesiastical government are indifferent, and that I 
" whate'er is best administered is best; " for equal degrees of 
piety and holiness seem to be attainable under all. True re- 
ligion is seated in the heart ; it depends not on outward 
forms : it is the pride, the ambition, the vanity of man that 
has introduced schism and dissension into the church of 
Christ. 

The first churches, as we have seen, were founded by mis- 

our opinion, is Paley's " Horee Paulince," the perusal of which we 
■trongly recommend. 

CONTIN. 11 P 



122 THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 

sionaries, who travelled from place to place. ^\ me they 
were present with any church, they necessarily exercised an 
authority over it ; but every society requires a permanent 
government; and, therefore, the churches seem almost im- 
mediately to have appointed some persons to preside in their 
assemblies, and to execute other offices of supervision or 
ministration. The presidents were named Overseers or 
Elders ; * they were chosen by the members of the church, 
and confirmed and appointed to their office by the founder, 
or one authorized by him.t There is also a class of persons 
spoken of who were termed Prophets, and seem to have 
been men endowed with a ready eloquence, able to expound 
the Scriptures, and tc exhort and admonish the congrega- 
tion. | A third class of officers were named Deacons, i. e. 
Ministers,<5i who attended to the poor, and discharged some 
other duties. 

Such seems to have been the external form of the 
churches during the lifetime of the apostles. Each con- 
gregation was independent of all others, governed by officers 
chosen by its members, living in harmony and friendly com- 
munication with the other churches; those which were more 
wealthy contributing to the comforts of those, which, like 
the parent one at Jerusalem, were more exposed to affiiction 
and poverty. 

It was not perhaps, in general, till after the death of the 
apostles, that, the congregations having become very numer- 
ous, a change was made in their form of government, and 
the office of Bishop or Overseer was separated from that of 
Elder, and restricted to one person in each society. His 
office was for life; he was the recognized o-gan and head 
of the church ; he had the management of its funds, and 
the appointment to the offices of the ministry. He also ad- 
ministered the rite of baptism, and he pronounced the 
blessing over the bread and wine used at the Lord's Supper. 
The presbyters were his council or assistants ; for he was 
only regarded as the first among equals. 

Such, then, was the church of Christ in its early days. 
It was composed of converts from among the Jews and 

* 'EitlnxoTToi and noenftrrfitoi. That they were synonymous, is evi- 
dent from the. following' passages : Acts xx. 18 and 28; Tit. i. 5 and 7. 
From tlie former are derived the modern Vescovo, (Ital.,) Obispo, 
(Sp.,) Eveque, (Fr.,) Bishop, (Eng.;) from the latter, Prete, (Ital.,) 
Pr.'tre, (Fr.,) Priest, (Eng.) 

t Tit. i. 5. } 1 Cor. xiv. 3 — 5. § Jmxotot 



THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 123 

Gentiles, chiefly of the middle and lower ranks, or it did 
not exclude even slaves.* It was, in general, disregarded or 
<lespised by the learned and the great, by whom it was con- 
founded with Judaism, which, from its unsocial character, 
was the object of universal dislike, and was treated as a 
baneful superstition. That the early Christians were not 
perfect, is evinced by the Epistles of Paul himself, which, at 
the same time, prove how pure and holy were the precepts 
delivered to them; and, if Tacitus and Suetonius speak of 
the Christians as the vvorst of men, their friend, the younger 
Pliny, who, in his office of governor of a province, had oc- 
casion to become acquainted with that persecuted sect, bears 
testimony to the purity of their morals and the innocence of 
their lives.t 

* It must not, however, be inferred, as is sometimes done by the 
enemies of our religion, that there were hardly any of the better 
classes among the early converts. The mention in the apostolic 
writings of masters and servants; the directions given to women not 
to adorn themselves with gold and silver, pearls and costly array; the 
sums raised for the relief of the poorer churches; — all testify the con- 
trary. St. Paul's remark, that there were not many of the noble or the 
mighty in the church of Corinth, would seem to prove that there were 
•iojne ; and the injunction to beware of the philosophy of the Greeks, 
and the Oriental Gnosis, would hardly have been necessary if the 
Christians were all ignorant and illiterate. 

t "They affirmed," says Pliny, "that the whole of their lault or 
error lay in this — that they were wont to meet together on a stated 
day before it was light, and sing among themselves alternately a hymn 
to Christ as to God, and bind themselves by an oath, not to the com- 
mission of any wickedness, but not to be guilty of theft, or robbery, or 
adultery, never to falsify their word, nor to deny a pledge committed 
lo them when called on to return it." 



HISTORY 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



PART II. 

EM »ERORS CHOSEN BY THE ARMY. 



CHAPTER I.* 

GALEA. OTHO. VITELLIUS. 
A. u. 821—823. A. D. 68—70. 

OALBA. ADOPTION OF PISO. MURDER OF GALBA. OTHO. 

CIVIL WAR. BATTLE OF BEDRIACUM. DEATH OP 

OTHO. VITELLIUS. VESPASIAN PROCLAI.MED EMPEKOR. 

ADVANCE OF THE FLAVIANS. STORMING OF CREMONA. 

BURNING OF THE CAPITOL. CAPTURE OF ROME. 

DEATH OF VITELLIUS. 

The supreme power in the Roman world had now been 
held for a century by the family which, in accordance with 
the Roman practice of adoption, we may regard as, and 
term, the Julian or Ca3sarian. It had also been transmitted 
in lineal succession, except in the case of Claudius, when 
the guards proved to the senate and the people that the 
power of giving a master to the Roman world lay with than. 
We are now to see this power claimed and exercised by the 

* Authorities: Tacitus, Suetonius, Dion, and Plutarch. 



A.D. 68.] CHARACTER OF GALEA. 125 

legions, and the pretensions of rival candidates asse: ed by 
the arras of their supporters.* 



Ser. Sulpicius Galha. 
A. u. 821—822. A. D. G8— 69. 

Servius Sulpicius Galba, a member of one of the most 
ancient and honorable patrician families at Rome, was now 
in the seventy-third year of his age. He had borne the hiorh 
offices of the state, had governed both Africa and Spain, 
and had displayed military talents in the former province 
and in Germany, which had procured him the triumphal 
ornaments. Both as a general and as a governor, he had 
shown himself to be rigidly severe, and even harsh. He was 
infected with the usual vice of age — avarice, and he was 
entirely under the influence of those by whom he was sur- 
rounded. 

The prsetorian guards had been induced by their prefect, 
Nymphidius Sabinus, (the colleague of Tigellinus,) to aban- 
don Nero, and declare for Galba, in whose name he prom- 
ised them the enormous donative of 7,500 denars a man, 
while the soldiers of the legions he engaged siiould each 
receive 1,250 denars. The troops which Nero had col- 
lected in Italy being thus gained over, the senate followed 
their example, and the usual titles and power were decreed 
to Galba. 

When Galba was certified of the death of Nero, he as- 
sumed the title of Caesar, and set out for Rome. In that 
city there had been some disturbance, for Nymphidius had 
tried to induce the praetorian cohorts to declare for himself; 
but he had been overpowered and slain. On his route, Gal- 
ba put to death a consular and a consul elect, without even 
the form of a trial ; and when, as he drew near to the city, 
the rowers of the fleet, whom Nero had converted into s'>l- 
diers, met him, and, refusing to return to their former con- 
dition, demanded an eagle and standards, he ordered hia 
horse to charge them ; and, not content with the slaughter 
thus made, he decimated the remainder. When the praeto- 

* Hence we term this the period of emperors elected by Hie army, 
though such was not strictly the case in all parts of it, as from N^'va 
to Com mod us. 

11» 



126 GALEA. [a. D. 69. 

rians demanded the donative promised in liis name, he re- 
plied that it was his way to levy, not to purchase his soldiers. 
He broke and sent home the German guards of the C.-esars, 
without giving them any gratuity. He offended the people, 
by refusing to punish, at their earnest desire, Tigelliuus and 
some others of the ministers of Nero's cruelty. He, how 
ever, put to death Helius, Locusta, and others. 

It added much to the unpopularity of Galba, that he was 
almost in a state of pupilage to three persons, namely, T. 
Vinius, his legate when in Spain, Cornelius Laco, whom he 
had made prefect of the praetorians, alid his freed man Icelus, 
to whom he had given the equestrian ring, and tlie surname 
of Martianus. These persons had all their own ends in 
view; and, as they knew that, under any circumstances, the 
life of tlic eujperor could not be long, they thought only of 
providing for their future interests. 

The provinces and the armies in general submitted to the 
emperor appointed by the senate. It was not so, however, 
with the legions in the Germanics. Gall)a had most unwise- 
ly recalled the noble Verginius under tlie show of friendship, 
but in reality out of fear and jealousy, and sent A. Vitellius 
to command the army of Lower Germany, whose general, 
Fonteius Capito, had been slain by iiis legates Cornelius 
Atjuinus and Fabius Valens ; while Hordeonius Flaccus, 
who commanded the army of Upper Germany, enfeebled by 
age and the gout, had lost all autliority over his troops. 

It was with this last army that the disturbance began. On 
new year's day, (09,) Galba entered on the consulate, with 
Vinius for his colleague; and a h\v days after, word came 
that the legions of Upper Germany insisted on having 
another emperor, leaving the choice to the senate and 
people. This intelligence made Galba hasten the execution 
of a design he had already formed of adopting some person, 
as he was himself childless; and he held consultations with 
his three friends on the subject. They were divided in 
their sentiments. M. Salvius Otho, from whom, it nay be 
recollected, Nero had taken Poppa;a, had early joined Galba, 
whom he hoped to succeed; there was a great intimacy 
between him and Vinius, whose daughter, it was believed, he 
was engaged to marry, and Vinius therefore now strongly 
urged his claim to the adoption. Laco and Icelus had no 
particular favorite, but they were resolved to oppose the 
candidate of Vinius. Galba, partly, as was thought, moved 
by a regard for the state, which would have been to no pur- 



A. D. C9.] ADOPTION OF PISO. 127 

pose delivered from Nero if transmitted to Otho, and partly, 
as was supposed, influenced by Laco, fixed on Piso Licinia- 
nus, a young man of the noblest birth and the strictest 
morals. Having adopted him with the usual forms, he took 
him into the camp, and hiformed the soldiers of what he 
had done ; but, influenced by his parsimony and his regard 
for ancient usages, he unfortunately said not a word of a 
donative, and the troops listened to him with silence and 
disgust. 

(-)tho, v;ho, from the state of his affairs, saw ruin impend- 
ing over him, now resolved to make a desperate effort, and 
be emperor or perish. He had for some time been secretly 
tampering with the soldiery. By means of his freedman 
Onomastus, he gained over two soldiers, who undertook to 
make trial of the fidelity of their comrades; and, on the 
fifth day after the adoption of Piso, (Jan. 15,) as Galba was 
sacrificing at the temple of the Palatine Apollo, Onomastus 
came to Otho, who was standing by him, and said that the 
architect and builders were waiting for him, that being the 
signal agreed on. Otho, pretending that he had bought 
some houses which required to be examined, went away ; 
and, at the golden mile-stone in the Forum, he was met by 
three-and-twenty soldiers, who saluted him emperor, and, 
placing him in a sedan, hurried him away to the camp, 
being joined by about as many more on the way. 

Galba was still engaged sacrificing, when the report came, 
first, that some senator, and then that Otho, was carried 
away to the camp. It was resolved to make trial at once 
of the fidelity of the cohort which was on guard at the pal- 
ace, and Piso went and stood on the steps and addressed 
them. But, though he promised a donative, they did not. 
declare themselves. All the other troops joined the prfeto- 
rians, with the exception of those whom Nero had drafted 
from the German army to serve in Egypt, and whom Galba 
had lately treated with much kindness. 

The populace hastened to the palace with loud and noisy 
loyalty; and, while Galba was consulting with his friends, 
word came that Otho was slain in the camp : the senators 
and knights, then taking courage, vied with the populace in 
clamorous loyalty, and Galba was put into a chair to pro- 
ceed to the camp. Just as he was setting out, a guardsman, 
showing his bloody sword, cried out that he had slain Otho: 
Galba, ever mindful of discipline, replied, " Fellow-soldier, 
who ordered you 1 " Piso, who had been sent to the camp. 



128 



OTHO. 



[a. d. 69. 



met the emperor on his way with the assurance that all was 
lost, tlie soldiers having declared for Otho. While they 
were deliberating on what were best to be done, the soldiers, 
horse and foot, rushed into the Forum, and dispersed the 
senators and the people. At the sight of them, the standard- 
bearer ot the cohort which was with Galba threw down his 
ensign. The aged emperor was flung from his chair at the 
place called the Lake of. Curtius. He desired the soldiers 
to slay him, if it seemed for the good of the state; and he 
was instantly despatched. Vinius was the next victim. 
Piso fled to the temple of Vesta, where he was concealed by 
a public slave attached to it ; but he was soon discovered, 
dragged out and .«lain, and his head brought to Otho. Laco, 
Icelus, and several others, were put to death. The body of 
Galba, after being exposed to the insults of the soldiery 
and rabble, was indebted for sepulture to his steward, Argius, 
who interred it in his own garden. 



M. Salvias Otho. 
A. u. 822. A. D. 69. 

The soldiers now did every thing they pleased ; for Otho, 
even if inclined, had not the power to restrain them ; the 
senate and people rushed into servitude as usual. The trib- 
unitian power, the name of Augustus, and all the other 
honors, were decreed to Otho; and, as far as Rome was con- 
cerned, his power was supreme. But he had hardly entered 
on his new dignity when he received intelligence that the 
German legions, joined by several of the Gallic states, had 
declared A. Vitellius emperor, and that two armies, under 
his legates, Fabius Valens and Alienus Ca;cina, were in full 
innrch for Italy. 

The legions of Britain and of Raetia had also diclared for 
Vitellius. Those of Spain at first gave in their adhesion to 
Otho; but they sj)eedily turned to his rival. The troops of 
the East and of Africa took the oath to Otho, when they 
learned his elevation by the senate. The army of Illyricum 
also took the engagement to him, and adhered to*it. His 
chief reliance, however, was on the guards and the other 
troops which had revolted in his favor against Galba. Dur- 
ing the time that Otho remained in ihe city, preparing 



A. D. 69.] CIVIL WAR. T29 

for the war, he BispTayed a degree of prudence and vigor not 
expected from his general character. He gained popularity 
by giving up to the public vengeance the infamous Tigelli- 
nus, and by bestowing pardon and his confidence on Marius 
Celsus, a consul elect, who had exhibited the most exempla- 
ry fidelity toward Galba, and who afterwards proved equally 
faithful to Otho himself 

On the eve of the Ides of March, (14th,) Otho, having 
commended the state to the care of the senate, set out to 
take the command of his army ; for Valens, at the head of 
40,000 men, was now approaching Italy by the Cottian Alps, 
while Cajcina, with 30,000, was entering it by the Pennine 
Alps, and a part of the troops in Cisalpine Gaul had declared 
for Vitellius, and seized Milan, Novarra, and some other 
municipal towns. The whole of Italy to the Po was thus in 
the hands of the Viteilians. As Otho had the entire com- 
m'.nd of the sea, he had put troops on board of the fleet from 
Misenum, and sent them to make a diversion on the southern 
coast of Gaul ; and they had some success against the troops 
despatched by Valens to oppose them. The Pannonian le- 
gions were on their march for Italy, and they had sent their 
cavalry and light troops on before. Five prstorian cohorts, 
with the first legion, and some cavalry, and a band of two 
thousand gladiators, were despatched from the city, under the 
command of Annius Gallus and Vestricius Spurinna, to oc- 
cupy the banks of the Po ; and Otho himself followed with 
the remainder' of the prcetorian cohorts, a body of veteran 
praetorians, and a large number of the rowers of the fleet. 

Caecina had crossed the Po, unopposed ; he moved along 
the stream of that river, and sat down before Placentia, into 
which Spurinna had thrown himself On the very first day 
of the siege, the splendid amphitheatre, the largest in Italy, 
which lay without the walls, was burnt, by accident or de- 
sign. Having failed in all his attempts to storm the town, 
Csecina put his troops over the river, and marched against 
Cremona. Gallus, who was leading the first legion to the 
relief of Placentia, being informed by letters from Spurinna 
of the route taken by Ciscina, halted at a village named 
Bedriacum, between Verona and Cremona. Meantime Mar- 
tins Macro had suddenly crossed the Po with the gladiators, 
and routed a body of the Vitellian auxiliaries. The Otho- 
nians were now elate with success, and eager for battle, and 
they wrote to Otho, accusing their generals of treachery in 
restraining their ardor. 

The Othonian generals wished to avoid engaging the vet 

Q 



130 OTHO. [a. p. 6a 

erans of Vitelllus with their holiday troops, which had never 
seen any service, and to wait for the arrival of the Pannonian 
legions. On the other hand, Ccecina, maddened by the re- 
pulses which he had received at Placentia, and anxious to 
bring matters to a conclusion before the arrival of Valcns, 
was impatient of delay. He therefore wished to provoke a 
battle; and, placing the best of his auxiliary troops in am- 
bush, in the woods on each side of the road, at a place called 
The Temple of the Castors, about twelve miles from Cre- 
mona, he sent a party of horse along the road, with directions 
to fall on the enemy, and then retire and draw them into 
the ambuscade. The plan, however, was betrayed to the 
Othonian generals, Suetonius Paulinus and Marius Celsus, 
of whom the former taking the command of the foot, and 
the latter that of the horse, they made such dispositions as 
might turn the enemy's wile against himself Accordingly, 
when the Vitellian horse turned and fled, Celsus kept his 
men in check ; those in the ambush then rising before their 
time, Celstis gradually fell back till he drew them to where 
they found the road occupied by the legionaries, while 
cohorts were on each side, and the cavalry had now gotten 
into their rear. Had Paulinus given the word at once, they 
might have been cut to pieces; but he delayed so long, that 
they had time to save themselves in the adjoining vineyards, 
and a little wood, from which they made sallies, and killed 
some of the most forward of the Othonian horse. The 
Othonian infantry now pushed forward, and, as Cajcina sent 
his troops out only by single cohorts to oppose them, the 
resistance which they experienced was slight; and it was 
thought, on both sides, that, if Paulinus had not sounded a 
recall, Ccecina's army might have been annihilated. The 
reason which Paulinus assigned for doing so, was his fear 
lest his wearied men should be attacked by fresh troops from 
the camp of the Vitellians, in which case he should have no 
reserve to support them; his arguments, however, did not 
prove generally satisfactory. 

This check abated Very much the confidence of both Cae- 
cina and his men; it had a similar effect on those of Va- 
lens', who had now reached Ticinun). They had lately 
been very mutinous, and their general had narrowly escaped 
death at their hands ; and when they heard of the recent 
disaster of their comrades, they were near breaking out into 
mutiny again. They would brook no delay; they urged 
on the standar 1-bearers, and they speedily joined the army 
of Cxcini. 



A. D. 69.] CIVIL WAR. 131 

Otho now advised v/ith his generals whether it would be 
better to protract the war, or to bring matters to a speedy 
decision. Suetonius argued strongly in favor of the former 
course. The Vitellians, he said, were ail there ; they could 
calculate on no additions to their force ; they would soon be 
in want of corn ; the summer was coming on, and the Ger- 
mans, it was well known, could not stand the heat of Italy. 
On the other hand, Otho had Pannonia, Moesia, and the 
East, with their large armies; he had Italy and the city with 
him, and the name of the senate and people, which was 
always of importance ; he had plenty of money, and his men 
were inured to the climate. The line of the Po, as Placen- 
tia had proved, could be easily defended; he would speedily 
be joined by tiie legions from Illyricum. All therefore con- 
.spired to recommend delay. The opinions, of Celsus and 
Annius Gallus coincided with that of Suetonius. On the 
other hand, Otho himself was inclined to a speedy decision, 
and his brother Titianus, to whom he had given the chief 
command, and the praetorian prefect, Licinius Proculus, men 
utterly devoid of experience, flattered his wishes. The gen- 
erals ceased to oppose. It was then asked, should the em- 
peror himself appear in the field or not. Suetonius and 
Celsus gave no opinion, and the others decided that he 
should retire to Brescia, (Brixcllum,) and reserve himself for 
the empire. Nothing could be more pernicious than this 
course, for he took with him some of the best troops; and, 
moreover, as the soldiers distrusted their generals, and had 
confidence in himself alone, it diminished the moral force of 
the army. 

Valens and CfBcina, who, by means of scouts and desert- 
ers, knew all that was going on in the enemy's camp, now 
began to throw a bridge of boats over the Po, as if with the 
intention of driving off the gladiators. While they were 
thus engaged, the Othonians advanced four miles from Be- 
driacum, and encamped, displaying so little skill in the se- 
lection of the site, that, though it was spring-time, and there 
was a number of streams all about them, the soldiers actually 
suffered for want of water. Celsus and Paulinus were gen- 
erals only in name, and their opinions had never been taken. 
The troops were then set in motion, to march for the con- 
fluence of the Po and the Adda, sixteen miles off, in spite 
of the remonstrances of the generals, Titianus and Proculus, 
bemg confirmed by an express from Otho, ordering matters 
to be brought to a decision at once. 



132 OTHO. [a. d. 69 

Cscina was viewing the progress of the bridge, when 
word came that the enemy was at hand. He hurried back 
to the camp, where he found that Valens had got the troops 
under arms. The horse issued forth, and charged the Otho- 
nians, but were driven back ; the legions, favored by the 
denseness of the trees, which concealed them from view, 
formed witliout disorder. The Othonians were advancing 
without any order ; the baggage and the followers mingled 
with the soldiers, along a road with deep ditches on each 
side. A report being spread that his own troops had re- 
volted from Vitellius, the Othonians, when they came in 
view, saluted the Vitellians as friends; but they were soon 
made to perceive their error. A severe conflict ensued ; but 
the Othonians were finally routed and driven to their camp, 
and the Vitellians took up their position for the night within 
a mile of it. The prfBtorians alone were unbroken in spirit ; 
they asserted that they were betrayed, not conquered, and 
insisted on continuing the war. Morning, however, brought 
cooler thoughts, and a deputation was sent to sue for peace, 
which was readily granted, and the two armies then united. 

When the news of the defeat at Bcdriacum reached Bres- 
cia, the troops there, instead of being dejected, sought to in- 
spirit their emperor to continue the war; and envoys from 
the Moesian legions, who were now at Aquileia, assured him 
of their resolution to adhere to his cause. But Otho had 
already formed his determination to end the contest for 
empire by a voluntary death. lie addressed those about 
him in manly terms, declaring that he would not be the 
cause of ruin to such brave and worthy inen. He insisted 
on their providing fc/f their own safety; and, having distrib- 
uted money among them, and burnt all letters reflecting on 
Vitellius, he retired, in the evening, to his bed-chamber, and 
taking two daggers, and trying their edge, he placed one 
under his pillow. He passed the night in tranquillity, and at 
daybreak he thrust the dagger into his bosom. At the groan 
which he gave, his freedmen and friends came in ; but they 
found him already dead. The funeral was hurried ; for so 
he had earnestly desired, lest his head should be cut off" and 
insulted. Some of the soldiers slew themselves at the pyre, 
and their example was followed by many .it Bedriacum, Pla- 
centia, and other places.* 

* Ver^iniua, at this time, ran the rsk of his life for .i^ain refusing 
the empire. He had afterwards a narrow escape from the soldiers of 



i. D. 69.] CHARACTER OF VITELLIUS. 133 

A. Vitellius. 
A. u. 822—823. A. r «9— 70. 

The news of the death of Otho reached Rome during t\ e 
celebration of the Cereal games. The event, joineo .vith 
that of Flavins Sabinus, the city prefect, having caused the 
soldiers there to take the oath to Vitellins, being announced 
in the theatre, the spectators shouted for Vitellius, and they 
then carried the images of Galba, adorned with laurel and 
flowers, round to the temples. The usual honors and titles 
were, without hesitation, decreed to Vitellius by the senate, 
and thanks were voted to the armies of Germany. 

Aulus Vitellius, who was thus suddenly raised to empire, 
was the son of L. Vitellius, who, as we have seen above, was 
one of the basest of flatterers in the times of Caius and 
Claudius. He himself had, in early youth, been an inmate 
of the Capraean sty of Tiberius ; he gained the favor of 
Caius by his fondness for chariot races; that of Claudius by 
his love of dice, and that of Nero by adroit flattery of his 
passion for the stage. He was distinguished above all men 
for his gluttony, so that Galba, when sending him to Lower 
Germany, gave as his reason for selecting him, that none 
are less to be feared than those who think of nothing but 
eating. 

Vitellius was collecting reenforcements in Gaul when he 
heard of the victory at Bedriacum. He was met at Lyons 
{Lugdunnm) by his own generals and by those of the Otho- 
nians. Of these last, Suetonius and Proculus escaped by 
ascribing to treachery on their own part the accidents which 
had favored the Vitellians. Titianus was excused on the 
ground of natural affection to his brother ; and Celsus was 
even allowed to retain the consulate, to which he had been 
appointed. . The most zealous of the Othonian centurions, 
however, were put to death — an act which tended greatly 
to alienate the Illyrian army. On the whole, however, Vi- 

Vitellius, when at that emperor's own table : " Nee quemqtiam Sffipjus 
quam Verginium," says Tacitus, " omnis seditio infestavit; monebat 
admiratio viri et fama, sed oderant nt fastiditi." This excellent man, 
however, escaped all dangers, and died, when consul for the third 
time, in the reign of Nerva, having reached his 83d year. His funeral 
oration was pronounced by Tacitus. Pliny, whose guardian he had 
been, speaks of him (Ep. ii. 1. vi. 10) in terms of the greatest respect 
and affection. 

CONTIN. 12 



134 VITELLIUS. [a. d. 69. 

tellius did not exhibit imich of either avarice or cruelty; but 
his gluttony exceeded all conception, and the wealth of the 
empire seemed inadequate to the supply of his table. At the 
same time, all the north of Italy suffered from the license of 
the soldiery, who, heedless of their officers, committed every 
species of excess. The spirit of the Othouians, too, wa^ 
unbroken, and their language was haughty and menacing. 
The fourteenth legion, which was the most turbulent, was, 
therefore, ordered to return to Britain, whence it had been 
recalled by Nero, and the praetorians were first separated, 
and then disbanded. At Ticinum, almost in the presence 
of Vitellius himself, a tumult took place between the legion- 
aries and the auxiliaries of his own army. It was appeased 
with difficulty; and, in consequence of it, the Batavian co- 
horts were sent home — a measure productive of future 
calamity. 

Vitellius thence proceeded to Cremona, where he was 
present at a show of gladiators given by Cajcina. He then 
feasted his eyes with a view of the battle-field at Bedriacum, 
where the slain lay still unburied. At Bologna, he visited 
another show of gladiators, given by Valens. He advanced 
by easy journeys toward Rome, exhausting the whole coun- 
try on his way by requisitions for the numerous train that 
followed him. At length, he came in view of Rome, at the 
head of 00,000 men, attended by a still greater number of 
camp followers. Senators and knights, and crowds of the 
most profligate of the j)opulace, poured forth to meet him. 
He was about to enter the city as a conqueror in the mili- 
tary habit ; but, at the suggestion of his friends, he as- 
sumed the niagisterialjjrff/tx<«. The eagles of four legions 
were borne before him ; ensigns and standards were around 
him; the troops — foot, horse, and allies — followed, all in 
their most splendid array. He thus ascended the Capitol, 
where he embraced his excellent mother, and saluted her by 
the title of Augusta. 

It was remarked, as a matter of ill omen, that Vitellius 
took the office of chief pontiff on the 18th of July — a day 
rendered memorable in the annals of Rome by the disasters 
at the Cremera and the Allia.* He affected a civil deport- 
ment, refusing the title of Augustus, and attending the meet- 

* [The former was the destruction of the Fabian family by the Ve- 
jenies, A. U. C. '279; the latter was the defeat of the Roman army b* 
Brennug and the Gauls, A. U. C. 364. — J. T. S ] 



A. D. 69.] LUXURIOUS HABITS OF VITELLIUS. 135 

ings of the senate as a simple member of their body, and 
accompanying his friends and soliciting votes for tliem in 
their canvass for the consulate. These popular arts, how- 
ever, did not blind men to his vices. His gluttony passed 
all bounds of moderation ; he had three or four huge meals 
everyday, for which he prepared himself by emetics ; and 
the lowest cost of each was 400,000 sesterces. One ban- 
quet, given him by his brother, is said to have comprised, in 
its bill of fare, 2,000 of the choicest fishes, and 7,000 of the 
rarest birds. He was also immoderately given to the sports 
of the circus, theatre, and amphitheatre; and he alarmed 
men's minds by offering public sacrifices to the Manes of 
Nero, as if he proposed that prince for his example. Like 
his predecessors, he was governed by a freedman, named 
Asiaticus, who in cruelty, rapacity, and every other vice, 
fully equalled those of the courts of Claudius and Nero. 
The generals Crecina and Valens, of whom the former was 
more desirous of power, the latter of money, also acted as 
they pleased; and, altogether, Tacitus observes, " no one in 
that court attempted to distinguish himself by worth or ap- 
plication to business, the only road to power being to satiate 
the insatiable appetites of Vitellius, by extravagant banquets, 
and expense and debauchery of every kind." The historian 
adds, that, in the few months that he reigned, Vitellius spent 
nine hundred millions of sesterces. 

The soldiers, meantime,_ were held under little restraint ; 
but their strength was melting away, from their riotous liv- 
ing, and from the insalubrity of the air and soil about Rome, 
The strength of the legions was also reduced, by the forma- 
tion of sixteen new praetorian and four urban cohorts, into 
which any legionary who pleased might volunteer. 

The luxurious enjoyments of Vitellius were soon disturbed 
by tidings that the legions of the East would not submit to 
have a head imposed on the empire by those of Germany. 
There were four legions in Syria, under the command of 
Licinius Mucianus, the governor of that province; and T. 
Flavins Vespasianus had, at the head of three other legions, 
been for the last three years carrying on the war against the 
rebellious Jews, which he had now nearly brought to a con- 
clusion; and Ti. Alexander, the prefect of Egypt, command- 
ed two other legions. Vespasian had sent his son Titus to 
Rome, with his adhesion to Galba ; but, hearing on his wa}* 
of the murder of that emperor, Titus had stopped, lest he 



136 VITELLItS. [a. D. .69« 

might be made a hostage by either of the rival parlies Tlie 
armies of the East had taken tlie oath of fidelity to Otho, 
without making any objection ; but wlien Vespasian would 
set them the example of taking it to Vitellius, they listened 
to him in profound silence. He then began to meditate on 
his own chances of empire; both Mucianus and Alexander, 
he had abundant reason to believe, would aid hini in attain- 
ing it ; the third legion, which was nosv in Mojsia, had been 
drawn thither from Syria, and he was certain of its attach* 
ment to him, and it might be able to gain over the other 
legions of Fllyricum. On the other hand, he rellected on the 
strength of the German legions, with which he was well 
acquainted, and their superiority over those of the East, and 
also on the risk of his being as^sassinated, like Scribonianus 
in the time of Claudius. 

The legates and other officers tried to encourage him, and 
JSIucianus, both in private and public, urged every topic like- 
ly to prevail with him. His mind was also affected by sun- 
dry omens and prophecies which he recollected ; and he 
at length resolved to run the risk, and win the empire, or 
perish in the attempt. To make the necessary preparations, 
he repaired to Ca3sarea, while Mucianus hastened to Anti- 
och, the capitals of their respective provinces. It was, 
however, at Alexandria, that he was first proclaimed empe- 
ror ; where, on the first of July, Alexander made the legions 
take the oath of fidelity to Vespasian; and two days later, 
as he was coming out of his chamber, at Cajsarea, some sol- 
diers, who were at hand, salute<l him emperor ; the rest then 
shouted out Ciesar, Augustus, and the other imperial titles, 
and he no longer refused them. Mucianus had, meantime, 
brought over the Syrian legions, chiefly by assuring them 
that it was the intention of Vitellius to replace them by those 
of Germany, and remove them to the snows and cold of the 
north. The neighboring kings, Sohemus, Antiocbus, and 
Agrippa, joined in the league, and a meeting was held at 
Berytus to deliberate on the best mode of proceeding. 

It was there resolved that every effort should be made to 
obtain money and supplies of all kinds; that embassies 
should be sent to the Parthians and Armenians, to engage 
them to remain at peace ; that Titus should carry on the 
war in Judaja ; and Vespasian himself secure Egypt; while 
Mucianus should set out, with a part of the army, against' 
Vitellius ; and letters be written to all the armies and le« 



A. D. 69.] TROOPS DECLARE FOR VESPASIAN 137 

gates ; and every means be employed to induce the disband- 
ed praetorian cohorts to resume their arms in the caase of 
Vespasian. 

Accordingly, Mucianus set forth at once with a body of 
light troops, a much larger force following at a slower pace. 
He ordered the fleet from the Pontus to meet him at Byzan- 
tium, not being yet determined whether he should march 
through Moesia, or pass direct from Dyrrhachium to Brundi- 
sium or Tarentum, His course, however, was decided by 
the news of what had occurred in the army of Illyricum. 
For three legions from McBsia, (one of which was the third.) 
having reached Aquileia, on their march to join Otho, there 
learned the death of that prince. While they halted, officer? 
arrived, inviting them to submit to Vitellius; but they tore 
the banners which were sent to them bearing his name, and 
seized and divided among them the public money. The 
third then setting the example, they declared for Vespasian ; 
and they wrote to the Pannonian army, inviting them to join 
them, under the penalty of being treated as enemies. This 
army, consisting of two legions, which had fought at Be- 
driacum, eager to efface the disgrace of defeat, was easily 
induced, chiefly by means of Antonius Primus, the com- 
mander of one of the legions, to accept the invitation ; and, 
the two armies being united, they easily induced that of 
Dalmatia to join them. 

The revolt of the Moesian legions was communicated to 
Vitellius by Aponius Saturninus, the governor of Moesia. 
He affected to make light of it, but he sent to summon aid 
from Germany, Spain, and Britain. At length, when the 
extent of the defection became known, he ordered Caecina 
and. Valens to make ready for war. As Valens was then 
unwell, Caecina took the sole command, and the German 
army marched from Rome, but no longer the same, afew 
weeks' abode there having sufficed to relax its discipline and 
destroy its energy. The troops were directed to repair to 
Cremona and Hostilia; C^cina himself proceeded to Ra- 
venna, to confer with Lucilius Bassus, the commander of 
the fleet, and thence to Padua, to watch the course of 
events. 

The Flavian generals, meantime, held a consultation as 
to the best mode of proceeding. Some were for merely se- 
curing the Pannonian Alps, and waiting for reenforcements; 
but Antonius Primus declared vehemently in favor of advan- 
cing into Italy at once, lest the Vitellians should have time 

12* R 



138 VITELLIUS. [a. d. 69. 

to recover their discipline, and be joined by troops from 
Gaul, Spam, and Britain. His opinion prevailed. Letters 
were written to Aponius, who had declared for the Flavian 
cause, urging him to come quickly with the Mcesian army. 
To secure the provinces from the attacks of the barbarians 
in the absence of the legions, the princes of the Sarmatian 
Jazyges, and Sido and Italicus, the kings of the Suevians, 
were taken into alliance. The army then descended into 
the plain of the Po, and the generals again debated what 
place should be fixed on for the seat of the war. Vespasian 
had sent orders for the army to halt at Aquileia, and wait for 
Mucianus, as, by his own occupation of Egypt, whence It- 
aly was chiefly supplied with corn, he hoped that want of 
food and pay would oblige the Vilellians to submit without 
I the hazard of a battle. Mucianus, also, fearing lest the glory 

of terminating the conquest should be snatched from him- 
self, wrote several letters to the same effect. But the army 
lad already determined on the attack of Verona, and had 
occupied Vicenza ( Vicetiu) on its way to that town. 

Caicina had taken a strong position near Hostilia, a Vero- 
nese village, having a river in his rear, and marshes on his 
flanks. Though his troops far outnumbered those of the 
Flavians, which as yet consisted of only two legions, and 
when joined within a few days by Aponius with another le- 
j \ gion, were yet inferior, — he negotiated instead of fighting, 

I I The Flavians were soon after joined by two other legions, 

I '( and they then prepared to assault Verona. But a sedition 

j } speedily broke out among them. They accused Aponius 

! \ and Ampins FJavianus, the legate of Pannonia, of treacliery ; 

and these officers had to fly for their lives, and the sole com- 
mand remained with Antonius, who was suspected of having 
excited the mutiny with this very view. 

Lucilius Bassus now made an attempt to induce the fleet 
at Raveima to declare for Vespasian ; but he was seized by 
his own men, and sent a prisoner to Hadria. C;ccina, who 
had made a secret agreement with the Flavian party, at first 
succeeded in inducing his men to declare for Vespasian ; but 
they soon, however, repented, seized him, and put him in 
bonds, and marched back to join the legions that were at 
Cremona. 

Antonius, judging that Valens, who was an able officer, 
and faithful to Vitellius, would soon arrive to take the com- 
mand, resolved to bring matters to a speedy decision. He 
therefore quilted Verona, and, advancing toward Cremona, 



A. D. 69.] ADVANCE OF THE FLAVIANS. 139 

encamped at Bedriacum. While the legionaries v/ere forti- 
fying the camp, he sent the auxiliary cohorts to phinder the 
lands of Cremona, and he himself, with a body of 4,000 horse, 
advanced for eight miles along the road leading to that city. 
Toward noon the enemy was announced to be on his march. 
An officer named Arri'is Varus dashed forward, and charged 
and drove back, with some slight loss, the Vitellian horse, who 
were in advance; but, fresh troops coming to their aid, the 
Flavians were repulsed in their turn. Antonius, however, 
checked their flight, and routed the Vitellians, who were in 
pursuit, and drove them back on two of their legions, which 
had advanced to the fourth mile-stone from Cremona; and, 
Vipstanus Messala coming up with the Mcesic auxiliaries, 
the Vitellian legions were driven back to the town. 

In the evening, the whole Flavian army came up on the 
ground where the engagement had taken place. Seeing the 
heaps of slain, they looked on the war as terminated ; and 
they were proposing to themselves the storm and plunder of 
Cremona, from which probably neither the arguments nor 
the authority of Antonius would have withheld them, had 
not some horsemen, who had been sent forward to reconnoi- 
tre, reported that the troops from Hostilia had joined, and 
that the whole strength of the Vitellian army now lay at Cre- 
mona. This intelligence rendered them obedient to their 
general; and, though night was closing in, Antonius placed 
them in order of battle on the road itself and the lands on 
each side of it. 

The Vitellians, who were now without any general officers, 
were so confident of their own strength, that they would not 
remain in the town ; and they set forth with the intention of 
falling on and routing the Flavians, whom they supposed to 
be exhausted with cold and want of food. It was about nine 
o'clock when they suddenly fell in with them, drawn up as 
we have described. A desultory, irregular conflict was 
maintained through the night. The Vitellians had drawn 
their artillery all up on the road, whence it was doing great 
execution, especially a huge halista belonging to the fifteenth 
legion; when two gallant soldiers of the Flavians, taking up 
the shields of the Vitellians, that they might not be known, 
rushed forwards, and, though they lost their lives in the at- 
tempt, they succeeded in cutting the cords of the engines, 
and thus rendering them useless. At length the moon rose 
behind the Flavians, lengthening their shadows, and giving 
them a clear view of the enemy, who now fought under a 



140 VITELLIUS. [a. d. 69. 

manifest disadvantage. When the sun appeared, the third 
(as was tiie usai^e in Syria) saluted that lord of day. A re- 
port ran through both armies, that it was tlie troops of iMuci- 
anus, who had just arrived, that tiiey were thus greeting. 
Antonius, taking advantage of the effect of this report, made 
a steady charge on the loosely-formed Vitellians, who speed- 
ily broke and fled to Cremona, whither the victorious Fla- 
vians lost no time in following them. But when they ap- 
proached the town, they saw a labor before them which they 
had not expected. In the beginning of the war, the German 
army, when it entered Italy, had fixed a strongly-fortified 
camp under the walls of Cremona; and its strength had been 
lately augmented very considerably. The Flavians saw that 
they must either attack and carry this camp, or return to 
Bedriacum, or adopt the hazardous course of encamping in 
view of a numerous army. They chose the first course, 
perilous as it was; the gates and ramparts were assailed: 
when their efforts slackened, one of their leaders (Antonius, 
as some said) pointed to Cremona as their reward, and their 
exertions were renewed. At length the tenth burst open one 
of the gates and rushed in ; the camp was speedily carried, 
and the Vitellians were slaughtered in vast numbers as they 
made their escape to the town. Their loss in this and the 
preceding actions is said to have exceeded 30,000 men, 
while that of the Flavians amounted only to 4,500.* 

The city of Cremona was defended by lofty walls, and 
towers, and massive gates. Its population was numerous, 
and, this being the time of one of its fairs, it was full of peo- 
ple from the rest of Italy. This last circumstance, however, 
acted as an incentive on the Flavians, who reckoned that the 
plunder would be by so much the greater. The assault was 
therefore commenced : at first the resistance was vigorous, 
but gradually it slackened, as the Vitellian officers began to 
reflect that, if Cremona were taken by storm, they had no 
further place of refuge, and that it was on them that the ven- 
geance of the victors would fall. They therefore set Ca;cina 
at liberty, and prayed him to be their mediator ; they threw 
aside the standards of Vitellius, and displayed tokens of sup 
plication fronj the walls. Antonius then ordered his men to 
cease, and the Vitellians marched out with the honors of 
war. The Flavians at first insulted them ; but, when they 
marked their humble demeanor, and called to mind that these 

• Josephus, Jewish War, iv. 11. Hegesippus, iv. 30. 



A. D. 69.] STORMING OF CREMONA. Ill 

were the men who had used their victory at Bedri cum with 
such moderation, they felt compassion. But when C<Ecina 
appeared with the consular ensigns, they could not control 
their indignation, and Antonius had difficulty to save him. 

Antonius either could not or would not save the town ; 
40,000 soldiers, and a still greater number of camp followers, 
the more terrible of the two on such an occasion, rushed in. 
The usual series of atrocities, murder, rape, robbery, torture, 
enacted in towns taken by storm, ensued. The town was 
fired in various parts; it burned for four days; at. the end 
of which time a solitary temple without the gates alone re- 
mained to testify the former existence of Cremona. 

Vitellius, meantime, was thinking only of his sensual enjoy- 
ments.* Valens, with a train of women and eunuchs, was 
moving leisurely onwards, when he heard of the treachery 
of Cascina and Lucilius Bassus. Instead of hastening by 
ibrced marches to Cremona, or making some daring effort, 
he still loitered, and thought only of seducing the wives and 
daughters of his hosts. He fell back into Umbria, and 
thence into Etruria, where, hearing of the loss of the battle 
at Cremona, he seized some shipping and made sail for Nar- 
bonese Gaul, with the intention of exciting the Gauls and 
Germans to arms. But his project failed; and, being driven 
by a storm to some islets near Marseilles, he was there taken 
by the ships sent by the Flavians in pursuit of him. 

The whole of Italy north and east of the Apennines was 
now in the hands of the Flavians. As the winter was ap- 
proaching, and the Po was beginning to overflow, Antonius 
resolved to make no further delay; and, leaving the sick and 
wounded, and a part of the legionaries, at Verona, he ad- 
vanced with the remainder to Fano, {Fanuin JTortutice.) Vi- 
tellius had sent fourteen praetorian cohorts and all his cavalry 
to defend the passage of the Apennines, comm tting the 
defence of the city to his brother L. Vitellius and the remain- 
ing praetorian cohorts. He occupied himself with remitting 
tributes, granting immunities, appointing consuls for a series 
of years, and such like useless or pernicious acts, never in- 
termitting the pleasures of the table till he learned that the 
army insisted on his presence with it. He then set out with 
a great number of the senators, and joined it at Mevania; 
but the total ignorance of war which he displayed, and hia 

* " UinbracuTis hortorum nbditus, (ut ignava animalia, quibus si ci 
bum sug^eras. jacent torpentque,) prseterita, instantia, futura pari obli 
viono dimiserat." Tacitus. 



142 VITELLIUS. [a. D. 69. 

continual drunkenness, proved how unqualified he was f(>r 
empire. Instead of crossing fhe Apennines and attaci<ing 
the enemy, who was suffering from the weather, and from 
want of supplies in an exhausted country, he frittered away 
the sirengih of his army, and exposed it to be cut up in de- 
tail. Tidings of the revolt of the fleet at Misenum gave 
him a pretext for returning to Rome; he there learned fur- 
ther, that the people of Puteoli and other towns had joined 
in the revolt, and the officer, whom he sent to recall the sol- 
diers to their duty, declared for Vespasian, and occupied 
Tarracina. 

The disgraceful departure of Vitellius imboldened the 
people of the Sabellian race to manifest their inclination to 
the Flavian cause. Antoniu^, also, though the weather was 
foul and the snow deep, crossed the Apennines, which he 
never, perhaps, could have achieved, had Vitellius been other 
than he was. As he was advancing, he was met by Petillius 
Cerialis, an able officer, and a connection of Vespasian's, who 
had escaped from confinement in the garb of a peasant. Ce- 
rialis was forthwith associated in the command of the army, 
which encamped at Carsulae, within ten miles of the Vitel- 
lians. Here the Flavians were joined by the troops from 
Verona. Desertir^n soon spread among the Vitellians; and, 
when the head of Valens, who had been put to death at Ur- 
bino, was brought and shown to them, they gave up all hopes, 
and consented to declare for Vespasian. Frequent messages 
were at this time sent by the Flavian generals to Vitellius, 
offering him a large income and a retreat in Campania, if he 
would give over the contest. Mucianus wrote to the same 
effect; and Vitellius was beginning to speak of the number 
of slaves he should require and the place he should select; 
for, as Tacitus says, " such a torpor had seized his mind, 
that, if others had not remembered that he was an emperor, 
he would have forgotten it himself." 

The prefect of the city at this time was Flavius Sabinus, 
the elder brother of Vespasian ; for a generous or prudent 
policy of sparing the relatives of each other, of which C>tho 
had set the example, prevailed among the rival candidates 
for empire. Vespasian's younger son, Domitianus, was also 
at Rome and in safety. Sabinus was strongly urged, by the 
principal persons in the city, to put himself at the head of 
♦he urban cohorts and the watchmen, with their own slaves, 
and seize the city for his brother ; but he was a man of mild 
temper, and averse from civil bloodshed ; he therefore pre- 



A. D. 69.] AFFAIRS AT ROME. 143 

ferred the way of negotiation* he had several private meet- 
ings with Vitellius, and they finally came to an arrangement 
in the temple of Apollo, it was said, in the presence of two 
witnesses. Vitellius's friends, when they heard of it, did all 
in their power to make him break the agreement, but to no 
purpose. On the 18th of December, when news came of the 
defection of the troops at Narnia, he came down from the 
palace, clad in black, having his young son in a litter with 
him, and addressed the people and soldiery in the Forum, 
telling them that he retired for the sake of peace and the re- 
public; and commending to them his family. He then, in 
token of his resignation, handed his dagger to the consul, 
who declined to receive it. He moved toward the temple 
of Concord, to deposit his ensigns there, and then retire to 
the adjoining house of his brother; but the people and the 
German soldiers opposed his passage, and forced him to re- 
turn to the palace. 

The principal persons of both orders, hearing that Vitel- 
lius had abdicated, had repaired to the house of Sabinus, 
where the urban cohorts and the watchmen were also assem- 
bled. When they heard of the conduct of the populace and 
the German cohorts, feeling that they had gone too far to 
recede, they resolved to have recourse to arms. A skirmish 
speedily took place with some of the Vitellians, in which 
they were worsted; and Sabinus then retired to the Capitol, 
with his soldiers and some of the knights and senators. Dur- 
ing the night, as the guard of the Vitellians was slack, he 
caused his children and nephew to be brought thither ; and 
at the samd time he sent to apprize the Flavian generals of 
his situation. 

As soon as it was light, Sabinus sent a centurion to remon- 
strate with Vilellius on his breach of faith. Vitellius at- 
tempted to excuse himself, by declaring his want of power to 
restrain his soldiers. The centurion was obliges to retire 
by the rear of the house to elude them; and he had hardly 
returned to the Capitol when they advanced to the assault. 
They assailed the portico of the temple with flaming brands ; 
Sabinus caused the statues to be all pulled down and piled 
up behind the doors, to serve as a barrier. They then made 
their attacks at all the approaches, especially that by the 
Asylum. The edifice at length burst into flames, whether 
fired by the besieged or the besiegers was uncertain ; and thus 
was the temple of the tutelar deities of Rome destroyed for 
the second time, in the midst of civil commotions. Un- 
daunted by the flames, the Vitellians rushed in: few of the 



144 VITELLIUS. [a. D, 69 

defenders made resistance ; rnost sought to escape in various 
ways, and generally with success. Domitian was concealed 
by the keeper of the temple; and next day he got away, dis- 
guised as one of the ministers of Isis. Sabinus and the con- 
sul Atticus were seized and dragged into the presence of 
Vitellius. In vain the powerless emperor wished to save tiie 
former ; he was murdered before his eyes, Atticus escaped 
by declaring that it was he himself that had fired the temple. 

The Flavians were keeping the Saturnalia, at Otricuium, 
when they heard of the late events at Rome. Cerialis ad- 
vanced immediately, with a body of a thousand horse, to 
enter the city by the Salarian road, while Antonius Jed the 
remainder of the army along the Flaminian. The night was 
advanced, when, at a place named the Red Rocks, {Saxa 
Ruhrn,) he was informed of the burning of the Capitol and 
the death of Sabinus. Cerialis was repulsed, when he ap- 
proached the city, and driven back to Fidcnae ; and the popu- 
lace, elated at this success of their party, took up arms for 
Vitellius, and demanded to be led to battle. He thanked 
them for their zeal, but he preferred negotiation to arms. 
He sent deputies to both Cerialis and Antonius, and the 
Vestal Virgins were the bearers of a letter to the latter. The 
holy maidens were treated with all due respect; but the 
answer returned to Vitellius was, that the murder of Sabi- 
nus and the burning of the Capitol had put an end to all 
hopes of peace. 

Antonius having made a fruitless effort to induce his 
troops to halt for one day at the Mulvian bridge, they ad- 
vanced to the assault, in three bodies, along the Tiber and the 
Salarian and Flaminian roads. The Vitellians opposed them 
vigorously at all points; success was various, but fortune 
mostly favored the Flavians. The people looked on, as if it 
had been the sports of the amphitheatre, cheering the vic- 
tors, and requiring those who sought refuge any where to l)e 
dragged out and slain. They also plundered the dead. In 
some parts of the city there were the flashing of arms and 
the sounds of combat ; while in others, the usual course of 
debauchery was going on, and the baths and the taverns were 
filled with their daily visitors. It was at the praetorian camp 
that the battle raged the loudest. Pride urged the old pra> 
torians to recover their camp; their successors were de- 
termined to die rather than yield it up. Every kind of en- 
gine was employed against it; at length an entrance was 
forced, and all its defenders were slain. 

When the city was taken, Vitellius had himself conveyed 



A. D. 70.] MURDER OF VITELLIUS. 145 

in a sedan to the house of his wife, on the Aventine, intend- 
ing to steal away, during the night, to Tarracina, which his 
brother had recovered. But he changed his mind, and re- 
turned to the palace. He found it deserted ; and, as he 
roamed its empty halls, his spirit failed, and he concealed 
himself in the porter's lodge, hiding under the bed and bed- 
clothes. Here he was found and dragged out by a Flavian 
tribune. His hands were tied behind his back; a rope was 
put about his neck; his robe was torn; a sword was set 
under his chin to make him hold up his head ; some reviled 
him, others pelted him with mud and dirt. He was thus led 
along the Sacred Way ; and, at the Gemonian Stairs, he was 
hacked to death, and his body was then dragged away and 
flung into the Tiber. 



CHAPTER H.* 
THE FLAVIAN FAMILY. 
A. u. 823—849. A. V. 70—96. 

61 ATE OF AFFAIRS AT ROME. GERMAN WAR. CAPTURE AND 

DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. RETURN OF TITUS. VES- 
PASIAN. CHARACTER OF HIS GOVERNMENT. HIS DEATH. 

CHARACTER AND REIGN OF TITUS. PUBLIC CALAMITIES. 

DEATH OF TITUS. CHARACTER OF DOMITIAN. CON- 
QUEST OF BRITAIN. DACIAN WAR, OTHER WARS. CRU- 
ELTY OF DOMITIAN. HIS DEATH. LITERATURE OF THIS 

PERIOD. 

T. Flavins Sabinus Vespasianus. 

A. u. 823— 832. A. D. 70—79. 

The death of Vitellius terminated the civil war, but it did 
not yet restore tranquillity to the empire. Rome presented 
the appearance of a conquered city. The victorious Flavi- 
ans pursued and slaughtered the Vitellians in all quarters j 

Authorities : Suetonius and Dion, 
CONTIN. 13 S 



146 VESPASIAN. A. D. 69 

itbuses were broken open and robbed, and their owners; if 
they resisted, were murdered. Complaint and lamentation 
were heard on all sides. The generals were unable to re- 
strain their men, and the evil was left to exhaust itself The 
troops were soon, however, led as far as Bovillse and Aricia, 
to oppose L. Vitellius, who was reported to be on his march 
against the city ; but he and his cohorts surrendered at dis- 
cretion, and he was led to Rome and put to death. The 
same was the fate of a few more of the friends of Vitellius ; 
among whom may be mentioned his frecdman Asiaticus. 
Some persons were prosecuted and punished for their acts in 
the time of Nero ; among whom it is gratifying to mention 
the philosopher Egnatius Celer, the friend and prosecutor 
of Soninus. 

The senate decreed all the usual imperial honors to Ves- 
pasian ; the consulship for the ensuing year to him ; to his 
eldest son, the prnetorsliip ; and the consular autliority to Do- 
mitian. The consular ensigns were decreed to Antonius Pri- 
mus ; the })rfetorian, to Cornelius Fuscus and Arrius Varus; 
and the triumphal, to Mucianus, for his success against the 
Sarmatians. The supreme power lay nominally with Domi- 
tian ; but its reality was in the hands of Antonius, from 
whom, however, it passed to Mucianus, who speedily arrived. 
Mucianus acted in all things as if he were H ])artner of the 
empire ; Domitian also exercised such imperial power, that 
his father, it is said, wrote to him one tinie, saying, " I thank 
yon, son, for allowing me to reigri, and for not having de- 
posed me." 

Vespasian did not arrive at Rome till toward the «nd of 
the year. As the Roman arms were at this time occfQpied 
by two distinct enemies in different parts of the world, the 
Germans and the Jews, and both wars were concltided iri this 
year, we will here briefly notice them. 

The origin of the German war was as follows: The Bata- 
vians, a tribe of the Chatt-ms, being expelled from their ori- 
ginal seats, had settled in the north-eastern extremity of 
Gaul, and in the island formed by the branches of the Rhine. 
They were in alliance with the Romans, on the usual terms, 
and theref)re supplied them with troops ; their cavalry, from 
its activity and the skill and boldness with which it was 
known to cross the deepest and most rapid river.<», was always 
greatly prized in the Roman Service; and the Batavian co- 
horts had very much distinguished themselves both in Britain 
and at Bedriacum. Two br >thers, named Julius Paulus and 



A. 0. 69.J INSURRECTION OF C1V»L1S. 47 

Claudius Civilis, had held of late the chief command of the 
Batavian troops. The former was put to death by Fonteiua 
Capito, on a false charge of disaffection in the time of Nero, 
and the latter was sent in chains to Rome. He was acquit- 
ted by Galba, but he ran fresh danger from Vitellius, as the 
army was clamorous for his execution. He, however, escaped, 
and returned to his own country, where, under the pretence 
of acting for Vespasian, he prepared to cast off the Roman 
yoke. He first induced the Batavians to refuse the levy or- 
dered by Vitellius, and then proposed to the Canninifates, a 
neighboring people, to join the league; he also sent to solicit 
the Batavian cohorts, that had been sent back from Bedria- 
cum, and were now at Mentz, {Magontiacnvi.) The Cannin- 
ifates, choosing one of their nobles, named Brinno, for their 
leader, and having associated with them the trans-Rhenic 
Frisians, attacked and took tiie winter camp of two cohorts 
on the sea-coast. Civilis at first pretended great zeal for the 
Romans; but, when he found that his designs were seen 
through, he joined Brinno openly, and their united forces, 
aided by the treachery of a Tungrian cohort and of the Bata- 
vian rowers in the ships, succeeded in defeating a body of 
Roman troops, and capturing their fleet of four-and-twenty 
vessels. Hordeonius ordered Lupercus, one of his legates, 
to march against the rebels with two legions, Ubian and Tre- 
virian auxiliaries, and some Batavian cavalry. Lupercus 
therefore crossed the river ; Civilis gave him battle ; in the 
midst of the engagement, the Batavian horse went over to 
their countrymen ; the auxiliaries fled in confusion, and the 
legionaries were obliged to take refuge in the Old Camp. 

Meantime a messenger from Civilis had overtaken the Ba- 
tavian cohorts that were on their march for Italy. They im- 
mediately began, as a pretext for defection, to demand a 
donative, double pay, and other advantages promised by Vi- 
tellius; and Hordeonius having tried in vain to satisfy them, 
they set out to join Civilis. Hordeonius then, resolving to 
have recourse to force, sent orders to Herennius Gallus, who 
commanded at Bonn, (Bonna,) to stop them in front while 
he himself should press on their rear. He soon, however, 
changed his mind, and sent word to Herennius to let them 
pass. But the latter yielded to the instances of his mer , and 
led out his forces of 3,000 legionaries, some Belgian cohorts, 
and a train of camp followers, against the Batavians. The 
latter, inferior in nuinoer, but superior in discipline, drove 
them back with great slaughter to their camp, and then, 



148 VESPASIAN. [a. D. 69 

continuing tlieir route without further molestation, joined 
Civil is. 

The arrival of these veteran cohorts inspired Civil is with 
confidence; but, !-till aware of the power of Rome, he made 
all his men take the oath of fidelity to Ve5*pasian. He sent 
to invite the two legions in the Old Camp to do the same ; but, 
meeting with a scornful refusal, he resolved to attack them 
without further delay. He had now been joined by some of 
the Germans, and his army was numerous. On the other 
hand, the Romans did not exceed 5,000 men, and they had 
to defend a camp made for two legions. A general assault 
was at first tried ; and, when it did not succeed, Civilis, aware 
that the supply of provisions in the camp was very short, re- 
solved to trust to the surer course of blockade. But vast 
numbers of Germans having now flocked to him, to gratify 
their ardor he tried another assault. It, however, also failed, 
and he then resumed tlie blockade. Meantime he ceased 
not to urge by letters the people of Gaul to insurrection ; and 
disaffection in consequence prevailed extensively throughout 
that country. 

Hordeonius, unable to control the mutinous spirit of his 
troops, gave the command of the force which he sent to raise 
the siege of the Old Camp to the legate Dillius Vocula. This 
officer advanced as far as Gelduba, and there encamped. 
Meantime, tidings of the battle of Cremona arrived; and, on 
the receipt of letters from Antonius Primus, with an edict 
of Cajcina as consul, Hordeonius made his men take the oath 
to Vespasian. An envoy was then sent to Civilis, to inform 
him that he had now no further pretext for war, and to re- 
quire him to lay down his arms. He, however, refused, and 
he sent off the veteran cohorts with the Germans to attack 
the forces at Gelduba, while he himself remained to keep up 
the blockade of the Old Camp. These troops came so sud- 
denly on Vocula, that he had not time to draw out his men ; 
and, the cowardice or defection of some Nervian cohorts aid- 
ing the enemy, they were on the very point of obtaining a 
complete victory, when some Gascon cohorts came suddenly 
up, and fell on their rear. The Batavians, taking them foi 
the entire Roman army, lost courage, and, being now assailed 
in front and rear, were put to flight with loss. Vocula then 
marched to the relief of the Old Camp. Civilis gave him 
battle in front of it ; but a sally of the besieged, and a fall of 
Civilis himself from his horse, and a report that he was slain 
or wounded, damped the spirit of his men, and Vocula forced 



\. D. 70.] INSURRECTION OF CIVILIS. 149 

his way into the camp, which he secured with additional 
works. A convoy, which he sent to fetch corn from Nova- 
sium, being attacked on its return by Civilis, and forced to 
take refuge in the camp at Gelduba, he drew a good part of 
the troops out of the Old Camp, and went with them to their 
relief Civilis then renewed the siege of the Old Camp ; and 
when Vocula went on to Novasium, the Batavian general 
captured Gelduba, and then came off victorious in a cavalry 
action near Novasium. Mutiny now prevailed to a great ex- 
tent in the Roman army. Hordeonius was murdered by his 
own men, and Vocula had to make his escape disguised as 
a slave. 

The success of Civilis, and the intelligence of the taking 
of Rome, and the death of Vitellius, excited the Gauls to 
think of asserting their independence. Classicus, the com- 
mander of the Treviriaii cavalry, opened a correspondence 
with Civilis. Julius Tutor, tli* prefect of the bank of the 
Rhine, and Julius Sabinus, a leading man among the Lingo- 
nians, joined with Classicus, and measures were taken to 
insure the cooperation of their countrymen. Vocula had 
information of their plans; but he felt himself too weak to 
oppose them, and he affected to give credit to their protesta- 
tions of fidelity. When, however, he marched to the relief 
of the Old Camp, Classicus and Tutor, having arranged mat- 
ters with Civilis, formed their camp apart from that of the 
legions. Vocula, having vainly essayed to reduce them to 
obedience, led, as we have seen, his army back to Novasium. 
The Gauls encamped two miles off, and (strange and novel 
event!) Classicus and Tutor succeeded in inducing the Ro- 
man soldiers to declare against their own country, and aban- 
don their general. Vocula was murdered by a deserter from 
the first legion ; his legates were confined : Classicus entered 
the camp with imperial ensigns, and the soldiers took the 
oath to the empire of the Gauls. The troops in the Old 
Camp, worn out with famine, now surrendered ; all the win- 
ter quarters beyond the Rhine, except those at Mentz and 
Windisch, (Vindonissa,) were burnt; Cologne and other 
towns submitted to the conquerors; the Gallic nations, how- 
ever, with the exception of the Trevirians and Lingonians, 
and a few others, remained faithful to Rome. Sabinus, 
causing himself to be proclaimed Ctesar, invaded the terri- 
tory of the Sequanians; but his disorderly levies were totally 
routed ; and he himself, flying to one of his country-seats^ 
13* 



150 VESPASIAN. [a. d. 70. 

bbrned it over his head, that it might be believed that he hao 
perished, while he reserved himself for better tiiries* 

Such was the state of affairs when Cerialis cane from 
Rome to conduct the German war. He fixed his head-quar- 
ters at Mentz, and the success of his first operations checked 
the progress of the rebellion. He thence advanced to Treves, 
where Civilis and Classicus, having in vain solicited him to 
assume the empire of the Gauls, resolved to give him battle. 
Early in tiie morning, a sudden attack was made on the Ro- 
man camp by a combined army of Gauls, Germans, and Ba- 
tavians. Cerialis, who had lain out of the camp, hastened to 
it, unarmed as he was, and found his men giving way on all 
sides. 3y great personal exertions he restored the battle, 
and the enemy was at length forced to retire. Civilis then, 
having received fresh troops from Germany, took his position 
at the Old Camp. Cerialis, who had also been reenforced by 
two legions, followed him thither. Civilis gave him battle ; 
the contest was long doubtful ; at length, the treachery of a 
Batavian, who deserted, and conducted a body of Roman 
horse into the rear of Civilis's army, decided the fortune of 
the day. Civilis then retired with Classicus, Tutor, and 
some of the principal men of tbe Trevirians, into the Bata- 
vian island, whither Cerialis, for want of shipping, could not 
pursue them ; and issuing thenc"^ again, they attacked the 
Romans in various places, who, in turn, passed over to the 
island and ravaged it. The approach of winter, during 
which the toil of carrying on a war amidst bogs and marshes 
would be intolerable, disposed Cerialis to seek an accommo- 
dation, to which Civilis, who saw that his countrymen were 
weary of war, was equally well inclined. The two leaders 
had an interview to arrange the terms. Civilis received a 
pardon; the confederates were released from all demands of 
tribjite, and only required to supply troops as heretofore. 

While such was the state of affairs in the west, Titus had 
brought the Jewish war to a fortunate conclusion. 

The Jews, as we have seen, had been for some years under 
the government of a Roman president. Those selected for 
that office, such as Felix and Festift, had been usually tyran- 

* His place of refbge was a subterraneous cavern, where he rem.-iincd 
concealed for nine years. His wife (who bore him two children in the 
cavern) and two of his freed men alone 1 new of his retreat. He was 
at lentrth discovered, and led to Rome, v here Vespasian, with a harsh- 
ness unusual to him, caused both him and his wife to be executed 
Dion, \xi\. 16. Plut. Amat. p. 1372. 



A.D. 63-64.] JEWISH WAR. 161 

nic and avaricious men ; and they oppressec t^e people be- 
yond measure. On the other hand, the Jews, in reliance on 
the words of their prophets, looked every day for the appear- 
ance of their conquering Messiah, who was not merely to 
deliver them from bondage, but to make them lords and 
rulers over all nations. They also believed that they were 
forbidden by their law to submit to the rule of a stranger. 
From all these causes, insurrections were frequent in Judaea, 
and they were punished with great severity in the usual 
Roman manner. Bands of robbers swarmed in the country, 
among whom were particularly remarkable those called Sica- 
rians, from the dagger {sica) which they carried concealed 
in their garments, and with which they used secretly to stab 
their enemies even in the open day, in the streets, and chiefly 
at the time of the great festivals. In some points they seem 
to have resembled the Assassins of a far later period. False 
prophets were also continually appearing and leading the 
people into destruction. 

In the eleventh year of Nero, (63,) Gessius Florus was 
appointed procurator of Judaea. The tyranny which he 
exercised passed all endurance, and in the second year of 
his government (64) the whole Jewish nation took up arms 
against the dominion of Rome. The Roman garrison of Je- 
rusalem was massacred ; on the other hand, great numbers 
of Jews were slaughtered at Csesarea and Alexandria, and 
they, in their turn, destroyed Samaria, Askalon, and several 
other towns. Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, seeing 
that matters had assumed so serious a form, entered the 
country at the head of a large army, and advanced as far as 
Jerusalem : but, being foiled in the first attempts which he 
made on that city, instead of persevering, when, according to 
the most competent authority, he could have taken the city 
and prevented all the future calamities, he drew off his army 
and retired with disgrace. The Jews forthwith began to 
prepare for the war, which they now saw to be inevitable. 
They appointed military governors for all the provinces, 
among whom was Josephus, the historian of the war, to 
whom was given the province of Galilee. 

When Nero was informed by Cestius of the state of affairs 
in Judaea, he saw the necessity of committing the conduct of 
the war to a man of military talent and experience. The 
person on whom he fixed was Vespasian, who had already 
distinguislied himself both in Germany and Rritain. Ves- 
pasian set forth without delay, proceeding overland to Syria, 



152 TESPASIAN. [a. D. 65-'0 

while lie sent his son Titus to Egypt, to lead to him two 
legions from that province. At Antioch he received from 
Musianus, then president of Syria, one legion ; and, when 
joined by his son, he found himself at the head of an army 
of about 60,000 men, including the auxiliary troops of the 
different Asiatic princes and states. 

The Roman army rendezvoused at Ptolemai's, (Acre,) 
whence it advanced into Galilee, (05.) The city of Gadara 
was taken at the first assault ; and Vespasian then laid siege 
to Jotopata, the strongest place in the province, and of which 
Josephus himself conducted the defence. The Jews, favored 
by the natural strength of the place, made a most gallant 
resistance ; but, on the forty-seventh day of the siege, a traitor 
revealed to Vespasian the secret of the actual weakne.'js of 
the garrison, and showed how the town might be surprised. 
The city accordingly fell, and an indiscriminate massacre 
was made of all the male inhabitants. Josephus became a 
prisoner to the Roman general, by whom he was treated 
with much consideration ; and he thus had the excellent 
opportunity, of which he availed himself, for relating the 
events of the war. 

Few other places in Galilee offered resistance; the towns 
on the coast were all in the hands of the Romans; Vespasian 
had advanced southwards and placed garrisons in Jericho 
and other towns round Jerusalem, and he was preparing to 
lay siege to that city, when he received intelligence of the 
death of Nero, (6S.) He tlien put aside all thoughts of the 
siege for the present, waiting to see what course events 
would take in Italy, and retired to Cajsarea for the winter. 
In the spring, (69,) he had resumed operations against the 
Jews, when news came of the battle of Bedriacum, and the 
elevation of Vitellius to the empire. We have already re- 
lated what thence resulted, and the conBequent suspension 
of the Jewish war. 

Vespasian was at Alexandria when he heard of the death 
of Vitellius, and of himself being declared emperor by the 
senate. He resolved now to prosecute the Jewish war, and, 
Titus having left Egypt and proceeded to Caesarea early in 
the spring, (TO,) and being there joined by the remainder 
of the army destined for the siege of Jerusalem, advanced 
against the dev/jted citv, at the head of an army composed 
of four legions, with their due number of cohorts and auxil- 
iaries. As the festival of the Passover occurred about thi? 
tnie, the city was thronged with an immense number ol 



A. D. 70.] JKWISH WAR. -153 

people from all parts of Judaea, and the Jewish nation was 
thus, as it were, enveloped in the net of destruction. 

Of no siege, in ancient times, have the events been trans- 
mitted with the same degree of minuteness as that of Jeru- 
salem ; for Josephus, the historian of them, was a Jew of 
noble birth, and he was present in the Roman camp, and 
on a footing of friendship with Titus. Versed in both the | 

Greek and Hebrew languages, and acquainted, personally, 1 

with the principal persons on both sides, he had the oppor- 8 

tunity of learning the e.xact truth of every event; and his ve- 
racity has never been called in question. As the destruction 
of Jerusalem was accurately foretold by the divine Author || 

of our religion, the narrative of the siege possesses additional 
importance in the eyes of all Christians. The proper place, f 

however, for the detailed narration of it is the History of ; \ 

the Jews ; in the limits to which the present work is neces- \ | 

sarily restricted, we feel it impossible to give such an ac- \ \ 

count as would content the reasonable curiosity of the reader, \ I 

and shall therefore only aim at a general view of this ruin of \ I 

the Jewish nation. ^ | 

The great body of the people of Jerusalem were anxious ; f 

to submit to the Romans; and Titus, on his part, would most if 

willingly have granted them favorable terms. But all the | | 

robbers and Sicarians had repaired to the city, and, under I f 

the name of Zealots, they seized on the whole power. They | I 

were divided into three hostile parties, having but one prin- \ I 

ciple in common, namely, to oppose the Romans, and to I \ 

oppress and murder the unhappy people. In their madness, ( I 

they early destroyed the greater part of the magazines of | I 

corn, and famine soon began to spread its ravages. The I \ 

sufferings o( the people were beyond description ; if they I f 

remained in the city, they perished of hunger ; if they were | t 

caught attempting to escape from it, they were barbarously [ j 

murdered by the Zealots; if they succeeded in making their I f 

escape, they were murdered by the Syrians and Arabians in \ \ 

the Roman army, for the gold, which it was discovered they \ I 

used to swallow. | .^ 

The siege lasted for nearly seven months. The Romans j | 

had to carry each of the three walls, and all the qi arters of 
the city, successively. Titus was anxious to save the mag- 
nificent temple of the God of Israel ; but one of the Roman 
soldiers set fire to it, and the stately edifice became a prey to 
the flames. The Upper City, as it was named, was still 
defended, but the Romans finally carried it; and the whole 

T 



154 



VESPASIAN. 



[a.d. 70. 



city, with the exception of three of the towers, left to show 
its former strength, was demolished. Josephus computes 
the number of those who perished in the siege and capture 
of the city at 1,100,000, and those who were made prisoners 
during tlie war, at 97,000 persons. Of these, those under 
seventeen years of age were sold for slaves ; of the rest, 
some were sent to the provinces to fight with each other, or 
with wild beasts, for the amusement of the people in the 
theatres ; the greater part were condemned to work in the 
quarries of Egypt. 

On the occasion of the conquest of Jerusalem, Titus was 
saluted emperor by his army ; and, when he was about to 
depart from the province, they insisted that he should either 
remain or take them with him. Tliis, combined with the 
circumstance of his wearing a diadem, (though according 
to the establislied usage,) some time after, when consecra- 
ting the holy calf Apis at Memphis in Egypt, gave occasion 
to a suspicion that he meditated to revolt from his father 
and establish a kingdom for himself in the East. He there- 
fore lost no time in repairing to Italy, whither Vespasian 
had proceeded long before. When he arrived unexpected- 
ly at Rome, he addressed his father in these words: "I am 
come, father, I am come," to show the absurdity of the re- 
ports respecting him. Vespasian, however, knew his noble 
son too well to have had any suspicion of him. He cele- 
brated with him a joint triumph for the conquest of Judaea; 
he made him his colleague in the censorship, the tribunate, 
and seven consulates, and gave hitn the command of the 
prajtorian cohorts. He transferred to him most of the busi- 
ness of the state, authorizing hira to write letters and issue 
edicts in his name. He, in effect, made him his colleague 
in the empire ; and he never had occasion, for one moment, 
to regret his confidence. 

Titus Flavius Vespasianus, the present ruler of the Roman 
world, was somewhat past his sixtieth year whon called to 
the empire. He was born near Reate, in the Sabine country, 
of a fan)ily which was merely respectable. He commenced 
his public life as a tribune in the army in Thrace; he rose 
to the rank of praetor, and he served as a legate in Germany 
and Britain, in which last country he distinguished himself 
greatly as a general, and was honored with the triumphal 
ensigns; and he afterwards obtained the government of Afri- 
ca. Finally, as we have seen, he was selected for the con- 
duct of the Jewish war. In all the offices which he held, 



\. D. 70—79.] CH\KACTER OF VESPASIAN. 155 

Vespasian had behaved with justice, honor, and humanity 
and there was, perhaps, no man at the time better calculated 
for the important post of head of the Roman empire. 

The first cares of Vespasian were directed to the restora- 
tion of discipline in the army, and of order in the finances. 
He discharged a great part of the Vitellian soldiers, and he 
treated his own with strictne.ss, not giving them even their 
just rewards for some time, to make them sensible of his 
authority. In consequence of the wasteful extravagance of 
Nero, and the late civil wars, the revenues of the state were 
in such a condition, that Vespasian declared, on his acces- 
sion, that no less a sum than 40,000,000,000 sesterces were 
absolutely requisite to carry on the government. He there- 
fore reestablished all the taxes that Galba had remitted, and 
imposed new ones; he increased, and in some cases doubled, 
the tributes of the provinces; he even engaged in various 
branches of traffic, buying low and selling high. He was 
accused of selling places and pardons, and of making proc- 
urators of those known to be most rapacious, that he might 
condemn them when they were grown rich, " using them," 
as it was said, " as sponges, wetting them when dry, and 
squeezing them out when wet." 

Granting, however, that Vespasian was rapacious of 
money, it was not to hoard it or to squander it on pleasures. 
He was liberal both to the public and to all orders of the 
people. He rebuilt the Capitol, and he collected copies of 
the brazen tablets (three thousand in number) of the sena- 
tus-consults and plebiscits, which had been melted in the con- 
flagration. He built a temple to Peace, one to the emperor 
Claudius, and an amphitheatre which had been designed by 
Augustus. He gave large sums to various cities which had 
suffered from fires or earthquakes. He settled annual pen- 
sions on those men of consular rank who were in narrow 
circumstances. He was liberal to poets, rhetoricians, and 
artists of all kinds. 

Early in his reign, Vespasian made a diligent examination 
of the senatorian and equestrian orders. He expelled the more 
unworthy members of both, and supplied their places with 
the most respectable of the Italians and the provincials. He 
seems in this to have been actuated by his military notions 
of the unity and identity which should pervade the empire; 
for the superiority of the Roman citizens was thus taken avyay, 
the path to all honors now lying equally open to the provincials. 
It was probably the same principle that caused him to de- 



156 VESPASIAN. [a. D. 70— 79. 

prive Lycia, Cilicio Thrace, Rhodes, Sainos, and other 
places, of the indeper.dence which they had hitherto enjoyed, 
and reduce them to tlie form of provinces. 

Vespasian was never ashamed of the humbleness of his 
origin, and he laughed at those who attempted to deduce the 
Flavian family from one of the companions of Hercules. 
He retained no enmities; he procured a very high match for 
the daughter of Vitellius, and gave her a dowry and outfit. 
When warned to beware of Metius Pomposianus, who was 
said to have an imperial nativity, he made him consul. Even 
during the civil war, he omitted the practice of searching 
those who came to salute the emperor. The doors of the 
palace stood always open, and there was no guard at them. 
He constantly had the senators and other persons of respecta- 
bility to dine with him, and he dined with them in return. 
In his mode of living he was simple and temperate. 

Vespasian banished the philosophers and the astrologers 
from Rome. These last were extremely mischievous, med- 
dling in all affairs of state ; and they had been objects of 
suspicion ever since the time of Augustus. In his proceed- 
ings against the philosophers, he was actuated by Mucianus, 
who represented to him that the Stoics were dangerous ^s 
republicans, and the Cynics as the enemies of decency and 
morality. The death of Helvidius Priscus, which is esteemed 
a stain on the memory of Vespasian, may be ascribed to his 
Stoicism and republicanism. When the emperor came to 
Rome, Helvidius addressed him as plain Vespasian ; in his 
edicts as praitor, he treated him with neglect and disrespect; 
and in the senate behaved toward him with such insolence, 
that he quitted the house in tears. Helvidius was relegated, 
and finally put to death, we know not on what account ; but 
Vespasian is said to have sent to countermand the order 
when it was too late. 

Toward the end of his reign, a conspiracy was formed 
against him by Crecina and Marcellus, both of whom stood 
high in his friendship, and bad received all the honors of 
the state. The plot being discovered, Caecina was seized as 
he was coming out from dining with the emperor, and put 
to death sby the orders of Titus, lest he should raise a dis* 
turbance in (he night, as he had gained over several of the 
soldiers. Marcellus, being condemned by the senate, cut his 
own throat with a razor. 

Vespasian was but once married. His wife having died 
long before he came to the empire, he lived with Ca?nis, the 



A. D. 79.] DEATH OF VESPASIAN. 157 

freedwoman of Antonia, whom he treated as a wife, ather 
than a mistress. He allowed her to make traffic of the 
offices of the state, by which she amassed large sums of 
money ; and the emperor w^s suspected of sharing in her 
gains. 

This able prince had nearly completed the tenth year of 
Jiie reign, when he was attacked by a feverish complaint, in 
Campania. He returned to the city, and thence hastened to 
his native Sabine land, about Cutilife and Reate, where he 
was in tlie habit of spending the summer, and tried the cold 
springs of the place, but without effect. He attended to 
public business to the last : when he felt the approach of 
death, "An emperor," said he, "should die standing;" and 
being supported in that posture, he met his fate, in the 
seventieth year of his age. 



T. Flavins Sabinus Vespasianus II. 
A. u. 832—834. A. D. 79—81. 

Titus Flavins Vespasianus was born in the year of the 
death of the emperor Caius. He was brought up at the 
court of Claudius, as the companion of the young Britanni- 
cus. When he grew up, he served as a tribune in Germany 
and Britain, and he afterwards held a high command in the 
army of Judjea. In person, Titus was rather short, with a 
projecting stomach. He was eminently skilled in all martial 
exercises ; he had a remarkable memory ; could make verses 
extempore, in either Greek or Latin; and was well skilled in 
music. He could imitate any hand-writing ; and, as he 
said himself, wanted only the will, to be the most expert of 
forgers. 

Many people feared that Titus might prove a second Nero, 
He was accused of having put various persons to death in 
the late reign, and of having taken money from others for 
his interest with his father. His revels, prolongid till mid- 
night, gave occasion to suspicions of luxury ; and the crowds 
of eunuchs, and such like persons about him, excited suspi- 
cions of a darker hue. People also feared that he would 
espouse (contrary to Roman usage) the Jewish queen Bere- 
nice, who had followed hi'n to Rome, and lived with him 
in the palace, acting as if she w^re already empress. 

CONTIN. 14 



158 TITUS. [a. D. 80-81 

All these fears were, however, agreeably disappointed ; and 
Titus, when emperor, acted in such a manner as to be jnsily 
named the Love and Delight of Mankind. He sent away 
the fair Jewish queen, though it cost him a severe struggle.* 
He reduced his train of eunuchs; he retrenched the luxury 
of his table ; he selected his friends from among the best 
men of the time. In liberality no one surpassed him; while, 
preceding princes used to regard the gifts of their predeces- 
sors as invalid, ur)Iess they were given over again by them- 
selves, Titus, unsolicited, confirmed by one edict all the pre- 
ceding grants. He could not bear to refuse any one ; and 
when those about him observed that he promised more than 
he could perform, he replied, " No one ought to retire dis- 
satisfied from the presence of the prince." At dinner, one 
time, recollecting that he had done nothing for any one that 
day, he cried, " Friends, I have lost a day." 

When he took the office of chief pontiff, he declared that 
he (lid it that he might keep his hands free from blood ; 
and during his reign not a single person was put to death. 
Though his brother was constantly conspiring against him, 
he could not be induced to treat him with rigor. When two 
patricians had been convicted of a conspiracy against him, 
he contented himself with exhorting them to desist, for that 
the empire was given by fate. He even de.spatched couriers 
to assure the mother of one of them of her son's safety; and 
he invited them to dinner, and treated them with the utmost 
confidence. He constantly said that he would rather die 
than cause the death of any one.t 

Titus would never allow any prosecutions on the charge 
of treason. " /," said he, "cannot be injured or insulted, 
for I do nothing deserving of reproach, and I care not for 
those who speak falsely ; and as for the departed emperors, 
if they are in reality demigods, and have power, they will 
avenge themselves on those whr) injure them." He was very 
severe against the informers ; he caused them to be beaten 
with rods and cudgels, led through the amphitheatre, and 
then to be sold for slaves, or confined in the most rugged 
islands. 

The reign of this excellent prince was marked by a series 
of public calamities. He had reigned only two months 
when a tremendous volcanic eruption, the first on record, 

• " Berenicen statim ab urbe dimisit invitus invitam." Suetnn. 
t " Periturum se potius quam perditurum." 



A. D. 80-81.] ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS. 159 

from Mount Vesuvius, spread dismay through Italy. This 
mountain had hitherto formed the most beautiful feature in 
the landscape of Campania, being clad with vines and other 
agreeable trees and plants. Earthquakes had of late years 
been of frequent occurrence ; but on the 24th of August the 
summit of the mountain sent forth a volume of flame, stones, 
and ashes, which spread devastation far and wide. The sky, 
to the extent of many leagues, was enveloped in the gloom of 
night ; the fine dust, it was asserted, was wafted even to Egypt 
and Syria; and at Rome it rendered the sun invisible for 
many days. Men and beasts, birds and fishes, perished alike. 
The adjoining towns of Pompeii and HerCulaneum were 
overwhelmed by the earthquake which attended the irrup- 
tion, and their inhabitants destroyed. Among those who lost 
their lives on this occasion, was Pliny, the great naturalist. 
He commanded the fleet at Misenum, and, his curiosity lead- 
ing him to proceed to Stabise to view this convulsion of 
nature more closely, he was suffocated by the pestilential air. 

Titus did all in his power to alleviate this great calamity. 
But while, on account of it, he was absent in Campania, (80,) 
a fire broke out at Rome, which raged for three days and 
nights, and destroyed the Septa, the baths of Agrippa, the 
Pantheon, the rebuilt Capitol, and a number of the other 
public buildings. This was succeeded by a pestilence, 
probably the consequence of the eruption of Vesuvius, which 
swept away numbers of people. The emperor undertook to 
restore the city at his own expense, refusing all the presents 
that were offered him for that purpose. He built a splendid 
amphitheatre in the middle of the city, and the baths which 
bear his name. At the dedication of these works, he gave 
magnificent games to the people. 

In the September of the following year, (81,) the reign and 
life of this excellent prince came to their close. At the termi- 
nation of one of the public spectacles, he was observed to burst 
into tears in presence of the people. Some ill omens dis- 
turbed him, and he set out for the Sabine country. On the 
first stage, he was attacked by a fever; and, as he was pro- 
ceeding in his litter, it is said that he looked at the sky and 
lamented that life should be taken from him undeservedly, 
as there was but one act he ever did to be repented of* 
He died at the country-house in which his father had so 
lately expired. Domitian was suspected, though apparently 

* What that act was no one knew ; and none of the conjectures are 
very probable. 



160 DOMITIAN. [a. I 81. 

Without reason, .of having caused his death, Titus was only 
in his forty-first year, and had reigned little more than two 
years; fortunate perhaps in this, for, as Dion observes, had 
he lived longer, his fanae might not have been so pure. 



T. Flavins Sabinus Dotnitianus. 
A. u. 834—849. A. D. 81—96. 

Titus Flavius Sabinus Dotnitianus was the younger son of 
Vespasian. He was born in the year 51 ; his youth was not 
reputable; and when, after the death of Vitellius, he exercised 
the supreme power at Rome, he gave free course to his evil 
propensities. Among other acts, he took Domitia Calvina, 
the daughter of the celebrated Corbulo, from her husband, 
/Elius Lamia, and made her his own wife. After the return of 
his father to Rome, he passed his time mostly in seclusion at 
his residence at the Alban mount, devoting himself to poetry, 
in which he made no mean |)rogress. When his father died, 
he had some thoughts of offering a double donative to the 
soldiers, and claiming the empire ; and, as long as his brother 
lived, he was conspiring openly or secretly against him. Ere 
Titus had breathed his last, Domitian caused every one to 
abandon him, and, mounting his horse, rode to the praetorian 
camp, and caused himself to be saluted emperor by the 
soldiers. 

Like most bad emperors, Domitian commenced his reign 
with popular actions; and a portion of his good qualities 
adhered to him for some time. Such were his liberality (for 
no man was freer from avarice) and the strictness with which 
he looke<l after the administration of justice, both at Rome 
and in the provinces. His passion for building was extreme ; 
not content with restoring the Capitol, the Pantheon, and 
other edifices injured or destroyed by the late conflagration, 
he built or repaired several others; and oj) all, old and new 
alike, he inscribed his own name, without noticing the 
original founder. 

Domitian was of a moody, melancholy temper, and he loveu 
to indulge in solitude. His chief occupation, when thus 
alone, we are told, was to catch flies, and pierce them with a 
sharp writing-style ; hence Vibius Crispus, being asked one 
day if there was any one within with Ca;sar, replied, " No, 
not so much as a fly." Aoaong the better actions of the 



k. D. 83-85.] GERMAN WAR. 161 

early years of this prince, inay be noticed the following: 
He strictly forbade the abominable practice of making 
eunuchs, for which he deserves praise ; though it was said 
that his motive was not so much a love of justice as a desire 
to depreciate the memory of his brother, who had a partiality 
for these wretched beings. Domitian also at this time pun- 
ished three Vestals who had broken their vows of chastity ; 
but, instead of burying them alive, he allowed them to choose 
their mode of death. 

In the hope of acquiring military glory, he undertook (83) 
an expedition to Germany, under the pretence of chastising 
the Chattans. But he merely crossed the Rhine, pillaged 
the friendly tribes beyond it, and then, without having even 
seen the face of an enemy, returned to Rome, and celebrated 
the triumph which the senate had decreed him, dragging as 
captives slaves that he had purchased and disguised as Ger- 
mans. While, however, he was thus triumphing for imagi- 
nary conquests, real ones had been at^iieved in Britain by 
Cn. Julius Agricola, to whom Vespasian had committed the 
affairs of that island, (80.) He had conquered the country 
as fiir as the firths of Clyde and Forth, and (85) defeated the 
Caledonians in a great battle at the foot of the Grampians. 
Domitian, though inwardly grieved, affected great joy at the 
success of Agricola; he caused triumphal honors, a statue, 
and so forth, to be decreed him by the senate, and gave 
out that he intended appointing him to the government of 
Syria; but, when Agricola returned to Rome, he received 
him with coldness, and never employed him again.* 

The country on the left bank of the lower Danube, 'he 
modern Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia, was ai inis 
time inhabited by a portion of the Sarmatian or Slavonian 
race named the Dacians, and remarkable for their valor. 
The extension of the Roman frontier to the Danube, in the 
time of Augustus, had caused occasional collisions with this 
martial race;t but no war of any magnitude occurred 
till the present reign. The prince of the Dacians at this 
time, named Decebalus, was one of those energetic char- 
acters often to be found among barbarous tribes, to whom 
nature has given all the elements of greatness, but fortune 
has assigned a narrow and inglorious stage for their exhibi- 

* See the Life of Agricola, by his son-in-law, Tacitus. 

" Occidit Daci Cotisonis agmen." Hor. Carm. iii. 8. 13. M. 
Antonius asserted that Augustus had promised his daughter Julia ii) 
marriage to Cotison. Seut. Oct. 63. 

14* V 



162 DOMITIAN. [a. D. 86-88. 

tion. It was probably the desire of military glory and of 
plunder, rather than ft.'ar of the avarice of Doniitian, the 
only cause assigned,* that made Decebalus at this time (8()) 
set at nought the treaties subsisting with the Romans, and 
lead his martial hordes over the Danube. The troops that 
opposed them were routed and cut to pieces ; the garrisons 
and castles were taken, and apprehensions were entertained 
for the winter quarters of the legions.t The danger seemed 
so imminent, that the general wish was manifested for the 
conduct of the war being committed to Agricola ; and the 
imperial freedmen, some from good, others from evil motives, 
urged their master to compliance. But his jealousy of that 
illustrious man was invincible ; and he resolved to superin- 
tend the war in person. 

Domitian proceeded to Tllyria, where he was met by Da- 
cian deputies with proposals of peace, on condition of a capi- 
tation tax of two oboles a head being paid to Decebalus. 
The emperor forthwith ordered Cornelius Fuscus, the gov- 
ernor of Illyria, to lead his army over the Danube, and chas- 
tise the in^wlent barbarians. Fuscus passed the river by a 
bridge of boats ; he gained some advantages over the enemy, 
but his army was finally defeated and himself slain. | Domi- 
tian, who had returned to Rome, hastened back to the seat 
of war ; but, instead of heading his troops, he stopped in a 
town of Moesia, where he gave himself up to his usual pleas- 
ures, leaving the conduct of the war to his generals, who, 
though they met with some reverses, were in general success- 
ful ; and Decebalus was reduced to the necessity of suing 
for peace. Domitian refused to grant it ; but, shortly after, 
having sustained a defeat from the Marcomans, whom he 
wished to punish for not having assisted him against the 
Dacians, he sent to offer peace to Decebalus. The Dacian 
was not in a condition to refuse it, but lie would seem to 
have dictated the terms; and in effect an annual tribute was 
henceforth paid to him by the Roman emperor. § Domi- 
tian, however, triumphed for the Dacians and Marcoman.s, 
though he paid tribute to the former, and had been defeated 
by the latter.|| 

During the Dacian war, (83,) L. Antonius, who coa'- 

• Jornandeg De Reb. Goth. 13. t Tac. Agric. 41. 

t Juvenal, Sat. iv. Ill, 112. § Dion, Ixvii. 7; Ixviii. 6. 

II There is great confusion respecting the duration of the Dacian 
war. Eusebius makes it end in the year 90, and places tlie triumph 
of Domitian in the following year. See Tillemont, Hist, des Empe 
reurs. 



A. D. 88-94.] VICES OF DOMITIAN. l63 

maaded in Upper Germany, having been grossly insulted 
by the emperor, formed an alliance with the Alemans, and 
caused himself to be proclaimed emperor. But L. Maximus 
marched against him, and, the Alemans having been pre- 
vented from coming to his aid by the rising of the Rhine, 
he was defeated and slain. Maximus wisely and humanely 
burned all his papers ; but that did not prevent the tyrant 
from putting many persons to death, as concerned in the 
revolt. 

A war against the Sarmatians, who had cut to pieces a 
Roman legion, is placed by the chronologists in the year 94. 
Domitian conducted it in person, after his usual manner; 
but, instead of triumphing, he contented himself with suspend- 
ing a laurel crown in the Capitol. This is the last foreign 
transaction of his reign. 

After the first three or four years of his reign, the evil 
(jualities of Domitian displayed themselves more and more 
every day. By nature a coward, his fears, increased by his 
belief in the follies of astrology, rendered him cruel, and 
the want brought on by his extravagance made him rapa- 
cious. Informers flourished anew, as in the days of Nero; 
and the blind Catullus,* Messalinus, Metius Carus, and Be- 
bius Massa, and others of the like stamp, preyed continually 
on the lives and fortunes of all men of rank and worth. 
Among the victims of the incipient cruelty of Domitian were 
the following : Metius Pomposianus, on account of his horo- 
scope, and because he had in his chamber a map of the 
world, and carried about him speeches of kings and generals 
out ofLivy, and called his slaves Mago and Hannibal; Sal- 
vius Coccianus, for celebrating the birthday of his uncle 
Otho; Sallustius Lucullus, for having given his name to a 
new kind of lance ; the sophist Maternus, for a declamation 
against tyrants ; iElius Lamia, (whose wife he had taken from 
him,) for some jokes in the time of Titus. 

The tyranny of Domitian at length passed all bounds. 
Tacitus describes the senate-house invested by soldiery ; 
consulars slaughtered ; women of the highest rank banished ; 
the isles filled with exiles, the racks dyed with their blood ; 
slaves and freedmen corrupted to give false evidence against 
their masters; nobility, wealth, honors, above all, virtue, the 
sure causes of ruin; rewards lavished on informers and ac- 
cusers; all the vices and all the virtues called into action. •?■ 

At this lime, Helvidius, the son of Helvidius Priscus, was 

' Ji venal, Sat. iv. 113, seq * Agric. 45. Hist. i. 2, 3. 



164 DOMTTIAN. [a. d. 84-96. 

put to death for having made an interlude on the emperor's 
divorce, of which the characters were Paris and GCnone; 
and Hereiiiiius Senecio, for having written the life of Hel- 
vidius Priscus. A panegyric on Thrasea and Helvidius \fas 
also fatal to its author, Junius Rusticus, a Stoic; and Her- 
mogenes of Tarsus, from some supposed allusions in his his- 
tory, was put to death, and the booksellers that sold it were 
crucified. After the condemnation of Rusticus, all the phi- 
losophers were banished from Italy. 

Like Nero, whom he resembled in some points, Domitian 
was capricious in his cruelty. When, at the shows which 
followed his triumph, a tempest of rain came on, he would 
not allow any one to quit the place and seek shelter. He 
hims<'lf also rem;iined ; but he had several cloaks, und changed 
them as they became wet. Many of the s])eclatnrs died in 
consequence of colds and fevers. To console them, he in- 
vited them to a public supper, which lasted all through the 
night. [Je gave the senate and knights also a curious supper 
at the same time. The room in which he received them 
was made perfectly black; the seats were black; by each 
stood a monumental pillar with the name of the guest on it, 
and a sepulchral lamp; naked slaves, blackened to resemble 
spectres, came in and danced a horrid measure around them, 
and then each seated himself at the feet of a guest ; the 
funeral meats were then brooght in black vessels. All sat 
quaking in silence; Domitian alone spoke, and his discourse 
was of death. At length ho dismissed them ; but at the 
porch, instead of their own attendants, they found strange 
ones, with chairs and sedans to convey them to their houses. 
AVhen they were at home, and began to respire freely, word 
came to each that one was come from the emperor ; terror 
returned, but it was agreeably dispelled by finding that the 
pillar, which was silver, the supper utensils, of valuable mate- 
rials, and the slave who had played the ghost, were arrived 
as presents from the palace. 

Domitian exhibited, about this time, a specimen of politi- 
cal economy by no means despicable, were not the evil which 
he proposed to amend already beyond remedy. Wine prov- 
ing very plentiful and corn very scarce in Italy, he issued 
an edict (IKJ) forbidditig any new vineyards to be planted in 
Italy, and ordering one half of those in the provinces to be 
cut down. This edict, it may readily be supposed, was but 
partially carried into effect. 

The year of Domitian's triumph was also distinguished by 



A. D. 84'-96.] VICES OF DOMITIAN. 165 

the death of Cornelia, the eldest of the Vestals, accused of 
breach of chastity. She was buried alive, in the ancient 
manner; and underwerjt her cruel fate with the greatest con- 
stancy and dignity. She does not appear to have had a fair 
trial, and many strongly doubted of her guilt.* 

The emperor, so rigorous in punishing breach of chastity 
in others, was, as usual, indulgent to himself on this head. 
His brother Titus had wished him to put away Don)itia, and 
marry his daughter Julia: he refused; yet, when Julia was 
married to another, he seduced her; and when her father 
and husband were dead, he cohabited openly with her, and 
is said to have caused her death, by giving her drugs to pro- 
cure abortion. t As for Domitia, he divorced her on account 
of an intrigue with Paris the actor, whom he put to death; 
but he took her back so m after, pretending a willingness to 
gratify tlie desire of the people. 

Domitian met with the usual fate of tyrants; he perished 
by a conspiracy. It is said | that he kept under his pillow a 
list of those whom he intended to put to death, and that one 
day, as he was sleeping, a favorite little boy, who was in the 
room, carried it away. Domitia, meeting the child, took it 
from him, and, to her surprise, found her own name in it, 
along with those of Norbanus and Petronius, the prefects of 
the priBtorians, Parthenius, the chamberlain, and some others. 
She immediately informed those concerned, and they re- 
solved to anticipate the tyrant. 

Domitian had lately put to death his cousin Clemens, one 
of whose freedmen, named Stephanus, who acted as steward 
to his wife Domitilla, being accused- of malversation in his 
office, engaged in the conspiracy, and, being a strong man, 
undertook the task of killing the tyrant. It was arranged 
that the attack should be made on him in his chamber ; and 
Parthenius removed the sword which was usually under his 
pillow. Stephanus, for some days previously, had his arm 
bandaged, as if hurt, in order to be able to conceal a dagger ; 
and on the 18th of September, (96,) when Domitian, after 
sitting in judgment, retired to his chamber to repose, before 
going into the bath, Parthenius presented Stephanus to him 
as one who could inform him of a conspiracy. While he was 
reading the paper handed to him, Stephanus struck him in 

* Plin. Ep. iv. 11. t Suet. Dom. 2Q. Juvenal, Sat. ii. 32. 

+ Dion (l.^vii.) says that he had heard it. Suetonius does not seem 
to have known it. We shall find the same told of Cominodus. Thq 
circumstance is by no means improbable. 



166 LITERATURE. [a. D. 96. 

the be ly. He called out to a slave to reach hirr the sword 
that \\as under his pillow, but it was gone; oilers of the 
conspirators then rushed in, and the tyrant was despatched 
with seven wounds. He was in the forty-fifth year of his age, 
and the fifteenth of his reign. 



The reigns of the Flavian family, and of their iininediale 
successors, may be regarded as the last period of Roman 
literature. It exhibits the decline of taste, though not of 
genius, as compared with the Augustan age. In its loftiest as 
in its meanest performances, we discern the it)fluence of a 
corrupt and degenerate generation; the noble and virtuous 
writer describes the ruling vice with horror, while the mer- 
cenary Hatterer portrays it fur the gratification of his p:itrons. 

Among the poets, the first place is due to P. Statius Papi- 
nius, who wrote a poem in twelve books on the mythic wars 
of Thebes, and commenced another on the life and actions 
of Achilles. We also possess five books of SilviE, or occa- 
sional poems by this writer, which are generally (not, how- 
ever, we should think, as poems) considered to be of more 
value than his Thebais. C. Valerius Flaccus also selected 
a njvthologic subject. His Argonautics is imperfect; but 
it exhibits poetic spirit and more originality than might have 
been expected. C. Silius Italicus, following the example of 
Ennius and Lucan in writing epic history, composed a poem, 
in eighteen books, on the second Punic war. But nature had 
refused him inspiration; and polished verse, close imitation 
of Virgil, and rhetorical expression, occupy the place of 
poetry in his tedious work. The field of satire, over which 
Horace had passed with such light-footed gayety, and which 
Persius had trodden in the dignity of virtue, was now occu- 
pied by D. Junius Juvenalis, a writer of an ardent rhetorical 
spirit, who lashes vice witii terrific energy, and displays it in 
the most appalling colors, his pictures being perhaps too true 
to nature ; but his veneration for virtue is sincere, and in- 
dignation at beholding it oppressed and vice triimiphant is 
his muse. M. Valerius Martialis, a Spaniard by. birth, has 
left fourteen books of terse and pointed epigrams, in which, 
however, little of the poetic spirit is to be discerned. 

It was also at this time that C. Cornelius Tacitus wrote 
his Annals and Histories, which place him on a line with 
Thucydides for deep insight into human nature and ita 



A. D. 96.] NEBVA. 167 

springs of action. C. Suetonius Tranquillus was a diligent 

collector of anecdotes ; his work contains no original thoughts 

or sentiments. M. Fabius Quintilianus, a Spaniard, a teacher 

of rhetoric, has left a valuable work on his art. The Natural j 

History of C. Plinius Secundus is a vast repository of nearly 

all that was known on that subject at the time. The Letters 

of his nephew, the younger Pliny, exhibit a highly-cultivated 

mind and a mos amiable disposition. 



CHAPTER HI.* 

NERVA. TRAJAN. HADRIAN. ANTONINUS. 

AURELIUS. 

A. u. 849—933. A. D. 9G— 180. 

NERVA. ADOPTION OF TRAJAN. HIS ORIGIN AND CHARAC- 
TER. DACIAN WARS. PARTHIAN WARS. DEATH OF 

TRAJAN. OBSERVATIONS. SUCCESSION OF HADRIAN. 

HIS CHARACTER. AFFAIRS AT ROME. HADRIAN IN GAUL 

AND BRITAIN IN ASIA AND GREECE IN EGYPT. AN- 

TINOUS. ADOPTIONS. DEATH OF HADRIAN. HIS CHAR- 
ACTER AS AN EMPEROR. REBELLION OP THE JEWS. 

REIGN OF ANTONINUS PIUS. M. AURELIUS. PARTHIAN 

WAR. GERMAN WARS. REVOLT OF CASSIUS. DEATH \ 

OF AURELIUS. HIS CHARACTER. | 

f 

M. Cocceius Nerva. | 

A. u. 849—851. A. D. 96—98. 

The death of Domitian filled the senate with joy ; the peo- | 

pie appeared indifferent ; the soldiers were anxious to avenge \ 

him. They were, however, without leaders, and they were { 

finally induced by their prefects to acquiesce in the choice l 

of the senate. j 

The person on whom this choice fell was M. Cocceius \ 
Nerva, a senator of a consi lar family, and who had himself 

* Authorities : Dion Cassius, ;he Augustan History, ard the F.pi 
tomatois. 



i 



\ 



168 NERVA. [a. r>. 97. 

borne the principal offices in the state. He was now in tha 
sixty-fourth year of his age ; he was a man of the most amia- 
ble lemper, yet not devoid of energy and activity, but mild 
aii.l clement even to a fault. To reverse the acts of Ins 
predecessor was the first care of Nerva. The banished were 
recalled, and their properties restored to them; accusations 
of treason were quashed ; severe laws were enacted against 
': delators; slaves and freedmen, who had accused liieir mas- 

ters, were put to death. Nerva reduced the taxes, and made 
so many other beneficent regulations, that men expected a 
golden age under his mild domination. 

It was not long, however, before a conspiracy was formed 
to deprive the empire <jf this excellent prince, (07.) The 
head of it was a nobleman named Calpurnius Crassus, who, 
by lavisii pron)i?c;s, solicited the soldiers to revolt. Nerva 
ihiitated the conduct of Titus on a sinular occasion. He 
put the swords of the gladiators into the hands of tiie con- 
spirators, as they sat with him at a public spectacle ; and 
he contented himself with banishing Crassus to Tarentum. 
The priTtorians, who longed to avenge Domitian, soon, how- 
ever, lound a leader in their commander, /Eliauus Casperius ; 
aud they besieged the emperor in his palace, demanding the 
lives of those who had slain his predecessor. Nerva, it is 
said, showed outward marks of fear; but he acted with spirit, 
aud retused to give theiu up, stretching out his ueck for the 
soldiers to strike off his head, if they wished. But all availed 
not; he was forced to abandon them to their fate; and I'etro- 

I I nius and Partheuius were slain, the latter with circumstances 
! I of great barbarity. Casperius even forced the emperor to 
'' « thank the soldiers, in presence of the people, for having put 

to death the worst of men. 

I I This insolence of the praetorians proved advantageous to 
\ I the state. Nerva saw the necessity of a more vigorous hand 

to hold the reins of empire. More solicitous for the wel- 
fare of his country than the elevation of his family, he passed 
over his relations, and fixed on M. Ulpius Trajanus, the com- 
mander of the army of Lower Germany, to be his adopted 
son and successor. On the occasion of a victory beina^ 
g;lined over the Alemans, in Pannonia, he ascended the 
Capitol, to deposit there the laurel which had been sent him 
according to usage, and he then, in presence of the people, de- 
\'i clare'd his adoption of Trajan, to whom he shortly after gave 

tbf^ titles of Csesar and Germanicus, and then that of emperor^ 
with the tribunitian power, thus making him his colleague. 



A..D. 99.] CHARACTKR QF TRAJAN. 169 

The good emperor did not long survive this disinterested 
act. He died in the beginning of the following year, (9S,) 
regretted by both senate and people ; and his ashes were de- 
posited in the monument of Augustus. 



M. Ulpius Trqjanus Crinitus. \ 

A. u. 851— 870. A. D. 98— 117. \ 

M. Ulpius Trajanus was born at a town named Italica, | 

near Seville, in Spain. He early devoted himself to a mil- | 5 

itary life, and served as a tribune under his father, as it would \ \ 

appear. He was afterwards praetor and consul ; after his \ I 

consulate, he retired to his native country, whence he was I I 

summoned by Domitian, to take the command in Lower Ger- | ! 

many. f 

Trajan had all the qualities of mind and body that form | | 

the perfect soldier. He was rigid in discipline, but affable i I 

in manner; hence he possessed both the love and the respect 1 1 

of his men, and the tidings of his adoption to the empire were 
received with joy by all the armies. He received at Cologne 
the account of the death of his adoptive father; but, instead 
of proceeding to Rome, he remained till the following year, 
regulating the affairs of the German frontier, and enforcing 
discipline in the army. During this time, he summoned to 
his presence Casperius and the mutinous praetorians, and 
punished them for their insolence to the late emperor. 

At length, (99,) he set out for Rome, where he was re- 
ceived with unbounded joy. He made his entry on foot, and 
ascended the Capitol, and then proceeded to the palace. \ | 

His wife, Plotina, who was with him, turned round as she 
was going up the steps, and said aloud to the people, " I 
enter here such as I wish to go out of it." She kept her 
word; for her influence was exerted only for good as long 
as she lived. 

Trajan remained for nearly two years at Rome, occupied 
in the arts of peace. His only object seems to have been 
the promotion of the happiness of those over whom he ruled. 
The senate enjoyed the highest consideration ; the prince, 
like Vespasian and Titus, lived on terms of the most cordial 
intimacy with its members; and the best men of the times 
were ranked as his friends. Justice was administered with 
impartiality ; the vile brood of delators was finally crushed ; 

CONTIN. 15 T 



■ 



170 TRAJAN. [a.:; 101-105. 

oppressive taxes were reduced or abolished ; the greatest 
care was taken to secure a regular supply of food to the 
people. 

But the military genius of the emperor could not lon<r 
brook inactivity, and he seized an early occasion of engaging 
i jn war with the Dacians. He observed that the power of 

this people was on the increase ; he disdained to pay the 
tribute conceded by Domitian ; and Decebalus had, it is 
further said, entered into relations with the Parthians. Tra- 
jan, therefore, crossed the Danube (101) at the head of a 
large army ; the Dacians gave him battle, but were defeated 
J with great slaughter ; the Romans also suffered so severely, 

I I that the emperor had to tear up his own garments to make 

I I bandages for the wounded. Decelxilus sent his nobles in 
n vain to solicit peace; the emperor and his generals pushed 

on their successes ; height after height was won ; the Dacian 
capital, named Zermizegethusa, was taken, and Decebalus 
was at length obliged to consent to receive peace on the 
i I terms usual in the days of the republic ; namely, the surren- 

1 3 der of arms, artillery, and deserters, the dismantling of for- 

f, I tresses, the abandonment of conquests, and an offensive and 

II defensive alliance with Rome. Trajan, having left garrisons 
j I in the capital and some other strong places, returned to Italy, 
I j and triumphed, taking the title of Dacicus. 

I I Decebalus, though he submitted for the present, was pre- 

I \ paring for future war ; he collected arms, received deserters, 

I ] and repaired his fortresses, lie invited his neighbors to aid 

I I him, showing thai if they suffered him to be destroyed, their 
5 I own subjection would inevitably follow. He thus induced 

many to join him ; and he mdde war on some of those who 
refused. War being therefore again declared against the 
Dacian prince, (104,) Trajan put hitnself at the head of his 
army, and fixed his head-quarters in Moesia. Here he occu- 
pied himself in raising one of his most magnificent works, a 
bridge of stone over the Danube. It consisted of twenty- 
one arches, each one hundred and seventy feet in span, the 
piers being one hundred and fifty feet in height, and sixty in 
breadth. A castle was built at either end, to defend it;* 
and, when it was completed, Trajan passed over the river, 
(105.) No great action seems to have ensued; but the 
troops of Decebalus were routed in detail, and his fortresses 

* The site of this bridge, which was deBtroyed by Hadrian, is un 
known. It is supposed to have been between Visninac and Widin. 



A. D. 106, 107] TRAJAN IN ARMENIA. 171 

captured one after another. Seeing all hope gone, the 
brave but unfortunate prince put an end to himself. Dacia 
was then reduced to the form of a province, and numerous 
Roman colonies were established in it. On his return to 
Rome, (100,) where he found numerous embassies, even one 
from India, awaiting him, Trajan celebrated his second tri- 
umph; after which he gave games that- lasted one hundred 
aud twenty-three days, in which 11,000 animals were 
slaughtered, and 10,000 gladiators fought. 

The warlike spirit of Trajan could not remain at rest; 
and he soon undertook an expedition to the East. The 
pretext was, that the king of Armenia had received his dia- 
dem from the Parthian monarch instead of the Roman em- 
perprj the real cause was Trajan's lust of military glory. 
T\]e condition of the Parthian empire at this time was 
favorable to his views; it was verging fast to its decline, and 
was torn by intestine convulsions, the sure forerunners of 
national dissolution. 

The Armenian king at this time was named Exedares, 
probably a son or grandson of Tiridates. Chosroes, the 
Parthian king, however, deposed him, and gave the king- 
dom to Parthamasiris, his own nephew, when he found that 
Trajan was on his way to the East, and despatched an em- 
bassy, (which met the emperor at Athens,) bearing presents, 
and praying that he would send the diadem to the new 
prince. Xrajan was not, however, to be diverted from his 
purpose; he merely replied that friendship was to be shown 
by deeds rather than by words, and continued his march for 
Syria. He reached Antioch in the first week of January, 
(107;) and, having made all the necessary preparations, he 
led his troops into Armenia. The various princes and 
chieftains of the country met him with presents; resistance 
was nowhere offered; and, at a place named Elegeia, Partha- 
rpasiris himself entered the Roman camp, and laid his diadem 
at the feet of the emperor. Perceiving that he was not de- 
sired to resume it, and being terrified by the shouts of the 
soldiers, who saluted Trajan Imperator, he craved a private 
audience;- but, finding that Trajan had no intention of ac- 
ceding to his request, he sprang out of the tent, and was 
quitting the camp in a rage, when Trajan had him recalled, 
and, from the tribunal, told him that Armenia belonged to 
the Romans, and should have a Roman governor, but that 
he was at liberty to go whither he pleased. His Armenian 
attendants were then detained as Roman subjects, and him- 



172 TRAJAN. [a.d. 107-116. 

self and his Partliians were dismissed under charge of an 
escort of horse. Parthamasiris fell some time after in an 
action, and Armenia was reduced to a Roman province. 
The kings of the nations of the Caucasus, and around the 
Euxine Sea, acknowledged the supremacy of Rume. Trajan 
then led his army into Mesopotamia, all w'hose princes sul>- 
mitted to his authority. He took the city of JNioibis, and 
Chosrocs was obliged to conclude a treaty with him, and 
even, it is said, to implore his aid against his rebellious 
subjects. On his return to Rome, Trajan assumed the title 
of Parthicus. 

The history of the reign of this celebrated emperor has 
come down to us in so very imperfect a form, that it is 
utterly impossible to ascertain how long he remained in the 
East, or when he came back to Italy. All we know is, that 
he did return to Rome, and staid there till the year 114, 
when we find him again in Syria, preparing for a war with 
the Parthians, the cause of which is not assigned. In the 
spring of this year, he entered Mesopotamia. The Parthians 
prepared to defend the passage of the Tigris ; but Trajan 
had caused boats to be framed in the forests about Nisibis, 
and conveyed on wagons with the army. A bridge of boats 
was speedily constructed, and the enemy retired, after having 
vainly attempted to impede the passage of the Romans. 
The whole of Adiabene submitted; and Trajan, as it would 
appear, returned to the Euphrates, for we are toW that he 
visited Babylon, and inspected the sources of the bitumen 
used for constructing its walls. He also, it is added, set 
about clearing the Nahar-malca, {Kinsrs' -river,) or canal, 
which formerly connected the Euphrates and Tigris, in 
order to convey boats along it for the passage of this last 
river. But he gave up the attempt, and, carrying the boats, 
as before, on wagons, he set his army over the Tigris, and 
captured Ctesiphbn, the Parthian capital.* He formed the 
conquered country into the provinces of A.--syria and Meso- 
potamia, and then, (IIGJ embarking on the Tigris, sailed 
down it, and entered the Persian Gulf. Seeing there, we are 
told, a vessel under sail for India, he declared that, if he 
was a young man, he would certainly penetrate to that re- 
mote country, and advance further than even the great 
Macedonian conqueror, whom he extolled and eulogized. 

* Ctesijihdn lay on the left bank of the Tigris, twenty miles soutli 
of the modern Baghdad. Tbr city of Seleucia Btood on the opposite 
aide of the river, and was a si ?urb to it. 



A. R. 117.] DEATH OF TRAJAN. 173 

It is probable that Trajan returned up the Euphrates; for 
he was apparently at Babylon * when he learned that all the 
conquered countries had revolted, and driven away or slain 
the Roman garrisons. He sent his generals Maximus and 
Lusius Quietus to reduce them. The former was defeated 
and slan, but the latter recovered Nisibis, and took and 
burned Edessa : the city of Seleucia met with a similar fate 
from those sent against it. In order to keep the Parthians 
at rest, Trajan returned to Ctesiphon, and, assembling the 
inhabitants and his soldiers in the adjoining plain, he as- 
cended a lofty tribunal, and, having expatiated on his own 
exploits, he placed the diadem on the head of Parthamas- 
pates, one of the rival candidates for the throne, declaring 
him king of the Parthians. 

A portion of the Arabs of Mesopotamia having submitted 
to him, Trajan had formed a province of Arabia. But the 
Arabs loved independence too much to remain long in obe- 
dience, and the emperor found it necessary (117) to besiege 
in person a strong town belonging to them named Atra, 
which lay not far from the Tigris. The desert nature of 
the surrounding country, the extreme heat, the swarms of 
mosquitoes and other insects, together with tempests of 
thunder, hail, and rain, which occurred, soon obliged him to 
raise the siege and retire; and, shortly after, he fell sick, 
and, leaving the command in the East with his relative 
Hadrian, he set out on his return to Italy. But, at Selinus 
in Cilicia, he had a severe attack of dysentery, which carried 
him off in a few days, in the sixty-third year of his age, after 
aireign of twenty years all to about six months. His ashes 
were conveyed to Rome, and placed beneath the column 
raided in his Forum to commemorate his Dacian wars, and 
which still remains in that city. 

Imperfect as are the narratives which we possess of the 
reign of this prince, the testimony so unanimously borne to 
his virtues places them beyond dispute. Nearly three cen- 
turies after his death, the acclamation of the senate to their 
emperors continued to be, " May you be more fortunate 
than Augustus, and better than Trajan! "t In the Pape- 

* Ma^fov M Tavra 6 TQaiavof iv nXo'io) {xal ylto ixftat t^X&c ydTiSt 
Tt T)v (f>]urjr ^i or'icr ixtioi' ti3ty,o ri fit; jfwudi'a xui fivSoVc kai f()ti?F«a, 
xal Siu rov L-iiiiarS(iay <u xai ir/Jyiotr iv rw otxi'^ian iv io tTtriAivri[)tti,) 
Dion, Ixviii. 30. Fpr niioio}, we read with Tillejnont Bufiu/.ojn, as tlie 
only word which gives sense to the passage. It was certainly there 
that AlexF :der died. , . 

' ^' Pell .-x)r AiigiiitoHieKoi' Thijuno.'* Eiitrop. viii."6i ! ■ ' ■■-.■ 
15* 



174 HADRIAN. [a. D. 117. 

gyric of Pliny, the emperor is without a f £ It; but we learn 
from the less courtly epitomators that Trajjin was so devoted 
to wine and the pleasures of the table, that he found it 
necessary togive directions that any orders which he issued 
after his prolonged meals should not be regarded; and, Svhile 
the panegyrist lauds his chastity, truth accuses him of be- 
ing immoderately addicted to the vice which degraded the 
ancient world. In his lust of conquest, Trajan evinced lit- 
tle political wisdom. The prudent Augustus advised his 
successors to be content with the limits of the empire which 
he had left ; and the Danube and Euphrates formed natural 
boundaries. This sage advice was first neglected by the 
stupid Claudius ; but the conquest of Britain was not diffi- 
cult, and an island once won is easily retained; but the ac- 
quisitions of Trajan could only be held by a large military 
force; and the best proof of his want of judgment in making 
them, is the fact that his Eastern conquests were abandoned 
at once by Hadrian, and Dacia, in about a century and a half 
after his death, by one of his dbfest successors. 



P. JEtivs Iladriamts. ' 

A.u. 870— 89J. A. D. 117— 138. 

The successor of Trajan was his kinsman, P. iElius Ha- 
drianus, who was of a family of Italica, but born at Rome. 
Hadrian bi.'ing left an orphan at the age of ten years, his 
guardians were Trajan, and a knight named Tatianus. Hfe 
applied himself diligently to study, and became equally 
skilled in the Greek and Latin languages. He entered the 
army as a tribune in the time of Domitian. When Trajan 
attained the empire, Hadrian, through the influence of his 
secretary Sura, rose in favor with him ; the empress Plotina 
also patronized him, and prevailed on Trajan to give him in 
marriacre his niece Sabina. He gradually discharged the 
principal civil and military offices of the state, and it was 
geherally understood that the emperor intended to adopj 
him. 

It is not by any means certain that the adoption actually 
took place. Dion assures us, on what may be regarded as 
trood authority, that the whole affair was managed by Plotina 
and Tatianus, who prepared the letters of adoption, conceal- 
ing the death of Trajan some days for the purpose, and for- 



A.D. 118-119.] HADRIAN. 175 

warded them lo Hadrian, who had remained at Ant'och. At 
all events, the succession was undisputed. Hadrian, having 
caused himself to be proclaimed emperor, wrote to the 
senate, excusing it, under the plea of its being unsafe to 
leave the empire without a head, praying them to confirm 
him in it, and not to confer any honors on him, unless he 
should himself request them, and making lavish promises of 
good government. He made Tatianus and Similis (the lat- 
ter a man of the noblest and most virtuous character) pre- 
fects of the praetorians. He wisely resolved to make the 
Euphrates, as before, the eastern boundary of the empire, 
and to abandon the useless conquests of Trajan ; and he 
therefore withdrew all the Roman garrisons from beyond that 
river. These affairs detained him for some time in the East, 
and he did not arrive in Rome till the following year, (US.) 

Hadrian's character was a strange mixture of good and ill 
qualities, but vanity was its predominant feature. His abili- 
ties were much above mediocrity ; but, not content with the 
knowledjjfe adapted to his rank and situation, he would fain 
be a prohcient in all arts and sciences. He studied medi- 
cine and mathematics ; he painted, engraved, sang, and 
played on musical instruments. He was a poet and a critic, 
and he showed his caprice or his bad taste, by preferring 
Antimachus (the author of a Thebai's) to Homer, and En- 
niu« to Virgil. At the same time, he claimed the highest 
pioficiency in civil and military qualities, and, as was nat- 
uial in a person of this character, he was envious and jeal- 
otis of all those who excelled in what he made pretensions 
to, and he even put many of them to death. 

Hadrian remained for about two years in Italy, during 
which time, however, he made one expedition to the banks 
of the Danube, against the Sarmatians. On this occasion, 
he broke down the arches of Trajan's bridge, under the pre- 
text that it only served to fiicilitate the irruptions of the bar- 
barians. At Rome, he distinguished himself by his atten- 
tion to the administration of justice, (the brightest spot in his 
character,) and by the liberality with which he remitted all 
the debts due to the fisc for the last sixteen years, burning 
publicly all the accounts anU obligations. 

While Hadrian was away from Rome, (119,) various per- 
sons of rank and wealth were put to death on sundry pre- 
t§^ts. Of these, the most distinguished were the four con- 
Bulars, Cornelius Palma, Celsus, Domitius Nigrinus, and 



176 HADRIAN. [a.d. 120-12L 

Lusius duietus, all favorites of the late emperor. The 
charge against them was the having conspired to murder 
Hadrian when sacrificing, or, as others said, hunting, and to 
give tlie empire to Nigrinus, whom he had designed for his 
successor ; but their real guilt appears to have been their 
wealth and influence. They were all put to death in the 
different places where they were found, by order of the sen- 
ate, against the will of Hadrian, as he pretended. He re- 
turned to Rome on occasion of this affair, when, to silence 
the murmurs of the people, he gave them a double congiary j 
and he swore to the senate that he would never punish a 
senator, unless wlien condemned by themselves. 

At tliis period also there was a change made in the pre 
fecture of the praitorians. The upright Similis, who had 
accepted the charge against his inclination, asked and ob- 
tained permission to resign;* and Tatianus, whose power 
was become too great to be endured by tlie jealous emperor, 
was induced by him to ask for a successor. Hadrian, who 
had cast on him the odium of the late executions, had at first 
thoughts of putting him to death ; but he contented himself 
with making him quit his important post, ?nd accept the 
rank of a senator. The new prefects were Marcius Turbo, 
a man of most excellent character, and ui able officer, and 
Septitius Clarus. 

In the year 120, as it would appear, Hadrian copiraenced 
visiting the various provinces of the empire — a practice in 
which he passed nearly the whole of his reign. Restlessness 
and curiosity seem to iiave been his principal motives; but 
his presence proved of essential benefit to the provinces. 
He saw with his own eyes their real condition ; he looked 
into the conduct of their governors, and punished those who 
were guilty of fraud or oppression ; he adorned their towns 
with public buildings, and he bestowed money liberally where 
any calamities had occurred. 

Hadrian first visited Gaul ; he thence proceeded to the 
Germanies, where he carefully inspected the troops, made 
Buadry judicious regulations respecting the service, and re- 
stored the discipline, which had fallen into neglect. He 
thence (121) passed over to Britain, inspected the troops 

* H« retired to the country, where he spent the remaining seven 
years of his life. On his tomb he caused to be inscribed, " Here lies 
pimilis, who existed (litoiic) bo maoy years, and lived (traaf) seven.' 
Dion, Ixri. J9. ' 'T , at' ^ ^ 



A.D. 122-132.] HADRIAN. 177 

ere, reformed abuses, and, to secure the :onquered and 
ilized portion of the island from the incur: ons of the bar- 
i.u -ous Caledonians, he erected a strong wall, eighty miles in 
leij!^-th, running from the mouth of the Tyne to the Solway 
iiri! . He then returned to Gaul, and he spent his winter 
a< T'lrragona, in Spain. Some troubles in Africa drew him 
•;'ver U that country in the following year, (122.) It is not 
known where he spent the winter, but we find him the next 
y^ar (Vi'^) in Asia, where a war with the Parthians had 
be^ti oh -he point of breaking out. Having averted this 
danjT^''. i* pent a year rambling through Syria and Asia 
Mi-soV, «rmi len (124) visited the isles of the iEgeean, and 
fiaallv teamo o Athens, where he passed the winter. He 
was iijit''-it*'d the Eleusinian mysteries, and he conferred 
mai y faV""''^ '->« the people of Athens. From Greece, he 
passed ove* to S. iy, (125,) in order to ascend Mount ^Etna, 
and witr) s«J from summit the rising of the sun. He then 
returned m ''f^o'Ti*^ 'here he appears to have remained till 
the year Ix'O again visited Africa, and conferred 

many benefit. incials. The following year, (130,) 

he set out fofL/i**'^* ' while there, he was waited on by 
most of the prir.r.e.'^ ^to. ^out the Euxine and Caucasus. 
He sent back to (iJ<fio"S«'^>os hh. daughter, who had been made 
a captive by Trajan, at- the taking of Ctesiphon. He visited 
Syria, Judsa, and Ac-ab'i^i e^^^n where making regulations 
and punishing evil goveniorC' :^;~"' at length (132) arrived at 
Alexandria in Egypt, wht. 1 '^ rc-wnined for more than a 
year. On his way thither, h i"' ' -ftd ind repaired the 
tomb of Pompeius the Great, .-- ; i;.''"g J^ a" ^-temporary 
Greek verse, how strange it was, t i " "^ ' "' '^ many 

temples should scarcely have a tomL 

The death of the celebrated AntinooL .ccurred ni-*^*^. .'^* 
drian was in Egypt. This was a beaut. pj' -"O'ltu, a natiT® 
of Bithynia, beloved, after the unnatural l ^val Mii ;Vsh- 

ion of the age, by the emperor, Accordii.^ Hadfiai/s 
own account, he fell into the Nile and was dro others 

said that, like the Alrestis of Grecian fable, he dv ^ him- 
self, according to the superstition of the age, to prolong the 
days of the emperor; while others affirm that Hadrian, who 
was curious about magic arts, sacrificed him in order to pry 
into futurity by the inspection of his entrails. The extreme 
grief of the emperor at his loss gives probability to the first 
account, but is not inconsistent with the second. He built 

w 



178 HADRIAN. [a. d. 134-138 

a town, named after him, where he died ; he set up statuea 
of hitn all over the empire ; the Greeks, at his desire, de- 
clared him to be a god, and temples were raised and oracles 
ascribed to him ; in fine, a new star, observed at this time, 
was pronounced to be the soul of Antinoiis. 

Hadrian at length (134) quitted Egypt, and, returning 
through Syria and Asia, came and passed another winter at 
Athens. He was now admitted to the Greater Mysteries 
and lie was, in returti, lavish of benefits to the Athenians, ai 
he adorned their city with many stately edifices. In 
spring, (135,) he returned to Rome, and, his health ' 
ivow in a declining state, and having no offspring, he '•^ 
to adopt a successor. His choice, after long cons'uci iuau 
fixed on L. Ceionius Commodus Verus, a man of JioUIja- birth. 
and of literary taste, but sunk iu indolence and vu! • 
tuoushess, and delicate in health. After tlic cilopti' 
Verus, Hadrian retired from the city, and F ' at 

Tibur, where he devoted himself chiefiy .lion 

of the fine arts. His disorder still con* ecame 

peevish and cruel; and he put to death, u , die, sev- 

eral men of rank, among whom was hi.' i.r-.ther-in-law 

Servianus, a man of ninety years of age 

Verus, who had been sent to take ♦ ■ , - .naud in Panno- 
nia, returned to Rome in the end ' • , ;,r 137. He had 
prepared an address to make to ,eror on new year's 

day, l)Ut, having taken an opia je his nerves, the dose 

proved too powerful, and li ^pp, never to wake. Ha- 

drian then fixed on ^ «, ^^,^^ i^ Aurelius Antoninus, 

a man of most c- ^t^r, as his successor, and he 

adopted hii>- -ninus, who was childless, adopt 

his wife' ..nnius Verus, and L. M\i\is Verus, 

^^'^ °" .nmodus Verus. 

n appears to have been dropsy, growing 

every day, Hadrian felt life to be a burden, 

.vas anxious to be relieved. He implored in 

.iDout him to give him a sword or poison, that he 

niinate his sufferiogs; and Antoninus watched over 

^siduously. The irritation of his mind, it is said, made 

become daily .uore cruel. He ordered several senators 

J be put to death : but Antoninus saved them by pretending 

that the orders had been executed. At length he retired to 

Baias, and neglecteo all regimen, using the common saying 

that "many doctors killed a king." He died on the lOth 



A. D. 138.] DEATH OF HADRIAN. 179 

of July, 138,* in the sixty-third year of his age, and after a 
reign of twenty-one years, wanting a month. The senate, 
on account of his late cruelties, proposed at first to abrogate 
all his acts, and refused him the usual honors; but they 
yielded to the arguments and tears of Antoninus, and Ha- 
drian was deified, and his ashes consigned to the splen- 
did mausoleum which he had raised on the banks of the 
Tiber.t 

The merits of Hadrian as a monarch, however, far out- 
numbered his defects. He maintained peace and plenty in 
the interior of the state, and he kept the army in a condition 
of the greatest efficiency. Justice was carefully adminis- 
tered, and he was the author of many beneficent laws and 
regulations. Among these may be observed those in favor 
of the slaves. Hitherto the law had been, that, if a master 
was assassinated in his house, all the slaves in it should be 
put to death. Hadrian directed that none should even be 
put to the torture, except those who were within hearing at 
the time. He also took from masters the power of life and 
death over their slaves, and ordered that no slave should be 
put to death without the sentence of a magistrate. He 
further abolished the private workhouses all through It- 

It was during the reign of this prince that Heaven poured 
out its last vial of vengeance on the obstinate and fanatic 
nation of the Jews. Toward the end of the reign of Trajan, 
(115,) this people had risen in rebellion in Egypt and Gy- 
rene, and committed great massacres and other atrocities ; 
anrl the following year they rose in a similar manner in the 
isle of Cyprus and in Mesopotamia. They were, however, 
reduced by Marcius Turbo and Lusius duietus ; and they 
remained at rest till the year 134, when, on the occasion of 
Hadrian's placing a Roman colony at Jerusalem, which he 
named from himself ^Elia Capitolina, and building a temple 
to Jupiter on the site of that of Jehovah, their fanatic spirit 

* A little before his death, he made the following pretty lines, ad- 
dressed to his soul (The measure is dimeter iambic acatalcctic.) 
Animula vagula, blandula, 
Hospes, comesque corporis, 
Quae nunc abibis in loca 
Pallidula, rigida, nudula 
Nee, ut soles, dabis joca.' 
t The Moles Hadriani, the present castle of St. Angelo. 
t See above, p. 32. The evil which Augustus tried to remedy still 
coatinued. 



180 ^ANTONINUS PIUS. [a. D. 13S-161. 

took fire, and they flew to arms under f. leader named Bar- 
cokebas, {Son of the Star,) who gave himself out for the 
Messiah. Hadrian sent the ablest of his generals, Julius 
Severus, who commanded in Britain, to conduct the war, 
which lasted about two years. The number of the Jews 
slain in battle is said to have been 580,000, beside an infinite 
number «ho perished by famine and disease; and the loss on 
the part of the Romans was not inconsiderable. The pris- 
oners were sold for slaves, and the Jews were forbidden 
henceforth, under pain of death, to come e»en within sight 
of Jerusalem. 



T. Aurclius Antoninus Pius. 
A. u. 891—914. A. D. 139— IGl. 

Titus Aurelius Antoninus was of a family originally of 
Nismes (Wemnusia) in Gaul, but he was born near Lanu- 
vium in Latitira. lie bore the consulate and other offices 
of state, and he was so generally beloved, that the legacies 
which, in the usual Roman manner, he received from his 
friends, made him extremely rich. Thouijli he took a share 
in public affaifs, and had long been of Hadrian's council, 
his delight was in a country life, and his favorite abode was 
his villa of Lorii, about twelve miles from Rome, on the Au- 
reliau road, the place where he had passed his boyhood. ' 

Antoninus was in the fifty-first year of his age when he 
was adopted by Hadrian. The senate, on his accession, de- 
creed him all the usual titles and honors, adding to them 
that which gave him most pleasure, the title of Pius or ' Du- 
tiful,' on account of his anxiety to guard from reproach the 
memory of his adoptive father. 

For a space of twenty-three years, the Roman world was 
ruled by this excellent prince, in whom men recognized all 
the virtues that imagination had ascribed to the mythic 
Numa. The aspirations of Plato for the happiness of man- 
kind in the union of the rnonarch and the philosopher, at 
length received their accomplishment ; for Antoninus, though 
not in speculation, was in practice a philosopher of the best 
and most rational school. All the virtues that adorn public 
or private life were united in him. As a ruler, he was just, 
but clemept, generous, and affable ; as a private man, he was 
kind, social, liberal, and good-tempered. He lived with his 



A. v. 161. J M. AURELIUS. 181 

friends on a footing of equality ; he encouraged philosophy 
and rhetoric in all parts of the empire, by giving honors and 
salaries to their professors ; he was attentive in the discharge 
of all the ceremonies and duties belonging to the religion of 
the state, but he would not suffer those who differed from it 
to be persecuted. The public events of this tranquil reign 
were few and unimportant. Bad men, however, are always 
to be found, and we need not therefore be surprised to hear 
that conspiracies weie formed even against Antoninus ; but 
the authors of them were punished by the senate, or died by 
their own hands. The only sounds of war were on the dis- 
tant frontiers, where the Moors and the German and Sarma- 
tian tribes were checked by the imperial generals. In Brit- 
ain, Antoninus caused a wall to be run fiom the Firth of 
Clyde to that of Forth; ftrtiier north than that of Hadrian. 
Some tumults in Greece and Judeea were suppressed. The 
princes of the East, and those round the Euxine, obeyed the 
mandates of the Roman emperor, or submitted their differ- 
ences to his decision. 

Antoninus had attained the seventy-fifth year of his age, 
and the twenty-third of his reign, when, at his palace of 
Lorii, (161,) after supping rather heartily on some Alpine 
cheese, he was seized with a vomiting in the night, which 
was succeeded next day by a fever. On the third day, he 
comntended the empire and his daughter to his adopted son, 
M. Aurelius, and caused the golden image of Fortune, which 
was usually kept in the imperial chamber, to be transferred 
to tliat prince's apartments. To the tribune of the guards, 
when he came for the word, he gave Equanimity ; and then, 
turning round as if to sleep, quietly breathed his last. He 
was buried in the tomb of Hadrian, and drvine honors were 
decreed to him by the senate. 



M. jEUus Aurelius Antoninus^ 
A. u. 914—933. A. D. 161—180. 

The first name of the adopted son, son-in-law, and suc- 
cessor, of Antoninus had been Catilius Severus, that of his 
maternal grandfather ; but, on the death of his father, he was 
adopted by his paternal grandfather, and called after him, 
AnniusVerus: when adopted by Antoninus, he took the 
name of M. ^lius Aurelius Verus; ami when he became 

CONTIN. 16 



182 M. AURELIUS. [a. d. 161-162. 

emperor, he dropped the Verus, and took in its place An- 
toninus. 

The character of this prince was grave, serious, and vir- 
tuous, even from his childhood; and Hadrian, who had a 
great affection for him, used, instead of Verus, to call him 
Verissimus. At the age of twelve, he assumed the philoso- 
pher's habit, and began to practise the austerity of the philo- 
sophic life. He had the best instructors of every kind ; he 
became well skilled in all active and martial exercises, and 
acquired a knowledge of painting ; but the study of the Stoic 
philosophy, to which he was devoted, chiefly occupied his 
attention. He was in his eighteenth year when he was 
adopted by Antoninus. This prince gave him in marriage 
his daughter Faustina, and made him in effect his colleague 
in the empire. Such was the filial duty of Marcus, that, 
from the day of his adoption to that of the death of Pius, he 
lay but two nights out of the palace, and those at different 
times. 

On the death of Pius, the senate offered the empire to M. 
Aurelius alone; but, mindful of the wishes of Hadrian, he 
associated with him in his dignity his adoptive brother, L. 
Commodus, to whom he gave his own name of Verus, and 
betrothed to him his daughter Lucilla. The Roman world 
had thus for the first time two emperors; but in effect tiiere 
was only one, for Verus, who was of an open, good-natured 
temper, and a lover of pleasure rather than of study and 
business, deferred in all things to his wiser brother, and 
acted only as his lieutenant. 

The new emperors had soon to prepare for the defence of 
their dominions. The barbarians of Culedouia and of north- 
ern Germany renewed tiieir assaults on the adjoining prov- 
inces, and Vologeses, the Parthian king, entered Armenia 
and cut to pieces a Roman army, led by the governor of Cap- 
padocia to its defence. Tiie Parthian monarch then poured 
a large army into Syria, and defeated the governor of that 
province. This war appeared of such importance, that it 
was deemed expedient that one of the emperors should con- 
duct it in person. Aurelius, wishing to remove Verus fr(jm 
the seductions of Rome, and give him an opportunity of ac- 
quiring military fame, committed to him the Parthian war; 
and that prince accordingly set out for the East, (1G2.) But, 
instead of putting himself at the head of his troops, the vo 
luptuous emperor, under the pretext of attending to the com- 
miesariat of the array, remained at Antioch, visiting Daphne 



AD. 166.] PARTHIAN WAR. 183 

in the summer and Laodicea in the winter, and thinking 

only of pleasure. The war was meantime conducted by his 

generals, who, esppcially Avidius Cassius', proved themselves 

to be able men. I, lasted four years ; success was generally 

on the side of the Romans, and Cassius crossed the Tigris, 

took Ctesiphon, and destroyed the royal palace. The war 

appears to have been concluded by a treaty, by which the - 

Parthian monarch resigned all claim to the country west of j 

the Tigris, The two emperors then celebrated a joint tri- ' 

umph, (166,) and assumed the title of Parthic. 

While Varus was absent in the East, the government of | 

Aurelius at Rome had emulated that of Pius, and been in all | 

things directed to the promotion of the happiness of the peo- i; 

pie. But in the train of Verus came a pestilence, which ex- | 

ceeded in virulence any that had occurred for many years, j 

spread to all parts of the empire, and carried off an immense j 

number of people. A famine at Rome accompanied it ; and, J 

to add to the calamities of the empire, a war with the Mar- I 

comans broke out, which was to occupy Aurelius all the rest ; 

of his reign. ' 

We always find. the German race acting in confederations, | 

and this is perhaps one of the principal reasons why the p 

Romans never could make any permanent impression on | 

them. The confederation was usually named from the prin- | 

cipal people engaged in it, and of the tribes on the left bank | 

of the Danube, the Marcomans seem now to have been the 'j 

most powerful. The removal of the legions, on account of 5 

the Parthian war, held out to them an opportunity of rav- [ 

aging the Roman province. It is also said that the pressure ; 

of some of the tribes farther north, who had aban«:ioned or j 

been driven from their own lands, and came seeking new I 

ones, urged them to war. A union was therefore formed of \ 

all the German and Sarmatian nations contiguous to the [ 

Danube, for the invasion of the Roman provinces ; but, while f 

the Parthian war lasted, the Romans averted it by negotia- I; 

tion. When, however, the barbarians saw the empire deso- | 

lated by the plague, they would no longer be restrained, and I 

they passed the river in all parts, and poured over and rav- l 

aged the provinces, taking cities and towns, and dragging j' 

thousands into captivity.* The intelligence caused great j 

consternation at Rome, and Aurelius assured the senate that | 

l 

* According to Pausanias (x.) they advanced as far as Elatea in I 

Greece. j 



184 M. AURELiug. [a. d. 167-169. 

the danger was of such magnitude, as to require the presence 
of both the emperors; not that he set any value on the mili 
tary talents of Verus, but he did not consider it safe to leave 
him behind at Rome, The emperors therefore assumed the 
I military habit, and advanced to Aquileia, (1(>7.) They found 

i that the tidings of their approach had caused the barbarians 

; to repass the Danube, and deputies soon appeared suing for 

\ peace. Verus, who longed to return to the delights of Rome, 

I was for accepting their excuses ; but Mrircus, who judged 

( that they only feigned a desire of peace through fear of his 

I large iirmy, resolved to advance farther, and let them see his 

I power. He therefore passed the Alps, and advanced into the 

I northern provinces, and, having made all the requisite dispo- 

, sitions for the security of Illyricum and Italy, he set out on 

^ his return to Rome, permitting Verus to precede his arrival. 

I The war, however, was speedily renewed, and, toward the 

jj close of the year lt)9, the emperors prt>cccded again to Aqui- 

l [i leia, in order to take the field in tl>e sprir>g. But the plague 

ji was so violent in that town, that they could not venture to 

I remain there, and, though it was mid-winter, tiiey left it in 

!, order to return to Rome. On their way, as they were riding 

I in the same carriage, near to Altino, Verus was struck with 

I a fit of apoplexy; and, after remaining speechless for three 

days, he expired. His body was conveyed to Rome, and 
deposited in the tomb of Hadrian, and he was deified in the 
usual manner. 
i There were not wanting those who were rnalignant enough 

I to charge Marcos with the guilt of haying caused thfe death 

I / of Verus, by poison, or by exxessive blood-letting; but his 

i character alone suffices for the refutation of such calumnies, 

I The death of Verus was, however, a great relief to him, for, 

■ r excepting cruelty, this prince had all the vices of Caius and 

I Nero, being devoted to gaming, chariot-racing, gladiators, 

buffoons, and every species of luxury and dissipation; and 
Marcus, though aware of and bitterly lamenting his defects, 
thought it his duty to conceal or excuse the failings of a 
brother. 

Marcus now, unimpeded by his colleague, devoted his 
whole energies to the improvement and defence of the em- 
pire. As the Marcomans had defeated am slain the pra> 
torian prefect Vindex, and were growing every day more 
formidable, and the legions had been dreadfully thinned by 
the plague, he took all kinds of men into pay. He enrolled, 



{ 



A.D. 170-174.] MARCOMANIC WAR. 1^5 

I \ 

rJaves, as had been done in the Punic war,* gladiators, the j i 

bandits of Dalmatia, and Dardania, and the DiocmitEB, or those i \ 

employed in pursuit of them. He also commenced the per- j | 

nicious practice of taking bodies of the Germans into Roman J I 
pay. In order to raise funds for the war without distressing 
the provincials, he caused an auction to be held, for the space 
of two months, in Trajan's Ft)rum, at which all the splendid 
furniture, plate, and jewels belonging to the palace, even his 

own and his wife's silken and golden garments, were sold. | 

Having thus obtained an abundant supply of money, he set J 

out for the seat of war, (170.) ji 

The war lasted several years, during which the emperor I 

did not return to Italy. His residence was, for three years, I 

at Carnuntum, in Pannonia, on the Danube. He cleared >| 

that province of the barbarians, and he gave the Marcomans i 

a notable defeat, as they were effecting the passage of the | 

river. In the year 174, he carried the war beyond the Dan- f, 

ube, into the country of the Quadans. It was the middle of \ 

summer, the heat was excessive, and the enemy contrived to | 

enclose the Roman arjny in a situation totally destitute of | 

water, and, securing all the outlets, they awaited the sure ( 

effects of heat and thirst. The sufferings of the Romans i 

were for some time extreme ; but at length the clouds were | 

seen to collect, and soon the rain began to descend in tor- | 

rents. The Cluadans, seeing their hopes thus frustrated, ^ 

fell on the Romans while engaged in quenching their thirst, \ 

and would, it is said, have defeated .them, had not a tempest I 

of hail and lightning come on, aided by which the Romans 5 

gained a victory. | 

This event, which was, no doubt, a natural one, was held | 

to be miraculous, and both pagans and Christians claimed 1 

the honor of it. The former ascribed it to an Egyptian ma- | 

gician named Arnesiphis, who was with Aurelius, and by \ 

his arts caused the aereal Hermes and other demons to send ^ 

the rain. The latter afiirmed that it was sent in answer to | 

the prayers of one of the legions, named the Melitenensian, ^ 

or the Thundering, and which was composed of Christ'ans; [ ; 
and they add that the emperor, in his letter to the senate, 
acknowledged this *o be the fact, and caused the persecution 

of the Christians to cease.t yliidil 

f . ' , ■ 

* The Volones, (Hist, of Rome, 219;) they were now called Volun 
tarii, and the gladiators, Obsequentes. 

t Euseb. Hist. Ec. V. 5 ; Tert. Ap. 5 ; Xiphil. Ixxi. 9. Apollinaris 
(ap. Euseb.) says that the legion received the title of Thundering 
IC* X 



186 M. AURELIUS. [a. D. 175. 

The confederates had suffered so much by the war, that 
they now were nnxious for peace; and most of them sent 
deputies to the emperor. The duadans, the Marcomans, 
and the Sarmatian Jazygans, obtained peace on the terms 
of giving up all the deserters and prisoners, and of the two 
former not dwelling within less than five miles of the Dan- 
ube; the Jazygans of double that distance. Other smaller 
nations were taken into alliance with the Romans, and lands 
were given them in the adjacent provinces, and even in Italy. 

This accummudation with the barbarians was hastened by 
the intelligence of a revolt in Syria. Avidius Cassius, who 
had, in effect, conducted the Parthian war, and had after- 
wards commanded on the Danube, had received from Mar- 
cus the government of that province, in order that he might 
restore the discipline of the array. Cassius, who was a man 
of the greatest rigor, and was even barbarous in his punish- 
ments, had still the art of attaching the soldiery ; and the 
Syrian army was soon in a most effective state of discipline, 
ar)d devoted to its leader : the subjects an'l the neighboring 
princes were also inclined to Cassius, and, feeling, or affect- 
ing to feel, a contempt for the mild philosophy and the 
extreme lenity and clemency of Marcus, he at length (175) 
resolved to declare himself emperor. The whole of Asia 
south of Mount Taurus, and Egypt, submitted, and the 
troops of Bithynia were on the point of declaring for him. 
The emperor was informed of the revolt by Marcius Ve- 
rus, the governor of Cappadocia. He concealed the matter 
at first; but, finding that it had come to the ears of the 
soldiers, he called them together, and addressed them in 
a speech worthy of himself. He then wrote to the same 
effect to the senate, and that body declared Cassius a pub- 
lic enemy. Marcus was preparing to march into the East 
to contend for his empire, when the head of his rival was 
brought to him ; for Cassius, as he was one day walking 
or riding, was fallen on and slain by two of his own officers, 
after a dream of empire of three months. The army returned 
to its obedience, and put to death the eldest son of Cassius 
and his pr^torian prefect, and no more blood was shed. 
Cassius's papers were burnt, either by the emperor or by 
Verus; his family was treated with favor; the cities and 
towns which had declared for him were forgiven. 

{Fulminea) on this occasion ; but Tilter^oDt observes that an inscrip- 
tion proves it to have belonged toi the twelfth legion in the tipe of 
Trajan. 



A. D. 176-178.] M. AURELIUS. 187 

In order to regulate the affairs of the East, Murcu= pro- 
ceeded thither in person. He visited SjTia and Egypt, aod 
stopping, on his return, at Athens, (176,) he was there in- 
itiated in the mysteries. On the 23d of December, he en- 
tered Rome in triumpii, with his son Commodus. The 
triumph was for the victories over the Germans. 

Wliile Marcus was in Asia, the empress Faustina, who 
accompanied him, died suddenly in a little town at the foot 
of Mount Taurus. Her husband lamented her, even with 
tears; and, at his request, the senate deified her, and erected 
an altar to her, at which all young maidens, when they mar- 
ried, were to sacrifice with their bridegrooms. Yet, if his- 
tory may be credited, Faustina was so abandoned to lust, 
that she used to select the most vigorous rowers fr m the 
fleet, and gladiators from the arena, to share her embraces; 
and the general opinion was, that a gladiator, and not Mar- 
cus, was the father of Commodus. Her infamy, it is said, 
was not unknown to her husband, who, when urged to di- 
vorce her if he would not put her to death, replied, " If I put 
away my wife, I must restore her dower," that is, the empire ; 
a reply so unworthy of Marcus, that we cannot regard it as 
true.* 

The war had been rekindled on the banks of the Danube; 
the Marcomans, Quadans, and their allies, were again in 
arms, and the presence of the emperor was required. He 
left Rome in the autumn of 178, taking with him his son. 
He is said to have gained a considerable victory the follow- 
ing year, and the subjugation of the barbarians was regarded 
as certain; but, in the spring of 180, he vvas attacked by a 
contagious malady, which carried him off on the seventh day, 
after a reign of nineteen years, and when he had nearly 
attained the fifty-ninth year of his age. 

The emperor M. Aurelius has been compared to the Eng- 
lish king Alfred. Like him, he united the active and con- 
templative life, led armies and cultivated literature. But 
Alfred had far greater difficulties to contend with, and his 
studies were more directed to objects suitable to a sovereign. 
The British monarch, too, (favored in this, perhaps, by na- 
ture or fortune,) was more happy in his family than the 
Roman; for, whih; Alfred left children worthy to occupy 

* It is more probable that he did not know her infamy ; for in the 
nrst book of his Meditations, written only a short time before she dieil, 
he praises her obedience, affection, and simplicity of manners. 



188 REFLECTIONS. 

his place, and was blessed in all his domestic relations, ihti 
vices of his wife, his son, and his adoptive brother, cast a 
shade over the virtues of Anrclius. His blindness to these 
vices, if he really was not aware of them, derogates from his 
judgment and wisdom ; while, if we concede him penetration 
of character, we must condemn the weakness which could, 
for example, commit the happiness of the world to a Com- 
modus. A certain imbecility of character was in eflect the 
chief blemish of Aurelius. It would almost seem as if too 
early a study of speculative philosophy were detrimental to 
a man who is called on to take an active part in the atfairs 
of life, and to direct the destinies of an empire. 

'* If a man," say« Gibbon, " were called to fix a period in 
the history of the world during which the condition of the 
human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, with- 
out hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of 
Domitian to the accession of Commbdus. The vftst extent 
of the Roman empire was governed by absolute power, un- 
der the guidance of virtue and wisdom. The armies were 
restrained by the firm but geritle hand of four successive 
emperors, whose characters and authority commanded in- 
voluntary respect. The forms of the civil administration 
were carefully preserved by Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the 
Antonines, who delighted in the image of liberty, and were 
pleased with considering themselves as the accountable min- 
isters of the laws. Such princes deserved the honor of re- 
storing the republic, had the Romans of their days been 
capable of enjoying a rational freedom." 

In this passage, characterized by the author's usual preju- 
dices, there is certainly much that is true, but mingled with 
exaggeration and error. The character and reign of Ha- 
drian, for example, are surely not entitled to such lofty terms 
of praise. The brightest spot in the picture is the perioc 
of the dominion of Pius; but our information respecting that 
reign is so imperfect, that we have not the means of forming 
a correct judgment. As happiness is seated so entirely in 
the mind, and depends so much on natural character, com- 
parisons of the amount of it enjoyed in ditferent periods, and 
by diftercnt classes of persons, are quite fallacious; and we 
have no doubt that the guards and the populace at Rome 
thought themselves happier under a Nero and a Domitian 
than a Hadrian and an Aurelius. We s^ijl, howerer, agree 
generally in the conclusions of the historian. 



A. D. ISO.] COMMODUS. 



CHAPTER III.* . i 

COMMODUS. PERTINAX. JULIAN. SEVERUS. 
A. u. 933—964. A. D. 180—21 1 . 

COMMODUS. CONSPIRACY AGAINST HIM. PERENNIS. 

CLEANDER. MATERNUS AND THE DESERTERS. DEATH 

OF CLEANDER. VICES OF COMMODUS. HIS DEATH. 

ELEVATION AND MURDER OF PERTINAX. EMPIRE PUT TO 

AUCTION. BOUGHT BY DIDIUS JULIANUS. PESCENNIUS 

NIGER. SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS. CLODIUS ALBINUS. 

MARCH OF SEVERUS. DEATH OF JULIAN. PRAETORIANS 

DISBANDED. SEVERUS AT ROME. WAR WITH NIGER. 

WITH ALBINUS. PARTHIAN WAR. FAMILY OF SEVERUS. 

— -PLAUTIANUS. SEVERUS IN BRITAIN. HIS DEATH. — 

MAXIMS OF GOVERNMENT. 



L. yElius Aurelius Commodus. 

A. u. 933—945. A. D. 180—192. 

L. iELius Aurelius Commodus, the son and successor of 
M. Aurelius, was in the nineteenth year of his age when the 
death of his excellent father left him master of the Roman 
world. He was the first of the Roman emperors who was what 
was termed Porphyrogenitus, i. e. born to a reigning emperor. 
Not a murmur was raised against his succession ; a liberal 
donative gratified the soldiers, and the war was, during the 
summer, prosecuted with vigor against the barbarians; but 
Commodus longed for the pleasures of Rome, and he will- 
ingly listened to their solicitations for peace. Treaties hon-. 
orable to Rome were therefore concluded. The terms given 
to the Quadans and Marcomans were nearly the same as 
those accorded by Marcus ; but they were bound not to make 
war on the Jazygans, the Burrans, or the Vandals. They 
were each to furnish a certain number of men for the Ro- 
man armies. The terms imposed on the rest were not 
dissimilar. The emperor then returned to Rome and tri- 
umphed, (Oct. 22.) 

* Authorities: Dion, Herodian, the Augustan History, aud the Epi 
lometors. 



190 coMMODUs. [a. d. 180-183. 

Commodtis is one among the many instances which we may 
find of tiie feebleness of education in the attempt to control 
the tendencies of natU4^e.* It was in Vain that Marcus had, 
in his own person, given his son an exanjple of all the virtues, 
arid had surrounded him with the ablest instructors. 'i*heir 
lessons were unheeded, and tiieir pupil was distinguished 
only by skill in the exercises of the gladiators' school, and 
for the unerring aim with which he Hung the javelin or shot 
the arrow, under the teaching of Moors and Parthians. He 
is also noted for being the first of the emperors who was 
totally devoid of taste for literature. 

The foreign transactions of this reign are of little impor- 
tance ; the German and British frontiers merely gave their 
usual occupation to the legions. At Rome, for tiie space of 
about three years, all Was tranquillity also; for Commodus, 
whose natural character, as we are assured, was weak and 
tfmid, rather than wicked, allowed himself to be directed by 
the able and upright men to whom his father had recom- 
mended him. His hours were devoted to luxury and indul- 
gence, till, at length, (183,) an event occurred which revealed 
the latent cruelty of his nature. 

After the death of L. Verus, Marcus had given his daugh- 
ter Lucilla in marriage to Pompeiaiius, a most respectable 
senator, and, after the death of her mother, he allowed her 
all the honors of an empress, which her brother also con- 
tinued to her. But, on the marriage of Commodus with a 
lady named Crispina, Lucilla was obliged to yield prece- 
dence to the reigning empress. Her haughty spirit deemed 
tills au indignity, and she resolved on revenge. Fearing to 
intrust her design to her noble-minded husband, she first 
communicated it to Quadratus, a wealthy young nobleman, 
with whom she carried on an .adulterous intercourse; she 
also engaged in the plot Claudius Pompeianus, another of 
her paramours, who was betrothed to her daughter; some 
senators also were aware of it. As Commodus was entering 
the amphitheatre, through a dusky passage, Pompeianus, 
who was lying in wait, drew his sword, and i.i.ed, "The 
sienate sends thee this." But the words prevented the exe- 
cution of his design, and he was seized by the guards. He, 
Quadratus, and some others, were executed ; Lucilla was, 
for the present, confined in the isle of Caprese, but she was, 

" " The power of instruction," observes Gibbon, " is seldom of 
much ffficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almoo* 
iuperfluous." 



A. D. 186.] CONSPIRACY. "lOl 

ere long, put to^eath; and a similar fate s'odh befell her 
rival, Crispina, on account of adultery. In her place, Coni- 
modus took a freedwoman, named Marcia, who had been 
the concubine of Quadratus, and to whom he gave all the 
honors of an empress, except that of having fire borne be- 
fore her. 

The unwise exclamation of Pompeianus sank deep in the 
mind of Commodus: he learned to regard the senate as his 
deadly enemies, and many of its most illustrious members 
were put to death, on various pretexts. His only reliance 
was now on the guards; and the praetorian prefects soon be- 
came as important as in former times. The prefects now 
were Tarruatius Paternus and Perennis; but the arts of the 
latter caused the former to be removed and put to death, and 
the whole power of the state fell into his hands; for the timid 
Commodus no longer ventured to appear in public, and all 
business was transacted by Perennis. The prefect removed 
all he dreaded, by false accusations ; and he amassed wealth 
by the confiscation of the properties of the nobility. His 
son was in command, of the Illyrian legions, and he now 
aspired to the empire. But he had offended the army of 
Britain, and they deputed (186) fifteen hundred of their 
number to accuse him to Commodus of designs on the em- 
pire. They were supported by the secret influence of the 
freedman Oleander, and Perennis was given up to their 
vengeance. Himself, his wife, his sister, and two of his 
children, were massacred ; his eldest son was recalled, and 
murdered, on the way to Rome. 

The character cf Perennis is doubtful, but that of Clean- 
der, who succeeded to his power, was one of pure evil. 
Cleander, a Phrygian by birth, had been brought to Rome 
as a slave, and sold in the public market. He was pur- 
chased for the palace, and placed about the person of Com- 
modus, with whom he speedily ingi itiated himself; and 
when the prince became emperor, he made Cleander his 
chamberlain. The power of the freedman, when Perennis 
was removed, became absolute; avarice, the passion of a 
vulgar mind, was his guiding principle. All the honors and 
all the posts of the empire were put to sale ; pardons for 
any crime were to be had for money ; and, in the short 
space of three years, the wealth of Cleander exceeded that 
of the Pallas and Narcissus of the early days of the empire. 

A conspiracy of an extraordinary nature occurred not long 
•^C*er the death of Perennis. A great number of men wh« 



192 coMMODus. [a. D. 187-189 ^ 

had deserted from the armies, put themselves under the com- 
mand of a common soldier, named Maternus : they were 
joined by slaves, whom they freed from their bonds; and 
they ravaged for some time with impunity the provinces of 
Gaul and Spain. At length, (187,) when Maternus found 
the governors preparing to act with vigor against him, he 
resolved to make a desperate effort, and be emperor; or 
perish. He directed his followers to disperse, and repair 
secretly to Rome, where he proposed that they should as- 
sume the dress of the guards, and fall on the emperor during 
the license of the festival of the Megalesia.* All succeeded 
to his wishes : they rendezvoused in Rome ; but some of 
them, out of envy, betrayed the secret, and Maternus ^nd 
some others were taken and executed. 

The power of Cleander was now at its height ; by gifts to 
Commodus and his mistresses, he maintained his influence at 
court, and, by the erection of baths and other public edi- 
fices, he sought to ingratiate himself with the people. He 
had also the command of the guards, for whom he had, for 
some time, caused praetorian prefects to be made and un- 
made, at his will. He at length divided the oflice between 
himself and two others; but he did not assume the title. t 
As an instance of the way in which he disposed of offices, 
we find in one year (189) no less than five-and-twenty 
consuls. 

Whit the ultimate views of Cleander may have been is 
unknown ; for he shared the usual fate of aspiring freedmen. 
Rome was risited at this time by a direful pestilence, and 
the emperor, on account of it, resided out of the city. The 
pestilence was, as usual, attended by famine ; and this visita- 
tion of Heaven was hy the people laid to the charge of the odi- 
ous favorite. As they were one day (189) viewing the horse- 
races in the circus, a party of children entered, headed by a 
fierce-looking girl, and began to exclaim against Cleander. 
The people joined in the cries, and then, rising, rushed to 
where Commodus was residing in the suburbs, demanding 
the death of Cleander. But the favorite instantly ordered the 
.prretorian cavalry to charge them, and they were driven back 
to the city, with the loss of many lives. When, however, 
th6, cavalry entered the streets, they were assailed by mis- 

* For a desciption of this festival, soe Ovid, Fasti, iv. 179, stq. 
■'t He styled himself d pngione, m'ln'iBiers being thus named froin 
loeir offices, ex gr. a rationibus, ah epistolis. 



A. n. 192.] CRUELTY OF COMMODUS. l9lJ^ 

siles from the \oofs of the houses; and the peop.e, being 
joined by the urban cohorts, rallied, and drove them back to 
the palace, where Coinmodus still lay in total ignorance of 
all that had occurred ; for fear of Oleander had kept all 
silent. But now Marcia, or, as others said, the emperor's 
sister Fadilla,* seeing the danger so imminent, rushed into 
his presence, and informed him of the truth. Without a 
moment's hesitation, he ordered Oleander and his son to be 
put to death. The people placed the head of Oleander on a 
pole, and dragged his body through the streets; and, whe i 
they had massacred some of his creatures, the tumult ceased. 

The cruelty of Commodus displayed itself more and more 
every day, and several men of rank became its victims. At 
the same time, his lust was unbounded; three hundred 
beautiful women, and as mariy boys, of all ages and coun- 
tries, filled his seraglio, and he abstained from no kind of 
infamy. He delighted also to exhibit proofs of his skill as 
a marksman, and he assumed the title and attributes of the 
hero Hercules. For some time, like Nero, he confined his 
displays to the interior of his residences ; but, at length, the 
senate and people were permitted to witness his skill in the 
amphitheatre. A gallery ran round it for the safety and 
convenience of the emperor, from which he discharged his 
darts and arrows, with unerring aim, at the larger and fiercer 
animals, while he ventured into the arena to destroy the 
deer and other timid creatures. A hundred lions were at 
once let loose, and each fell by a single wound; an irritated 
panther had just seized a man — a dart was flung by the em- 
peror, and the beast fell dead, while the man remained un- 
injured. With crescent-headed arrows he cut off the heads 
of ostriches, as they ran at full speed. 

But his greatest delight was to combat as a gladiator. He 
appeared in the character of a Secutor : he caused to be re- 
corded 73.5 victories which he had gained, and he received 
each time an immense stipend out of the gladiatorial fund. 
Instead of Hercules, he now styled himself Paulus, after 
a celebrated Secutor, and caused it to be inscribed on his 
statues. He also took up his abode in the residence of the 
gladiators. 

At length, the tyrant met the fate he merited. It was his 
design to put to death the two consuls elect for the year 193, 

r,i Lii.r K'liii '_- )' •)■.'/ i 

* Djop says. Marcia, Herodian Fadilla. Tilleniont and Gibbon unite 
the two. 

CONTIN. 17 Y 



194 PERTINAX. [a.d. 193. 

and, on new year's day, to proceed from the gladiators' scliool, 
in his gladiatorial habit, and enter on the consulate. On 
the preceding d?y, he communicated his design to Marcia, 
who trie.l in vain to dissuade him from it. Q,. ^lius Laetus, 
the praetorian prefect, and the chamberlain, Eclectus, also 
reasoned with him, but to as little purpose. He testified much 
wrath, add uttered some menaces. Knowing that the threats 
of the tyrant were the sure precursors of death, they saw 
their only hopes of safety lay in anticipation; they took their 
resolution on the moment ; * and when Commodus came from 
the bath, Marcia, as was her usual practice, handed him a 
bowl, (in which she had now infused a strong poison,) to 
quench his thirst. 

lie drank the liquor off, and then laid himself down to 
sleep. The attendants were all sent away. The conspira- 
tors were expecting the effect of the poison, when the empe- 
ror began to vomit profusely. Fearing now that the noisoo 
would not take effect, they brought in a vigorous wrestler, 
named Narcissus; and, induced by the promise of a la»ge 
reward, he laid hold on and strangled the emperor. 



P. Hclvius Pertinax. 
A. IT. 94G. A. D. 193. 



The conspirators had, it is probable, already fixed on the 
person who should succeed to the empire ; and their choice 
was om^ calculated to do them credit. It wa,s 1*. Helvius 
Pertinat, the prefect of the city, a man now ?dvanced in 
years, who had with an unblemished character, tho\iph born 
in an hiunble rank, passed through all the civil and military 
j^iradatiuns of the state. Pertinax was the son of a freed- 
nan who was engaged in the manufacture of charcoal, at 
Alba Pompeia, in the Apennines. He commenced life as 
a man of letters; but, finding the literary profession unprofit- 
able, he entered the army as a centurion, and his career of 
advancement was rapid. 

It was yet night when Loitus and Eclectus proceeded with 

* Herodian tells us of a fist of those destined to be put to death, 
taken by a child, and read by Marcia, as in the case of Doniitian. But 
lie \i a very inaccurate writer ; and Dion, who was a senator, and in 
Home at the time, could hardly have been ignorant of the tHrcura- , 
stance, if it were true. "" ''' 

VIT/«VJ 



A. D. 193.] PKRTiNAX. 195 

some soldiers to the house of Pertinax. When informed of 
their arrival, he ordered them to be brought to his chamber, 
and then, without rising, told them that he had long expected 
every night to be his last, and bade them execute their office; 
lor he was certain that Commodus had sent them to put him 
to death. But they informed him that the tyrant himself 
was no more, and that they were come to offer him the em- 
pire. He hesitated to give credit to them ; but, having sent 
one on whom he could depend, and ascertained that Corn- 
modus was dead, he consented to accept the proffered dia- 
nity. Though it was not yet day, they all repaired to the 
praetorian camp ; and Laetus, having assembled the soldiers, 
told them that Commodus was suddenly dead of apoplexy, 
and that he had brought them his successor, a man whosei 
merits were known to them all. Pertinax then addressed 
them, promising a large donative. By this time, the people 
(for Laetus had caused the news of Commodus's death to be 
spread through the city) had gathered round the camp, and, 
urged by their shouts and importunity, the soldiers swore 
fidelity to the emperor, though they feared that he was a 
man who would renew the strictness of discipline. 

Before dawn, the senate was summoned to the temple of 
Concord, whither Pertinax had proceeded from the camp^ 
He told them what had occurred, and, noticing his age and 
his humble extraction, pointed out divers senators as more 
worthy of the empire than himself. But they would not 
listen to his excuses, and they decreed him all the imperial 
titles. Then, giving a loose to their rage against the fallen 
tyrant, they termed him parricide, gladiator, the enemy of 
the gods and of his country, and decreed that his statues 
should be cast down, his titles be erased, and his body 
dragged with the hook through the streets. But Pertinax 
respected too much the memory of Marcus to suffer the re- 
mains of his son to be thus treated; and they wet a, by his 
order, placed in the tomb of Hadrian. 

Pertinax was cheerfully acknowledged by all the armies. 
Like Vespasian, he was simple and modest in his dress and 
mode of life, and he lived on terms of intimacy with the 
respectable members of the senate. He resigned his private 
property to his wife and son, but would not suffer the senate 
to bestow on them any titles. He regulated the finances 
with the greatest care, remitting oppressive taxes, and can- 
celling unjust claims. He sold by auction all the late 
tyrant's inUruments of luxury, and obliged his favorites ^o 



196 PERTINAX. [a. d. 193 

disgorge a portion of their plunder. He grantee the waste 
lands in Italy and elsewhere for a term of years rent-free to 
those who would undertake to improve them. 

The reforming hand of the emperor was extended to all 
departments of the state; and men looked for a return of 
the age of the Antonines. But the soldiers dreaded the 
restoration of the ancient discipline; and Lastus, who found 
that he did not enjoy the power he had expected, secretly 
fomented their discontent. So early as the 3d of January, 
they had seized a senator named Triarius Maternus, intend- 
ing to make him emperor ; but he escaped from them, and fled 
to Pertinax for protection. Some time after, while the em- 
peror was on the seu-co.ist attending to the supply of corn, 
they prepared to raise Sosius Falco, tlien consul, to the 
empire ; but Pertinax came suddenly to Rome, and, having 
complained of Falco to the senate, they were about to pro- 
claim him a public enemy, when the emperor cried that no 
senator should suffer death while he reigned ; and Falco was 
thus suffered to escape punishment. 

Some expressions which Pertinax used on this occasion 
irritated the soldiers; and Lfetus, to exasperate them still 
more, put several of them to death, as if by his orders. Ac- 
cordingly, on the 2*^th of March, a general mutiny broke out 
in the camp, and two or three hundred of the most desper- 
ate proceeded with drawn swords to the palace. No one 
opposed their entrance. Pertinax, when informed of their 
approach, advanced to meet them. lie addressed them, 
reminding them of his own innocence and of the obligation 
of their oath. They were sil(?nt for a few moments; at 
length a Tungrian soldier struck him with his sword, crying, 
"The soldiers send thee this." They all then fell on him, 
and, rutting off his head, set it on a lance, and carried it to 
the camp. Eclectus, faithful to the last, perished with the 
emperor; Lfotus had fled in disguise at the approach of the 
mutineers. The reign of the virtuous Pertinax had lasted 
only eighty-six days ; he was in the sixty-seventh year of 
his age. 



M. Didius Severus Julianus. 

A. u. 946. A. D. 193. 

The mutineers, on their return to the camp, found mere 
Sulpicianus, the prefect of the ciity. the late emperot's father- 



A. i). 193.] jULiANtJs. 197 

in-law, who had been sent thither to try to appease the mu- 
tiny. The bloody proof which they bore of the empire's 
being vacant, excited, while it should have extinguished, his 
ambition, and he forthwith began to treat for the dangerous 
prize. Immediately some of the soldiers ran, and, ascendino- 
the ramparts, cried out aloud, that the empire was for sale, 
and would be given to the highest bidder. The news reached 
the ears of Didius Julianus, a wealthy and luxurious senator, 
as he sat at table; and, urged by his wife and daughter, and 
his parasites, he rose and hastened to the camp. The mili- 
tary auctioneers stood on the wall, one bidder within, the 
other without. Sulpicianus had gone as hig.h as 5000 denars 
a man, when his rival, at one bidding, rose to 6250. This 
spirited offer carried it ; the soldiers also hud a secret dread 
that Sulpicianus, if emperor, might avenge the death of. his 
son-in-law. The gates were thrown open, and Julian was 
admitted and saluted emperor; but the soldiers had the gen- 
erosity to stipulate for the safety of his rival. 

From the camp, Julian, escorted by the soldiers, proceed- 
ed to the senate-house. He was there received with affected 
joy, and the usual titles and honors were decreed him; but 
the people stood aloof and in silence, and those who were 
more distant uttered loud curses on him. When Julian 
came to the palace, the first object that met his eyes was the 
corpse of his predecessor; he ordered it to be buried, and 
then, it is said, sat down and passed the greater part of the 
night at a luxurious banquet, and playing at dice. In the 
morning, the senate repaired to him with their feigned com- 
pliments; but the people still were gloomy; and, when he 
went down to the senate-house, and was about to offer incense 
to the Janus before the doors, they cried out that he was a 
parricide, and had stolen the empire. He promised them 
money, but they would have none of it; and at length he or- 
dered the soldiers to fall on them, and several were killed and 
wounded. Still they ceased not to revile him and the sol- 
diers, and to call on the other armies, especially that of 
Pescennius Niger, to come to their aid. 

The principal armies were that of Syria, commanded by 
Niger ; that of Pannonia, under Septimius Severus ; and that 
of Britain, under Clodius Albinus, each composed of three 
legions, with its suitable number of auxiliaries. 

C. Pescennius Niger was a native of Aquinum, of a sim- 
ple equestrian family. He entered the army as a centurion, 
and rose, rlmo.=t solelv by merit, till he attained the lucrative 
17* 



198 JULiANus. [a. d. 19'3. 

goveinment of Syria. As an officer, Niger was a rigorous 
maiutainer of discipline; as a governor, he was just, but 
mild and indulgent; and he succeeded in gaining alike the 
affections of the soldiers and the subjects. In his private 
lifii, he was chaste and temperate. 

L. Septimius Severus was born at Leptis in Africa. He 
received a learned education, and devoted himself to the 
bar, and M. Aurelius made him advoc<lte of the fisc. He 
acted as civil governor of several provinces, and had, oc- 
casionally, a military command, but had seen little or no 
.ictual service. After his consulate, Commodus, through 
tlie influence of Laetus, gave him the couiaiand of the Pan- 
nonian legions.* 

D. Clodius Albinus was also an African. He was born 
at Adrumetum, of an honorable family, which derived its 
origin from the Postuinii and Ceionii of Rome. lie entered 
the army early, and rose through all the gradations of the 
service, being highly esteemed by M. Aurelius. He com- 
manded in Bithynia, at the time of the revolt of Cassius, and 
kept his legions in their duty. Coinnn>dus gave liiin the 
command in Gaul and in Britain, and designed him for his 
successor. Albinus was a strict and even severe officer. 
He was fond of agriculture, on which subject he wrote some 
books. He was charged with private vices, but probably 
without reason. 

When the intelligence of the murder of Pcrtinax, and the 
sale of the empire to Julian, reached the armies of vSyria 
and Pannonia, their generals saw the prospect of empire 
open to tlieui as the avengers of the emperor whom they had 
acknowledged. Eacii of them assembled his troops, and 
expatiated on the atrocity of the deed which had been per- 
petrated at Rome, and each was saluted Augustus by his 
army aud the subjects. But while Niger, seeing all the 
provinces and allied princes of Asia unanimous in his favor, 
and therefore indulging in confidence, reinained inactive at 
Antioch, Severus resolved to push on for the capital, and 
possess himself of that seat of empire. Having secured 
the adherence of the army of Gaul, he wrote a most friendly 
letter to Albinus, giving him the title of Caesar, and adopting 

* See his Life, in the. Augustan History. "The youth of Severus," 
Bays Gibbon, " had been trained in tlie implicit obedience of camps, 
and his riper years spent, in the despotism of military command." 
We have noticed some similar inaccarate assertions in this writer, who 
is in g<!netal so correct 



A. li. 193.] JULIANUS. 99 

hirri as his son ; by which he made sure of his neutrality, 
if not of his cooperation. He then advanced by rapid 
marches for Rome. Day and night he appeared in full 
armor, and surrounded by a guard of six hundred chosen 
men, who never laid aside their corselets. Resistance 
was r.o where offered ; all hailed him as the avenger of 
Pertinax. 

The wretched Julian was filled with dismay when he 
heard of the approach of the formidable Pannonian army. 
He made the senate declare Severus a public enemy; he 
distributed large sums of money to the praetorians to induce 
them to prepare to defend liim ; but these dissolute troops 
were vigorous only for evil, and they could not resume the 
discipline they had lost; the marines summoned from Mise- 1 | 

num were still more inefficient ; and an attempt at training j | 

elephants for war, in the Oriental manner, only excited de- if 

rision. Julian also caused an intrenchment to be run in J 

front of the city, and he secured the palace with strong doors i | 

and bars, as \f it could be maintained when all else was lost. : 

He put to death Marcia, Lcetus, and all concerned in the 
murder of Commodus, probably with a view to the favor of | 

the soldiery. | 

Severus, meantime, had reached Ravenna, and secured | 

the fleet. Julian, having made some fruitless attempts on \ 

his life, caused the senate to declare him his associate in ; 

the empire. But Severus now disdained such divided pow- | 

er ; he had written to the prajtorians, assuring safety to all i 

but the actual assassins of Pertinax, and they had accepted I 

the conditions. The consul, Silius Messala, assembled the I 

senate, and it was resolved to put Julian to death, and give r 

the empire to Severus. When those charged with the man- ] 

date for his death came to Julian, his only words were, 
" What evil have I done ? Whom have I slain ? " He was 
then killed by a common soldier, after a reign of only sixty- 
six days. 



Zi. ,Septimius Severus. 
A. V. 946—964. A. D. 193—211. 

Sererus was met at Interamna ( Terni) in Umbria, sev- 
enty miles from Rome, by deputies from the senate. He 
received them with favor, and still continued to advance. 



t 



200 SEVERUS AT ROME. [a. D. 193* 

As he drew nigh to Rome, he commanded the execution 
of the murderers of Pertinax : and he sent orders to the 
remaining praetorians U^l^(i\e their arms in their camp, and 
come to meet him, dressed as they were wont when attend- 
ing the eroperors on solenm occasions, Tliey obeyed ; and 
Severus r«ceived them in the plain, before his camp, and 
addressed them from a tribunal, reproaching them with the 
murder of Pertinax, and the sale of the empire to Julian. 
He would spare tiieir lives, he said, but he would leave them 
nothing save their tunics, and death should be the fate of 
any of them who ever came within a hundred miles of the 
capital. While he was speakiug, his soldiers had impercep- 
tibly surrounde<l tlieni ; resistance was vain, and they quiet- 
ly yielded up their swords, and their rich habiliments, and 
mournfully retired. A detachment had, meantime, taken 
possession of their camp, to obviate the efiects of their 
despak. 

Severus entered the city at the head of his army. The 
sewate and people met hiia with all the marks of joy and 
festivity. He ascended the Capitol and worshipped; he t'./en 
visited the other temples, and at length proceeded to the 
palace. In the morning, he met the senate, to whom he 
made a speech full of the fiiirest promisei^, assuring them 
that Marcus should be his model, and swearing that l^e \i»ould 
put ho senator to death, unless condeumed by themselves— rr 
an oath which he kept but indifferently. The usual titles 
and powers had been already <iecreed him; ^mojig these 
was the title of Portinax, of which prince he affected tp be 
the avenger, and the cf^remony of whose deification he per- 
formed with the greatest magnificence and solemnity. He 
distributed large sums of money among the soldiers and 
people; he regulated the supply of provisions, an^ he ex- 
antined into tbe conduct pf several gv»vernors of provinces, 
and piwwhsd i^hos^wJiOi weret proved gjiiilty of oppression 
or extortion. 

Severus restored the praetorian guards, on a new model, 
and raised them to four times their original number. Au- 
gustus had admitted none but Italians into this body ; the 
youth of Spain, Noricum, and Macedonia, had gradually 
been suffered tp,enli^ in it; but Severu/i threw it open to 
all, selecting the ablest and most faithful soldiers from the 
lefifionsiifon tliQ higher pay and more easy life of the guards- 
man. . fi-. 

Al^fO' a' stay of only thirty days in Rome, Severus se; 



A. D. 194-196.] PESCENNIUS NIGER. 201 

out for the war against Niger^ who was master of all Asia, 
and held the strong city of Byzantium in Europe. The 
preparations, on both sides, occupied some time; at length, 
Severus took the field; and, leaving part of his troops to 
cahry on the siege of Byzantium, he sent the main body of 
his army, under his generals, over the Hellespont. .-Emil- 
ianus, the proconsul of Asia, gave them battle (194) near 
Cyzicus, but w^as defeated. He fled to Cyzicus, and thence 
to another unnamed town, where he was seized and put to 
death. Niger, in person, afterwards engaged the Sevier i an 
general, Candidus, between NicfBa and Kios. The contest 
was long and arduous, but victory declared for the European 
army ; andNiger, leaving troops to guard the passes of Mount 
Taurus, hastened to Antioch,fS^ raise men and rhoney. The 
elements, howevet, favored ^evetus ; heavy falls of rain and 
snow destroyed the defences constructed by Niger, and his 
troops were obliged to abandon the passes, arid leaVe Cilicia 
open to the enemy. 

Niger made his final stand at the Cilician Oat6s, as the 
pass from Cilicia into Syria, at the head of the Bay of Issus, 
was narafed, a place famous for the defeat of Darius by Alex- 
ander the Great. The troops of Niger were more numerous, 
but they were mostly raw levies ; yet they fought with con- 
stancy ; but the elements, we are told, again favored the Seve- 
rians; a storm of rain and thunder came over the sea, and 
blew full in the faces of the Nigrians, and they fled, with the 
loss of 20,000 men. Niger hastened to Antioch ; arid thence, 
on the approach of the enemy, he fled to the Euphrates, in 
order to seek refuge with the Parthians; but he had hardly 
quitted the town, when he wiafe seized, and his h6ad was cut 
off and sent to Severus. ''" ' ^ 

This emperor, who had been in none of the preceding 
actions, now appeared. He put to death all the senators who 
had borne arms for Niger ; he banished some, and seized the 
property aC others. He put numbers of inferior rank to death ; 
and he treated severely Antioch and some other towns. He 
then (195) led his army over the Euphrates; and his gen- 
erals employed this and a part of the following year in 
reducing the various tribes and princes of Mesopotamia. 
Whilfe he was thus engaged, (196,) he received the joyful in- 
telligence of the surrender of Byzantium; which, strong by 
situation and fortifications, had held out for nearly three 
years against the valor and skill of the besieging army, and 
was only subdued, at last, by famine. The magistrates and 

z 



202 sEPTiauus severus. [a. d. 197. 

soldiers were all put to death; the property of the inhabitants 
was sold; the walls and the public edifices were demolished; 
Byzantium was deprived of its title of city, and subjected, as 
a village, to the jurisdiction of Perinthus. 

It is said that Severus was meditating an invasion of Par- 
tliia ; but his thoughts were more fixed on securiiiir the suc- 
cession to his children, by removing Albinus. Suitably to 
his character, he resolved to proceed by treachery, rather 
than by force. He wrote to Albinus, in the most affectionate 
tern|s, as to his dearest brother; but the bearers of the letter 
were instructed to ask a private audience, as having matters 
of crreater importance to comnmnicate, and then to assassinate 
him. The suspicions of Albinus, however, being awaked^ 
he put them to the torture, and extracted the truth. He saw 
that he had no alternative, that he must be emperor or 
nothing ; and he therefore declared himself Augustus, and 
passed with his army over to Gaul. Severus returned, with 
all possible speed, from the East, and advanced in person 
int6 Gaul against his rival. He crossed the Alps in the 
depth of winter ; and, after some minor engagements, a deci- 
sive battle was fought on the lUth of February, 197, in the 
neighborhood of Lyons. The united number of the combat- 
ants was 150,000 men ; the battle was long and dubious ; the 
left wing, on each side, was routed; but Severus, who now 
fought for the first time, brwight up the praetorians to the 
support of his beaten troops ; and, though he received a 
wound, and was driven back, he rallied them once more ; 
and, being supported by the cavalry, "under his general, 
Laitus, he defeated and pursued the enemy to Lyons. The 
loss, on both sides, was considerable; Albinus slew himself, 
and his head was cut off", and brought to his ungenerous 
enemy, who meanly insulted it; his wife and children were 
at first spared ; but they were soon after put to death, and 
their bodies cast into the Rhine. 

The city of Lyons was pillaged and burnt; the chief sup- 
porters of Albinus, both men and women, Romans and pro- 
vincials, wore put to death, and their properties confiscated. 
Havinor spent some time in regulating the affairs of Gaul and 
Britain, Severus returned to Rome, breathing vengeance 
airainst the senate; for he knew that that body was in general 
more inclined to Albinuy than himself, and he had found, 
among his rival's papers, the l^^ers.of several individual sen- 
ators. The very day after his arrival, he addressed them, 
commending the stern policy of Sulla, Marius and Augustus, 



i.D. 198-203.] SEVERUS IN ASIA. 203 

and blaming the i/iildness of Poinpeius and Caesar, which 
proved their ruin. He spoke in terms of praise of Commo- 
dus, saying tliat the senate had no right to dishonor him, as 
many of themselves lived worse than he had done. He spoke 
severely of those who had written letters or sent presents to 
Albinus. Of these he pardoned five-and-thirty ; but he put 
to death nine-and-twenty, among whom was Sulpicianus, the 
father-in-law of Pertinax. These, however, were not the 
only victims; the whole family of Niger, and several other 
illustrious persons, perished. The properties of all were 
confiscated; for avarice, more perhaps than a thirst of blood, 
impelled Severus to cruelty. 

After a short stay at Rome, Severus set out again for the 
East; for the Parthians, taking advantage of his absence, 
had invaded Mesopotamia, and laid siege to Nisibis. They 
retired, however, when they heard of his approach; and Se- 
verus, having passed the winter in Syria, making preparations 
for the war, crossed the Tigris the following summer, (19i^,) 
and laid siege to Ctesiphon. The Roman soldiers suffered 
greatly for want of supplies, and were reduced to feed on 
roots and herbage, which produced dysenteries ; but the em- 
peror persevered, and the city at length was taken. All the 
full-grown males were massacred, and the women and chil- 
dren, to the number of 100,000, were sold for slaves. As 
watit of supplies did not permit the Romans to remain be- 
yond the Tigris, they returned to Mesopotamia; and, on his 
way to Syria, (199,) Severus laid siege to the redoubtable 
Atra, but he was forced to retire, with a great loss both of 
men and machines. He renewed the attack sopne time after, 
(it is uncertain in what year,) but with as little success, be- 
ing obliged to retire with loss and disgrace from before the 
impregnable fortress. 

Severus remained in the East till the year 203. He spent 
a part of that time in Egypt, where he took great pleasure 
in examining the pyramids and the other curiosities of that 
country. He at length returned to Rome, to celebrate the 
marriage of his elder son. 

The family of Severus consisted of his wife and two sons. 
The empress, named Julia Domna, was a native of Emesa 
in Syria, whom Severus, who was addicted to astrology, ia 
Baid to have espoused because she had a royal nativity. She 
was a woman of great beauty, sense, and spirit, and a culti- 
vator of literature and philosophy. The elder son was at 
first named Bassianus; but his father, at the time of the war 



204 SKPTIMIUS SEVERUS. [a. D. l:)S. 

igaiiist Albinus, created him Caesar, by th/ name of Aureiiua 
Antoninus;* and he was subsequently nicknamed Caracalla, 
which, to avoid confusion, is the name employed by modern 
historians. In the year 198, Severus created him Augustus, 
and made him his associate in the empire. The name of the 
emperor's younger son was Geta ; and he also was styled 
Antoninus. 

The bride selected for Garacalla was Plautilla, the daugh- 
ter of Plautianus, the praetorian prefect. This man was a 
second Sejanus ; and it is very remarkable that two emperors 
of such superior mental powers as Tiberius and Severus 
should have been so completely under the influence of their 
ministers. Plautianus, like his master, was an African by 
birth; he was of mean extraction, and he seems to have 
early attached himself to the fortune of his aspiring coun- 
tryman, whose favor and confidence he won in an extraor- 
dinary degree ; and when Severus attained the empire, the 
power of Plautianus grew to such a height that /tt, the his- 
torian observes, was, as it were, emperor, and Severus cap- 
tain of the guards. Persons like Plautianus, when eleva- 
ted, rarely bear their faculties meekly. He was therefore 
proud, cruel, and avaricious ; he was the chief cause of so 
many persons of rank and fortune being put to death, in 
order that he might gain their properties. He seized what- 
ever took his fancy, whether sacred or profane, and he thus 
amassed such wealth that it was commonly said he was richer 
than Severus and his sons. Such was his pride, that no one 
dared approach him without his permission; and when he 
appeared in public, criers preceded him, ordering that no 
one should stop and gaze at him, but turn aside and look 
down. He would not allow his wife to visit or to receive 
visits, not even excepting the empress. As his power was so 
great, he was of course the object of universal adulation. 
The senators and soldiers swore by his fortune, and his 
statues were set up in all parts of the empire. He was in 
effect more dreaded and more honored than the emperor 
himself. 

Such power is, however, unstable in its very nature; and 
tho marriage of his daughter with the son of the emperor 

* Severas, not content with expressing his veneration and respect 
for the memory of M. Aurelius, had the folly to pretend to be his son. 
" What most amazed us," says Dion, (Ixxv. 7,) " was h's saying thai 
he was the son of Marcus and brother of Commodus." 



A D. 203-20S.] PLAUTIANUS. 005 

caused the downfall of Plautianus. The wedding was cele 
brated with the utmost magnificence; the dower of the bride^ 
we are told, would have portioned fifty princesses ; and, as it 
wgs the custom of the East for ladies to be attended by 
eunuchs, Plautianus [reduced to this condition] not less than 
one hundred persons of noble birth, many of them fathers of 
families, in order to place them about his daughter on this 
occasion. . Plautilla was haughty, like himself; and Cara- 
calla, who had been forced to marry her, hated father and 
daughter alike, and resolved on their destruction. He induced 
one Saturninus and two other centurions to declare that 
Plautianus had ordered them and seven of their comrades to 
rriurder Severus and his son. A written order to this eifect 
was forged and shown to the emperor, who forthwith sum- 
mooed Plautianus to his presence. He came, suspecting 
nothhig; he was admitted, but his followers were excluded. 
Severus, however, addressed him in a mild tone, and asked 
hinii why he had meditated killing him. Plautianus was ex- 
pressing his surprise, and commencing his defence, when 
Caracalla sprang forward, tore his sword from him, struck 
him with his fist, and would have slain him with his own 
hand, but for the interference of his father. He then made 
some of his attendants despatch him, and sent his head to 
the empress and Plautilla- — a joyful sight to the one, a mourn- 
ful spectacle to the other. Plautilla and her brother Plau- 
tius were sent to the isle of Lipara, where they lived in 
pQverty and misery for the remainder of the reign of Severus ; 
and their murder was one of the first acts of Caracalla, when 
emperor. 

Severus now remained in Italy for a space of four years, 
actively engaged in the administration of justice, the regula- 
tion of the finances, and the correction of all kinds of abuses. 
He conferred the important post of praetorian prefect on 
Papinian, the most renowned of jurisconsults ; and as it was 
now a part of this officer's duty to try civil causes, Papinian 
appointed, as his assessors, Paulus and Ulpian — names nearly' 
as distinguished as his own. 

In the year 208, Severus, though far advanced in years, 
and a martyr to the gout, set out fof Britain, where the 
northern tribes had, for some time, been making their usuali 
incursions ifito the Roman part of the island. Various mo- 
tives are assigned for this resolution; the most probable is, 
that he wished to remove bis sons from the luxury of Rome, 
and to restore the relaxed discipline of the legions. He en- 

CONTIN. 18 



206 SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS. [a. D. 211 

lered the wild courtry northof the Romaii wall, cut down the 
woods, and passed the marshes, and succeeded in penetrating 
to the extremity of the island, though with a loss, it is said, 
of 50,000 men ; for the barbarians, who would never venture 
to give him battle, hung on his flanks and rear, formed 
numerous ambuscades, and cut off all stragglers. In order 
to check their future incursions, he repaired and strength- 
ened the mound or wall which Hadrian had constructed from 
the Eden to the Tyne. 

Severus had associated his second son, Geta, in the empire 
the year he came to Britain. But the two brothers hated 
each other mortally, and Caracalla made little secret of his 
resolution to reign alone. This abandoned youth, it is said, 
even attempted to kill his father in the very sight of the 
Roman legions and the barbarian enemies ; for, as the em- 
peror was riding, one day, to receive the arms of the Cale- 
donians, Caracalla drew his sword to stab him in the back : 
those who were about them cried out, and Severus, on turn- 
ing round, saw the drawn sword in the hand of his son. He 
said nothing at the time; but, when he returned, he called 
Caracalla, with Papinian and the chamberlain Castor, to him 
in private, and, causing a sword to be laid before him, rebuked 
his son, and then told him, if he desired his death, to slay him 
with his own hand, or to order Papitiian, the prefect, to do it, 
who of course would obey him, as he was emperor. Cara- 
calla showed no signs of remorse; and, though Severus had 
often blamed M. Aurelius for postponing his public duty to 
bis private affections, in the case of Commodus, he himself 
exhibited even greater and more culpable weakness. 

Severus was once more about to take the field against the 
barbarians, who had renewed their ravages, (211,) when a 
severe fit of the gout carried him off, at York, (Eboran/m,) 
in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and the eighteenth of his 
reign. 

Though this emperor had passed the greater part of his 
life in civil rather than military employments, it is remarkable 
that his government relied more on the arms of the soldiery 
than that of any of his predecessors, and that more than any 
he corrupted the military spirit of the nation, by excessive 
itidulgence to the soldiers. We have seen the important 
changes which he made in the prstorian guards, whom ht 
also seems to have been the first to employ on foreign ser- 
vice. Hitherto the legions of the frontiers had maintained 
BoraetVng of the appearance of those of the republic ; ba^ 



A. JO. 211-J CARACALLA. 207 

Severus uii&trun^ the nerves of their discipline by allowiag 
them to have their wives and families in their camps, and to 
wear gold rings, like the knights, and by increasing their 
pay, and accustoming them to donatives. His dying counsel 
to his sons, "Be united, enrich the soldiers, despise al 
others," revealed his principles of despotic government. 



CHAPTER IV.* 



CARACALLA, MACRINUS, ELAGABALUS, 
ALEXANDER. 

A. u. 964—988. A. D. 211 —235. 

caracalla and oeta. murder of geta. cruelty of 

caracalla. german war. parthian war. massa- 
cre at alexandria. murder of caracalla. eleva- 
tion op macrinus. his origin and character. con- 
spiracy against him. his defeat and death. ela- 
gabalus. ^^— his superstition and cruelty. adoption 

of alexander. — ^ death of elegabalus. mam^ea. 

Alexander's character and mode of life. — murder 

OF ULPIAN. revolution IN PERSIA. PERSIAN" WAR. 

ALEXANDER IN GAUL. ^ HIS MURDER. THE ROMAN ARMY. 

M. Aurelius Antoninus Caracalla. 

A. u. 964— 970. A.D. 211— 217. 

In spite of the efforts of Caracalla to the conffary, the 
army proclaimed the two sons of Severus joint empei-ors. 
The Caledonian war was abandoned, and the emperors re- 
turned to Rome, to celebrate the obsequies of their father. 
On the way, Caracalla made various attempts on the life of 
his brother; but Gela was protected by vhe soldiery, of whom 
he was the favorite. The brothers adopted every precaution 
against each other dn the road, and at Rome they divided 
the palace, securing all the approaches to their several .por- 

* AuUiorities: Dion, Herodian, the Augustan History, Zosimus, 
and the Epitomators. 



208 CARACALLA. [a. 1). 212. 

tions. The court^ the camp, tlie senate, and the people, were 
divided in their affections to the brothers, neither of whom 
was, in reality, deserving of the attachment of any man of 
worth ; but Geta had a certain degree of mildness and 
humanity, of affability, and of devotion to' literature, which 
gave hiin the advantage over his more ferocious brother, and 
gained him the affection of their mother, Julia. 

As there seemed no probability of concord between the 
brothers, a division of the empire was proposed and arranged, 
by which Caracalla was to retain the European portion, while 
Geta was to rule in Asia and Egypt, residing at Antioch or 
Alexandria. This arrangemtilt, it is said, was defeated by 
the tears and entreaties of Julia ; and Caracalla, bent on 
reigning alone, then resolved on the murder of his brother. 
At his desire, ('212,) Julia invited her two sons to a meeting 
in her apartments. Geta came, suspecting no danger; sud- 
denly some centurions, w;hom Caracalla hatl placed in con- 
cealment, rushed out, and fell on him. He threw himself on 
his mother's bosoui for protection; but her efforts to save him 
were vain ; she herself received a wound in the arm, and was 
covered with the blood of her murdered son. When the deed 
was done, Caracdla hastened to the camp, crying all tlie way 
ihat a plot had been laid for, his life. He flung himself down 
before the standards, in the camp chapel, to return thanks for 
his preservation ; and then addressed the soldiers, assuring 
them that he was one of themselves, and depended on them 
alone. He promised to raise their pay one half, and to dis- 
tribute among them all the treasures accumulated by his 
fiitl.er. Sucli arguments could not fak' of convincing, and 
he was readily proclaimed sole emperor. He thence pro- 
ceeded to the camp, at the Alban Mount,* where he found 
more difficulty, as the soldiers there were much attached to 
G«ta; but, by dint of promises, he gained them also lo 
acknowledge hira, , : , ■ 

Followed by the soldiers, Caracalla then proceeded lo the 
senate-house; he had a cuirass under his robe, and he 
brought some of his military followers into the house. Hrs 

{'ustified his conduct by the example of Romulus and others, 
>ut he spoke of Geta with regret, and gave him a magniftceni 
funeral, ai^d placeid hirn among the gqds.t 

• This was a camp of ttie praetorians also. The troops belonging lo 
it are called the Albanians by the historians. 

t " Sit Jtrus duiamodo noii sit vivus," are said to have been his 
words. 



A. D. 214-215.] CRUELTY OF CARACALLA. 209 

Tihe unhappy empress dared not lament the death of her 
son ; she was even obliged to wear an aspect of joy for the 
safety of the emperor, who, all through his reign, continued 
lO treat her with respect, and' to give her a share in the 
affairs of state. But on all the other friends and favorers 
of, Geta, both civil and military, he let his vengeance fall 
without restraint ; and the number of those who perished on 
this account is estimated at twenty thousand. Among these, 
tjie most regretted was the great Papinian. Caracalla, it is 
said, wished him to compose an apology for the murder of 
Geta ; but he replied, with virtuous intrepidity, that it was not 
so easy to excuse a parricide as to commit it. A soldier cut 
off his head with an axe, and Caracalla rebuked him for not 
having used a sword. Fadilla, the surviving daughter of M. 
Aurelius, was put to death for having lamented Geta. HeJ- 
vius Pertinax, son of the emperor, Thrasea Priscus, a de- 
scendant of the great lover of liberty, and many other persons 
of rank and virtue, were involved in the common ruin. To 
such an extent, it is said, did Caracalla carry his hatred to 
his brother, that the comic poets no longer ventured to em- 
ploy the name of Geta in their plays. 

Like Commodus, the emperor devoted most of his time to 
the' circus and amphitheatre. In order to defray his enor- 
mous expenses, he increased the taxes and confiscated all 
the properties he could lay hold on. When his mother one 
day blamed him for bestowing such enormous sums on the 
soldiers, and said that he would soon have no source of reve- 
nue remaining, he laid his hand on his sword, and said, in 
the true spirit of despotism, "Never fear, mother; while 
we have this, we shall not want for money." 

One of the acts of Caracalla, at this time, was to confer 
the rights of citizenship, of which the old republicans had 
been so chary, on all the subjects of the empire. 

His restless temper soon urged him to seek for glory in a 
contest with the Germans. He marched to the Rhine, and 
obtained (by purchase, as it would seem) some advantages 
over the confederacy of the Alemans, whose name now first 
appears in history. He henceforth wonderfully affected the 
Germans, even wearing a blond periwig, to resemble them ; 
and he placed a nuraberof them about him; as guards. It is 
thought that it was on the occasion of his return to Rome 
from Gaul, after this war, (214,) that he distributed among 
the people the long Gallic coats, named Garw-ah, whence 
he derived the appellation by which he is usually knowa 

18* A A 



210 CARACALLA. [a. D. 215-216. 

After his German war, he marched to the Danube, (215,) 
visited the province of Dacia, and had some skirmishes with 
the neighboring barbarians. He then passed over to Asia 
witli tlie intention of making war on the Parthians, and spent 
the winter at Nicomedia. 

As he professed an especial regard for the memory of 
Achilles, he visited the remains of Ilium, offered sacrifices 
at the tomb of the hero, led his troops in arms round it, and 
erected a brazen statue on its summit. One of his freed* 
men happening to die, or being poisoned by him for the 
piirpo.se, he acted over again the Jlomeric funeral of Patro- 
clus, pouring, like Achilles, wine to the winds, to induce 
them to inflame the pyre, and cutting off" the hair, with which 
nature had furnished him most scantily, to cast into the 
flames. In thus honoring Achilles, he sought to follow the 
example of Alexander the Great — a prince of whom his ad- 
miration was such that he erected statues of him every where ; 
and he formed a phalanx of sixteen thousand Macedonians 
armed as in the time of that prince, whom he styled the 
Eastern Augustus. He even persecuted the Peripatetic phi- 
losophers, because Aristotle was accused of being cdncferned 
in the death of his royal pupil. 

In the spring, (2It),) Caracalla set out for Antioch. The 
Parthi.ms averted a war by the surrender of two persons 
whom he demanded. By treachery, he made himself master 
of the persons of the king of Armenia and his sons, and of 
the prince of Ede.«8a ; but the Armenians defeated the troops 
which he sent against them under Theocritus, a common 
player, whom he had raised to the digtjity of prsetorian pre- 
fect. He then proceeded to Alexandria with the secret re- 
solve of taking a bloody vengeance on the inhabitants of that 
city for their railleries and witticisms against him on the 
occasion of the murder of his brother. When he approached 
the city, the people came forth to meet him, with all the 
marks of joy and respect, and he received them graciously, 
and entered the town. Then, pretending a design of form- 
ing a phalanx in honor of Alexander, he directed all the 
youth to appear in the plain without the walls. W,ien they 
had done as required, he went through them, as it were to 
inspect them ; and then, retiring to the temple of Serapis, he 
gave the signal to his soldiers to fall on them and ma.ssacre 
them. The slaughter was dreadful both within and without 
the wal.s, for no age or rank was spared. Trenches were 
dug, and the dead and dying were flung into them, in order 



A. D. 217.] MACRINUS. 211 

to conceal the extent of the massacre. He deprived the city 
of" all its privileges, and its total ruin was only averted by 
his death. 

After this slaughter of his helpless subjects, Caracalla re- 
turned to Antioch ; and, in order to have a pretext for makinn' 
war on the Parthians, he sent to Artabanus, their king, de- 
manding his daughter in marriage. The Parthian monarch 
having refused this strange suit, Caracalla invaded and rav- 
aged his territories; and, having taken Arbela, where were 
the royal tombs, he opened them, and scattered the bones of 
the monarchs which were deposited within them. He then 
took up his winter quarters in Edessa. 

In the spring, (217,) both sides were engaged in active 
preparation for war ; when a conspiracy in his own army 
terminated the life and reign of the Roman emperor. Of 
the two praetorian prefects, the one, Adventus, was a mere 
soldier, the other, Macrinus, was a civilian, well versed in 
the laws. The rough and brutal Caracalla often ridiculed 
him on this account, and even menaced his life ; and Macri- 
nus, having got sure information that his destruction was de- 
signed, resolved to anticipate the tyrant. He accordingly com- 
municated his designs to some of the officers of the guards, 
among whom was one Martial, whom Caracalla had mortally 
offended by refusing him the post of centurion, or, as others 
say, by putting his brother to death. Accordingly, on the 
8th of April, 217, as the emperor was riding from Edessa to 
Carrhs in order to worship at the temple of the Moon, and 
had retired and alighted for a private occasion. Martial ran 
up, as if called, and stabbed him in the throat. The empe- 
ror fell down dead. Martial mounted his horse and fled ; 
but he was shot by a Scythian archer of the guard. 



M. Opilius Macrinus. 

A. u. 970— Qii: 1 p. 217—218. 

When the news of the murder of the emperbr was di- 
vulged, Macrinus was the first to hasten to the spot, and to 
deplore his death. As Caracalla had left no heir, the army 
was uncertain whom to proclaim emperor in his stead, and 
the empire was for four days without a chief Meantime 
the officers who were in the interests of Macrinus, used all 
their influence with their men, and on the fourth day he was 



212 MACRINUS. [a. t>. 217 

saluted emperor. He accepted the ofiice with feigned reluc- 
tance; and he distributed, according to custom, Urge sumJ" 
of money among the soldiers. Adventus was the bearer of 
the ashes of Caracalla to Rome, where they were deposited 
ill the tomb of the Antonines ; and Macrinus and the senate 
were obliged to yield to the instances of the soldiers, and 
place the monster among the gods. The senate received 
with joy the letter in which Macrinus announced his eleva- 
tion to the empire, and they decreed him all the usual titles 
and honors^ 

While these changes were taking place in the Roman 
empire, Artabanus had passed the Tigris with a large army. 
Macrinus, having in vain proposed terms of acconunodation, 
led out his legions, and some fighting took place in the 
neigliborhood of Nisibis, in which the advantage was on the 
side of tiie Parthians ; but, as they now began to feel the 
want of supplies, and were anxious to return home, they 
readily listened to the renewed proposals of the Roman 
emperor, and a peace was concluded. Macrinus then led 
his troops back to Antioch for the winter. 

Macrinus, as we have already observed, was not a military 
man. lie was a native of Ca;sarea in Africa, {A/o'in-s,) of 
humble origin, and he was indebted for his elevation to his 
countryman Plautianus. He was a man of an amiable dis- 
position, and a sincere lover of justice. He therefore turned 
his attention chiefly to civil regulations, and he made some 
necessary reforms and excellent laws ; but he was timid by 
nature, and, in his anxiety to serve and advance his friends, 
he did not sufficiently consider their fitness for the employ- 
ments which he bestowed on thetn. He committed a great 
and irreparable fault in not setting out for Rome at once, 
and in keeping the army all together in Syria ; and he further 
commenced too soon a necessary but imprudent attempt at 
bringing back the discipline of the legions to what it had 
been under Severus; for, though he applied it only to re- 
cruits, and did not inlprfere with the old soldiers, these last 
apprehended that the reform would at length reach them- 
:<elves ; and they became highly discontented. This feeling 
of the soldiers was soon taken advantage of, and a rival set 
up to Macrinus. 

The empress Julia was at Antioch at the time of the nmr- 
der of Caracalla. Macrinus wrote to her in very obliging 
terms; but, in the first transports of her grief at the death of 
her son, or the loss of her power, she had given herself sev- 



\. r>. 218.] CONSPIRACY. 21 

eral blows on the breast, and thus irritated a cancer with 
which she was afHictcd, and her death ensued. Her sister, 
named Ma^sa, who had lived at court during the two last 
reigns^ and had acquired immense wealth, retired, by order 
of Alacrinus, to her native town of Emesa. She had two 
dai'.ghters, named Soagmis and Mamaea, each of whom was a 
widow with an only son ; that of the former was named 
Bassianus ; he was now a handsome youth of seventeen years 
of age, and the influence of his family had procured for him 
the lucrative priesthood of the Sun, who was worshipped at 
Emesa under the title of Elagabalus. The Roman troops 
who were encamped near the town, used to frequent the 
temple, and they greatly admired the comely young priest, 
whom they knew to be a cousin of their lamented Caracalla. 
The artful Massa resolved to take advantiige of that feeling, 
and she made no scruple to sacrifice the reputation of her 
daughters to the hopes of empire : she therefore declared 
(what was perhaps true) that Caracalla used to cohabit with 
her daughters in the palace, and that Bassianus was in reali- 
ty his son. Her assertion, backed with large sums of money, 
and lavish promises of more, found easy acceptance with the 
soldiers. On the night of the 15th of May, 218, she and her 
daughter and grandson, and the rest of her family, conducted 
by their eunuch Gannys, a man of great talent, stole out of 
the city, and proceeded to the camp, where they were joy- 
tully received; and Bassianus was proclaimed emperor by 
the title of M. Aurelius Antoninus. The camp was imme- 
diately put into a state of defence against a siege ; and num- 
bers of the other soldiers hastened to sustain the cause of 
the son of Caracalla. 

Macrinus sent the prstorian prefect, Ulpius Julianus, 
against the rebels. This officer was successful in his first 
attack on their camp ; but, having neglected to push his advan- 
tage, he gave the enemy time for tampering with his troops, 
a part of whom abandoned him ; and he was taken and slain. 
Macrinus had meantime advanced as far as Apamea; where 
he declared his son Diadumenianus, a boy of only ten years 
of age, Augustus ; and took this opportunity of promising a 
large gratuity to the army ; he also wrote against Bassianus, 
to the senate and governors of provinces. But instead of 
advancing rapidly against the rebels, he fell back to Antioch, 
whither they speedily followed him, and he was forced to 
give them battle near that town. The troops of Bassianus 
were ably disposed by the eunuch Gannys, who, now in arms 



214 E^j^GABALUS. [a. D. 219, 

for the first time in his life, showed the talents of a general. 
But the prutorians, on the side of Macrinus, fought with 
such determined valor, that the rebels were on the point of 
flying, when Maesa and Soaemis rushed out and stopped 
them; and Bassianus, sword in hand, led them on to the 
combat. StiU the praetorians gave not way, and victory 
would have declared for Macrinus, had he not da.stardly fled 
in the midst of the battle. His troops, when assured of his 
flight, declared for Bassianus. 

Macrinus fled in disguise, and never stopped till he came 
to Chalcedon, where he was taken and put to death ; and his 
innocent son shared his fate. His reign had lasted only four- 
teen months. 



31. Aurclitis Antoninus Elagabalus. 
A. u. 971—975. ^ D. 218—222. 

From Antioch Elagabalus,* as we shall henceforth style 
him, wrote to the senate a letter replete with abuse of Ma- 
crinus, and promising that he himself would take Augustus 
and M. Aiirelius for his models. From ignornnce, or from 
arrogance, he assumed in it the title of Augustus and others, 
which the senate had been hitherto in the habit of confer- 
ring. They bitterly lamented the cowardice of Mncrinus, 
and his error in not coming to Rome ; but they submitted, 
though with a sigh, to the rule of the pretended son of 
Caracalla. 

Elagabalus passed the winter at Nicomedia. While there, 
he put to death, with his own hand, Gaiinys, who had been 
the chief means of procuring him the empire, but who now 
wished to make him lead a regular and decorous life. Sev- 
eral persons of rank, both at Rome and in the provinces, had 
already perished by his orders, and men had little hopes of 
seeing the public good promoted by the new emperor. 

As soon as the season permitted, (219,) Minsa, who was 
impatient to return to Rome, urged her grandson to com- 
mence his journey. He had some time before .sent thither 
his picture, with orders to have it hung up over the statue 
of Victory in the senate-house. In this, which was a full, 
length portrait, he appeared habited in the long, loose, Asiatic 

* So he is more correctly named by the Greek writers; the Latini 
name him Heliogabalus. 



A. D. 219-222.] ELAGABALUS. 215 

dress, with collars and necklaces, and a tiara set with gold 
and precious stones on his head ; and in this attire the senate 
and people beheld him entering the capital, Mjess having 
essayed in vain to make him assunie the Roman habit. He 
gave the usual shows and distributions of money to the peo- 
ple. On the first day of his appearance in the senate, he 
caused his grandmother to be invited thither, and she took 
her seat by that of the consuls, and henceforth acted in all 
respects as one of the members. His mother held a senate 
of her own, composed of ladies, who regulated all matters 
relating to dress, precedence, and other matters of impor- | j 

tance to the sex. 

The great object of the emperor's life was the exaltation 
of the god of Emesa. The conical black stone which repre- 
sented him was brought to Rome, and a stately temple was 
built on the Palatine to receive it; and the pious emperor ft 

proposed to transport thither the Palladium, the Ancilia, and 1 3 

all the sacred pledges of the empire, and thus to make it the < | 

centre of Roman religion. He also built for his god a tem- tI 

pie in the suburbs, whither the sacred stone was conveyed , | 

every spring in a magnificent car drawn by six milk-white 1 1 

horses, whose reins the emperor himself held, walking b.ick- i | 

wards before them, with his eyes fixed on the image. The t i 

people flung flowers and garlands in the way ; the knights \ \ 

and the army joined in the procession, and when it reached 1 1 

the temple, gold and silver cups, garments, and all kinds of 1; | 

animals, except swine, were flung to the people to scramble ^j | 

for. Deeming it necessary that his god should have a wife, \,l 

the emperor first selected Minerva for his bride, and removed f | 

her image to the palace for the wedding; but then, consider- [I | 

ing that her rough and martial nature would make her an 
unsuitable mate for the soft, luxurious Syrian god, he gave 
the preference to the Astarte or Urania of Carthage; and 
her image, accompanied with much treasure by way of 
dowry, was brought to Rome and placed in the temple of 
the sun-god. 

EJagabalus himself married four different wives, one of 
whom was a Vestal, which he assured the senate was a most 
fitting union, as between a priest and a priestess. We dare 
ifiot -sully our pages' with the catalogue of his unnatural lusts 
pnd other excesses; suffice it to say, that the enormities of 
Tiberius and Nero were equalled, if not outdone, by this 
wretched, abandoned youth. The basest and most vicious 



216 ELAGABALUS. [a. d. 219-2-22 

of mankind were promoted to the highest offices, and the 
revenues of the empire were wasted with reckless prod- 
igality. 

The sagacious Maesa saw the inevitable consequence? of 
this wanton course, and she resolved to provide for the con- 
tinuance of her power ; she therefore persuaded Elagabalus 
to adopt and declare as CoBsar his cousin Alexianus, a boy 
four years younger than himself He yielded to her desire, 
and adopted him in presence of the senate, giving him the 
name of Alexander, under the direction, he said, of his god. 
He at first sought to corrupt his morals and make him like 
himself; but the disposition of Alexander was naturally good, 
and his mother, Mamaea, took care to supply him with ex- 
cellent masters. He then endeavored to have him secretly 
Jestroyed, but he could find no agent, and Maesa discovered 
titd disconcerted all his plans. 
I I The soldiers had long been disgusted with the vices and 

he effemin.icy of the emperor, and all their hopes were 
placed on the young Alexander. The rage of Elagabalus 
against that youth became at length so great that he resolved 
o annul the adoption; and he sent orders to the senate and 
Boldiers no longer to give him the title of Caesar. The con- 
sequence was a mutiny in the camp, and he was obliged to 
proceed thither, accompanied by Alexander, and agree to 
dismiss all the companions and agents of his vices, and to 
promise a reformation of his life. He thus escaped the 
present danger ; but his violent hatred of Alexander soon in- 
duced him to make a new effort to destroy him. To ascer- 
tain the temper of the soldiers, he caused a report to be 
spread of the death of that prince. A tumult instantly arose, 
which was only appeased by his appearing in the camp with 
Alexander; but finding how quickly it then subsided, he 
bought he might venture on punishing some of the ring- 
eaders. A tumult instantly broke out. Soaemis and Ma- 
msa animated theii- respective partisans ; but those of the 
latter proved victorious, and the wretched Elagabalus was 
I dragged from a privy, in which he had concealed himse'f, 

and slain in the arms of his mother, who shared his fate. A. 
stone, was fastened to his body, which was flung into 'Me 
Tiber. Almost all his minions and ministers fell victims 'o 
the popular vengeance. 



4 D. 222-232.J ALEXANDER SEVERUS. 217 1 

I 

M. Aurelius Alexander Severus. \ 

\ 

A. u. 975—988. A. D. 222—235. j 

Both the senate and the army joyfully concurred in the \ 

elevation of Alexander to the empire; and the former body, > 

lest any competitor should appear, hastened to confer on i. 

him all the imperial titles and powers. On account of his ), 

youth and his extremely amiable disposition, he was entirely ^ 

directed by his grandmother and mother ; but, Maesa dying \ 

soon after his accession, the sole direction of her son fell to i: 

Mamsa. There is some reason to suppose that this able l 

woman had embraced the Christian religion, now so preva- I 

lent throughout the empire ; at all events, in her guidance i 

of public affairs, she exhibited a spirit of wisdom, justice, and i 

moderation such as had not appeared in any preceding em- J 

press. Her enemies laid to her charge the love of power f 

and the love of money, and blamed her son for deferring too I 

much to her ; but their accusations are vague, and no act of | 

cruelty, caused by avarice, stains the annals of this reign. | 

The first care of Mamaea was to form a wise and upright | 

council for her son. Sixteen of the most respectable of the | 

senate, with the learned Ulpian, the praetorian prefect, at | 

their head, composed this council, and nothing was ever i 

done without their consent and approbation. A general I 

system of reformation was commenced and steadily pursued, I 

All the absurd acts of the late tyrant were reversed. His | 

god was sent back to Emesa ; the statues of the other deities | 

were restored to their temples ; the ministers of his vices I 

and pleasures were sold or banished; some of the worst were t 

drowned ; the unworthy persons whom he had ^^laced in \ 

public situations were dismissed, and men of knowledge and | 

probity put in their places. I 

Mamaea used the utmost care to keep away from her son i 

all those persons by whom his morals might be corrupted ; l 

and, in order to have his time fully occupied, she induced him f 

to devote the greater part of each day to the administration \ 

of justice, v/here none but the wise and good would be his i 

associates. The good seed fortunately fell into a kindly soil. \ 

Alexander was naturally disposed to every virtue, and all his | 
efforts were directed to the promotion of the welfare of the 
empire over which he ruled. 

The first ten years of the reign of this prince were passed 
at Rome, and devoted to civil occupations. His daily course 

CONTIN. 19 B B 






rsi 



2^18 ALEXANDER SEVERUS. [a. d. 222-232 

of life has been thus transmitted to us . He usually rose 
I early, and entered his private chapel, {lararium,) in which 

i I he had caused to be placed the images of those who had 

'f f been teachers and benefactors of the human race, among 

i'\ whom he included the divine founder of the Christian reli- 

M gion. Having performed his devotions, he took some kind 

) of exercise, and then applied himself for some hours to pub- 

lic business with his council. He then read for some time, 
his favorite works being the Republics of Plato and Cicero, 
and the verses of Horace, and the Life of Alexander the 
Great, whom he greatly admired. Gymnastic exercises, in 
which he excelled, succeeded. He then was anointed and 
i j bathed, and took a light breakfast, usually of bread, milk, 

) 'j and eggs. In the afternoon, he was attended by his secre- 

] ] taries, and he heard his letters read, and signed the answers 

i i to them. The business of the day being concluded, liis 

^3 friends in general were admitted, and a frugal and simple 

dinner followed, at which the conversation was mostly of a 
.serious, instructive nature, or some literary work was read 
out to the emperor and his guests. 

The dress of Alexander was plain and simple ; his man- 
ners were free from all pride and haughtiness; he lived with 
the senators on a footing of friendly equality, like Augustus, 
Vespasian, and tlie wiser and better emperors. He was 
liberal and generous to all orders of the people, and he took 
m especial pleasure in assisting those persons of good family. 



u 



i^ 



^ I who had fallen into poverty without reproach. Among the 

i) virtues of Alexander, was the somewhat rare one, in that 

j i] age, of chastity. His mother early caused him to espouse a 

s ,, lady of noble birth, name<l Menniia, whom, however, he 

I ji afterwards divorced, and even banished to Africa. The ao 

•j'l counts of this affair differ greatly. According to one, the 

|i fither of the empress formed a conspiracy against his son-in- 

I law, which being discovered, he was put to death, and his 
'i • daughter divorced. Others say that, as Alexander showed 
3 J great respect for his father-in-law, Mamiea's jealousy was ex- 

!| cited, and she caused him to be slain, and his daughter to be 

j divorced or banished. It appears that Alexander soon mar- 

( ried again. 

, ' We have already observed, that a portion of the civil juris- 

|f diction had fallen to the praetorian prefects. This imposed 

I I a necessity that one of them should be a civilian ; and Ma- 
1 1 ma}a had, therefore, caused this dignity to be conferred on 

Ulpian. From the love of law and order which distinguished 



A. D. 232.] PERSIAN WAB. 219 

this prefect, he naturally sought to bring back discipline in 
the praetorian camp ; the consequence was, that repeated at- 
tempts were made on his life, and the emperor, more than 
once, found it necessary to cast his purple over him, to save 
him from the fury of the soldiers. At length, (228,) they 
fell on him in the night ; he escaped from them to the palace, 
but they pursued and slaughtered him, in the presence of the 
emperor and his mother. 

Some slight actions on the German and Moorish fron- 
tiers were the only occupation given to the Roman arms 
during the early years of the reign of Ale.\ander ; but, in the 
year 232, so powerful an enemy menaced the Oriental prov- 
inces of the empire, that the presence of the emperor became 
absolutely requisite in the East. 

The Parthians, whom we have had such frequent occasion 
to mention, are said to have been a Scythian {i. e. Turkish) 
people, of the north of Persia, who, taking advantage of the 
declining power of the Macedonian kings of Syria, cast oft' 
their yoke, (B. C. 250,) and then gradually made themselves 
masters of the whole of Persia. Their dominion had now 
lasted for five hundred years, and their power had, from the 
usual causes, such as family dissensions, contested suc- 
cessions, and such like, been long on the decline; and in 
the fourth year of Alexander Severus, (226,) a native Per- 
sian, named Artaxerxes, {Ardshir,) who pretended to be of 
the ancient royal line, but who is said to have been of hum- 
ble birth, and a mere soldier of fortune, raised a rebellion 
against the Parthian king, Artabanus. Fortune favored the 
rebel, and Artabanus was defeated and slain. Artaxerxes 
then assumed the tiara, and his line, which existed till the 
Mohammedan conquest, was named the Sassanian, from the 
name of his father. 

Affecting to be the descendant of the ancient Achreme- 
nians, Artaxerxes sought to restore Persia to its condition 
under those princes. The Magian or Light religion * re- 
sumed the rank from which it had fallen under the sway of 
the Parthians, and flourished in its pristine glory. As the 
dominions of the house of Cyrus had extended to the coasts 
of the iEgean sea, Artaxeixes ordered the Romans to quit 
Asia ; and, when his mandate was unheeded, he led his troops 

* [That is, the system by which the sun, and fire derived from it, 
were cnnsidered, from their brightness and purity, the only fit emblems 
of God ; and, as such emblems, worship was paid every morning at 
the rising of the sun. — J. T. S] 



220 ALEXANDER SEVERUS. [a. D. 2vi2. 

over the Tigris. But his ill fortune induced him to attack 
the invincible Atra, and he was forced to retire with loss and 
disorrace. He then turned his arms against the Medes, and 
some otlier of the more northern tribes, and when he had 
reduced them, he again invaded Mesopotamia, (2^12.) Alex* 
ander now resolved to take the command of his troops in 
person. He left Rome, followed by the tears and prayers 
of the people, and proceeded through Illyricum to the East. 
On his march, the strictest discipline was maintained, while 
every attention was paid to the wants of the soldiers, and 
care taken, that they should be abundantly supplied with 
clothes and arms. The emperor himself used the same fare 
as the men ; and he caused his tent to be thrown open when 
he was at his meals, that they might perceive his mode 
of life. 

Alexander halted at Antioch, to make preparations for 
the war : meantime, he sent an embassy, with proposals of 
peace, to Artaxerxes. The Persian, in return, sent four 
hundred of his most stately men, splendidly clothed and 
armed, to order the Romans to quit Asia; and, if we can 
believe Herodian, (for the circumstance is almost incredible,) 
Alexander was so regardless of the laws of nations, as to 
seize and strip them, and send them prisoners to Phrygia. 
It is also said that, while he was at Antioch, finding that 
some of the soldiers frequented the Paphian grove of Daphne, 
he cast them into prison ; and that, when a mutiny broke 
out in the legion to which they belonged, he ascended his 
tribunal, had the prisoners brought before him, and ad- 
dressed their comrades, who stood around in arms, dwelling 
on the necessity of maintaining discipline. But, when his 
arguments proved of no effect, and they even menaced him 
with their arms, he cried out, in imitation of Ca;sar, " Q,ui- 
rites, depart, and lay down your arms." The legion obeyed; 
and the men, no longer soldiers, took up their abode in the 
houses of the town, instead of the camp. After a month, 
the emperor was prevailed on to pardon them, but he pun- 
ished their tribunes with death; and this legion was hence- 
forth equally distinguished by valor and fidelity. 

In imitation of Alexander the Great, the emperor formed 
six of his legions into a. phalanx of thirty thousand men, to 
whom he gave higher pay. He also had, like that conquer- 
or, bodies of men distinguished by gold-adorned and silver- 
adorned shields — Chrysoaspids and Argyroaspids. 

The details of the war cannot be learned with any cer- 



A. IX. 235.] PERSIAN WAR. 251 

tainty. One historian says that Alexander made three di 
visions of his army ; one of which was to enter Media through 
Armenia, another Persia at the junction of the Tigris anCi 
Euphrates, while the emperor was in person to lead the 
third through Mesopotamia, and all were to join in the en- 
emy's country ; but that, owing to the timidity of Alexander, 
who loitered on the way, the second division was cut to 
pieces, and the first nearly all perished while retreating 
through Armenia in the winter. This account labors undei 
many difficulties; for the emperor certainly triumphed on 
his return to Rome ; and, in his speech to the senate on that 
occasion, he asserted that, of 700 war elephants, which were 
in the enemy's array, he had killed 200, and taken 300 ; ot 
1,000 scythed chariots, he had taken 200; and of 120,000 
heavy-armed horsemen, he had slain 10,000, beside taking a 
great number of prisoners. It further appears that, though 
Alexander did not remain in the East, the Persian monarch 
made no further attempts on Mesopotamia for some years. 

The Germans had taken advantage of the absence of the 
emperor and the greater part of the troops in the East, to 
pass the Rhine and ravage Gaul. Alexander, therefore, 
leaving sufficient garrisons in Syria, led home the lUyrian 
and other legions ; and, having celebrated a triumph for the 
Persian war at Rome, where he was received with the most 
abundant demonstrations of joy, he departed with a large 
army for the defence of Gaul. The Germans retired at his 
approach ; he advanced to the Rhine, and took up his win- 
ter quarters in the neighborhood of Mentz, with the in- 
tention of opening the campaign beyond the river in the 
spring, (235.) 

The narratives of the events of this reign are so very dis- 
cordant, that we cannot hope often to arrive at the real truth. 
In no part are they more at variance than in their account 
of the circumstances of the emperor's death. We can only 
collect that, whether from his efforts to restore discipline, 
from the intrigues of Maximin, an ambitious officer who had 
the charge of disciplining the young troops, or from some 
other cause, a general discontent prevailed in the army, and 
that Alexander was assassinated in his tent, either by his 
own guards or by a party sent for the purpose by Maximin, 
and that his mother and several of his friends perished with 
hira. The troops forthwith proclaimed Maximin empe- 
ror ; and the senate and people of Rome, deeply lamenting 
19* 



223 ALEXANDER SEVERUS. [a. D. 235 

the fate of the virtuous Alexander, were forced to acquiesce 
in the choice of the army. 

Alexander had reigned thirteen years. Even the histo- 
rian least partial to him, acknowledg€s that toward his sub- 
jects his conduct was blameless, and that no bloodshed or 
unjust condemnations stain the annals of his reign. His 
fault seems to have been a certain degree of effeminacy 
and weakness, the consequence, probably, of his Syrian 
origin, which led to his extreme submission to his mother, 
against whom the charges of avarice and meanness are not 
perhaps vvliolly unfounded.* 

Dion Cassius, whose history ends with this reign, gives 
the following view of the numbers and disposition of the le- 
gions at this period.t Of the twenty-five which were formed 
by Augustus, J only nineteen remained, the rest having been 
broken or distributed through tiie others ; but the emperors, 
from Nero to Severus, inclusive, had formed thirteen new 
ones, and the whole now amounted to thirty-two legions. 
Of these, three were in Britain, one in Upper and two in 
Lower Germany, one in Italy, one in Spain, one in Numid- 
ia, one in Arabia, two in Palestine, one in Phoenicia, two in 
Syria, two in Mesopotamia, two in Cappadocia, two in Low- 
er and one in Upper Moesia, two in Dacia, and four in Pan- 
nonia, one in Noricum, and one in RseCia. He does not 
tell us where the two remaining ones were »juarlered, neither 
does he give the number of men in a legion at this time; 
but it is conjectured to have been five thousand. 

* The Life of Alexander, by Lampridius, in the Augustan History, 
is, as Gibbon observes, " the mere idea of a perfect prince an awkward 
imitation of the Cyropoedia." 

t Dion, Iv. 23. I See above, p. 36. 



A. D. 235.] THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 223 



CHAPTER v.* 

MAXIMIN, rUPIENUS, BALBINUS, AND GORDI 
AN, PHILIP, DECIUS, GALLUS, ^MILIAN, 
VALERIAN, GALLIENUS. 

A. u. 988—1021. A. D. 235—268. 

THE EMPIRE. MAXIMIN. HIS TYRANNY. INSURRECTION 

IN AFRICA. THE GORDIANS. PUPIENUS AND BALBINUS. 

DEATH OF MAXIMIN. MURDER OF THE EMPERORS. 

GORDIAN. PERSIAN WAR. MURDER OF GORDIAN. 

PHILIP. SECULAR GAMES. DECIUS. DEATH OF PHILIP. 

THE GOTHS. GOTHIC WAR. DEATH OF DECIUS. 

GALLUS. iEMILIAN. VALERIAN. THE FRANKS. THE 

ALEMANS. GOTHIC INVASIONS. PERSIAN WAR. DE- 
FEAT AND CAPTIVITY OF VALERIAN. GALLIENUS. THE 

THIRTY TYRANTS. DEATH OF GALLIENUS. 

C Julius Verus Maximinus. 
A. u. 988—991. A. D. 235—238. 

As we advance through the history of the Roman empire, 
we find it deteriorating at every step, the traces of civil 
government becoming continually more and more evanes- 
cent, and the power of the sword the only title under which 
obedience could be claimed. The government had, in fact, 
been a military despotism from the time of Augustus; but 
that prudent prince, and the best of his successors, had con- 
cealed the odious truth beneath the forms of law and civil 
regulations ; and perhaps it may be considered that his own 
reign, and the eighty-four years from Domitian to Commo- 
dus, are among the periods of the greatest happiness which 
mankind have enjoyed ; absolute power being wielded by 
wisdom and goodness. Human nature, however, does not 
permit such a state to endure ; and the thirteen years of 
Alexander Severus form but a gleam of sunshine in the po- 
litical gloom of the succeeding century. 

Elective monarchy is an evil of the greatest magnitude. 

* Autliortties : Herodian, the Augustan History, Zosimus, and^ tbe 
Epitom'dtors. 



224 MAXiMiN. [a. d. 235. 

He who cannot transmit his dominion to his sen, will be in 
general little solicitous about its future condition. Nothing 
was farther from the intention of the founder of the Roman 
empire than that such should be its condition ; yet Provi- 
dence seems to have designedly thwarted all the efforts made 
to form an hereditary monarchy. The Coesarian family, and 
the good emperors, as they are called, were but a series of 
adoptions : a son sometimes succeeded his father ; but from 
Augustus till nearly the end of the empire, the imperial 
power never reached the third generation. The fiction of 
the two Syrian youths having been sons of Caracalla, was 
the last faint effort made in favor of the hereditary princi- 
ple : with Maximin commenced a new order ; and every sol- 
dier might now aspire to empire. 

Maximin was originally a Thracian peasant, of enormous 
size and strength; his stature, we are told, exceeded eight 
feet; his wife's bracelet made him a thunU)-riiig ; lie could 
draw a loaded wagon, break a horse's leg with a kick, and 
crumble sandstones in his hands; he often, it is added, ate 
forty pounds of meat in the day, and washed thetn down 
with seven gallons of wine. Hence he was named Hercules, 
Antaeus, and Milo of Croton. He became known to the 
emperor Severus on the occasion of his celebrating the 
birthday of his son Geta one time in Thrace. The young 
barbarian approached him, and, in broken Latin, craved 
permission to wrestle with some of the strongest of the 
camp followers; he vanquished sixteen of them, and received 
as many prizes, and was admitted into the service. A cou- 
ple of days after, Severus, seeing him exulting at his good 
fortune, spoke to a tribune about him ; and Maximin, per- 
ceiving that he was the object of the emperor's discourse, 
began to run on foot by his horse ; Severus, to try his 
speed, put his horse to the gallop ; but the young soldier 
kept up with him till the aged emperor was tired. Severus 
asked him if he felt inclined to wrestle after his running; he 
leplied in the affirmative, and overthrew seven of the strong- 
est soldiers. He rose rapidly in the service under Severus 
and his son ; he retired to his native village when Macrinua 
seized the empire ; he disdained to serve Elagabalus, but 
the accession of Alexander induced him to return to Rome. 
He received the command of a legion, was made a senator, 
and the emperor even had thoughts of giving his sifter in 
marriage to the son of the Thracian peasant. 

The first care of Maximin, when raised to the empire, wm 



A. D. 235-236.] TYRANNY OF MAXIMIN. 225 

to dismiss from their employments ail who were in the coun- 
cil or family of his predecessor ; and several were put to death 
as conspirators. He speedily displayed the native ferocity 
of his temper; for when, having completed a bridge of boats 
over the Rhine, commenced by Alexander, he was preparing 
to pass over into Germany, a conspiracy, headed by one 
Magnus, a consular, was discovered, the plan of which was 
to loose the farther end of the bridge when Maximin had 
passed over, and thus to leave him in the hands of the Ger- 
mans; and, meantime, Magnus was to be proclaimed em- 
peror. On this occasion, he massacred upwards of four 
thousand persons, without any form of trial whatever ; and 
he was accused of having invented the conspiracy with this 
design. 

A revolt of the Eastern archers,* which occurred a few 
days after, being quelled, Maximin led his array into Ger- 
many. As no large force opposed him, he wasted and 
burned the country through an extent of four hundred miles. 
Occasional skirmishes took place in the woods and marshes, 
which gave Maximin opportunities of displaying his personal 
prowess ; and he caused pictures of his victories to be 
painted, which he sent to Home, to be placed at the door of 
the senate-bouse. 

Maximin employed the two first years of his reign in wars 
against the Germans and the Sarmatians. His winter resi- 
dence was Sirmium in Pannonia, and he never conde- 
scended to visit Italy. But his absence was no benefit; for 
Italy, and all parts of the empire, groaned alike beneath his 
merciless tyranny. The vile race of delators once more 
came into life ; men of all ranks were dragged from every 
part of the empire to Pannonia, where some were sewed up 
in the skins of animals, others were exposed to wild beasts, 
others beaten to death with clubs, and the properties of all 
were confiscated. This had been the usual course of the 
preceding despotism, and the people in general, therefore, 
took little heed of it; but Maximin stretched his rapacious 
hands to the corporate funds of the cities of the empire, 
which were destined to the support or the amusement of the 
people; and he seized on the treasures of the temples, and 
stripped the public edifices of tneir ornaments. The spirit 
of disaffection, thus excited, was general, and even his sol- 
diers were wearied of his severity and cruelty. 

* It was now the practi;; to have bodies of archers from the East in 
the Roman service. ■'ui.:< i 

C C 



226 MAXIMIN. [a. D. 236. 

The whole empire was now, therefore, ripe for revolt, the 
rapacity of the procurator of Africa caused it to breakout 
• n that province, (237.) This officer, who was woriiiy of 
nis master, had condemned two young men of rank to pay 
such sums as would have quite ruined them. In despair, 
they assembled the peasantry on their estates, and, having 
gained over part of the soldiers, they one night surprised 
the procurator, and slew him and those who defended him. 
Knowing that they had no safety but in a general revolt, 
they resolved to offer the empire to M. Antonius Gordianus, 
the governor of the province, an illustrious senator, of the 
venerable age of eighty years. They came to him as he 
was resting, after giving audience in the morning, and, lling- 
ing the purple of a standard over him, saluted him Augus- 
tus. Gordian declined the proffered dignity ; but, when he 
reflected that Maximin would never pardon a man wiio had 
been proclaimed emperor, he deemed it the safer course to 
run the hazard of the contest, and he consented to accept 
the empire, making his son his colleague. lie then pro- 
ceeded to Carthage, whence he wrote to the senate and peo- 
ple, and his friends at Rome, notifying his «levation to the 
empire. 

'riie intelligence was received with the greatest joy at 
Rome. The two Gordians were declared Augusti, and 
Maximin, and his son, whom he had associated with him in 
the empire, and their friends, public enemies, and rewards 
were promised to those who would kill them ; but the decree 
was ordered to be kept secret till all the necessary prepara- 
tions should have been made. Soon after, it was given out 
that Maximin was slain. The edicts of the Gordians were 
then published, their images and letters were carried into 
the praetorian camp, and forthwith the people rose in fury, 
cast down and broke the iujages of Maximin, fell on and 
massacred his officers and the informers ; and many seized 
this pretext for getting rid of their creditors and their private 
enemies. Murder and pillage orevaiied through the city. 
The senate, meantime, having advanced too far to recede, 
wrote a circular to all the governors of provinces, and ap- 
pointed twenty of their body to put Italy into a state of 
defence. 

Maximin was preparing to cross the Danube against the 
Sarmatians when he heard of what had taken place at Rome. 
His rage and fury passed all bounds. He mcnnced the 
whole of the senate with bonds or death, and promised their 



k. D. 237-238.] DEATH OF MAXIMIN. 227 

properties, and those of the Africans, to his soldiers ; but, 
finding that they did not show all the alacrity he had expect- 
ed, he began to fear for his power. His spirits, however, 
soon rose, when tidings came that his rivals vyere no more : 
for Capellianus, governor of Mauretania, being ordered by 
the Gordians to quit that province, marched against Car- 
thage at the head of a body of legionaries and Moors. The 
younger Gordian gave him battle, and was defeated and 
slain, and his father, on hearing the melancholy tidings, 
strangled himself Capellianus pillaged Carthage and the 
other towns, and exercised all the rights of a conqueror, 
(237.) 

When the fatal tidings reached Rome, the consternation 
was great ; but the senate, seeing they could not now re- 
cede, chose as emperors, in the place of the Gordians, M. 
Clodius Pupienus Maximus and D. Ca^lius Balbinus, the 
former to conduct the military, the latter the civil affairs of 
the state. To satisfy the people, a grandson of the elder 
Gordian, a boy of twelve years of age, was associated with 
them as a Caesar. 

The new emperors were elected about the beginning of 
July, and Pupienus forthwith left Rome to oppose Maximin. 
The remainder of the year was spent on both sides in making 
preparations for the war, and in the following spring (238) 
Maximin put his troops in motion for Italy. He passed the 
Alps unopposed, but found the gates of Aquileia closed 
against him. His offers of pardon being rejected, he laid 
siege to the town : it was defended with the obstinacy of 
despair. Ill success augmented the innate ferocity of Maxi- 
min ; he put to death several of his officers; these executions 
irritated the soldiers, who were besides suffering all kinds of 
privations, and discontent became general. As Maximin 
was reposing one day at noon in his tent, a party of the 
Alban soldiers* approached it with the intention of killing 
him. They were joined by his guards, and, when he awoke 
and came forth with his son, they would not listen to him, 
but killed them both on the spot, and cut off their heads. 
Maximin's principal ministers shared his fate. His reign 
had lasted only three years. 

* See above, p. 208. 



228 PUPIENUS, BALBINUS, GORDIAN. [a. D. 238 



M. Clodius Piipienus Maximus, D. Ccclius Balbinus, and 
M. Antonhis Gordianus. 

A. u. 991—997. A. D. 238—244. 

The joy at Rome was extreme when the news of the death 
of Maximin arrived. Pupienus, who was at Ravenna, has- 
tened to Aquileia, and received the submission of the army, 
lie distributed money to the legions, and then, sending them 
back to their usual quarters, returned to Rome with the 
praetorians and a part of the army of the Rhine, in which he 
could confide. He and his colleagues entered the city in a 
kind of triumph. 

The administration of Pupienus and Balbinus was of the 
best kind; and the senate and people congratulated them- 
selves on the choice tliey had made. But the praetorians 
were far from being contented ; they felt as if robbed of 
their right of appointing an emperor; and they were an- 
noyed at the German trooj>s being retained in the city, as 
arguing a distrust of themselves. Unfortunately, too, there 
prevailed a secret jealousy between the two emperors, and it 
is probable that concord would not long have subsisted be- 
tween them under any circumstances. 

The pr.-Etorians, having to no purpose sought a pretext for 
getting rid of the emperors, at length took advantage of the 
celebration of the Capitoliuc games, at which almost every 
one was present, and the emperors remained nearly alone in 
the palace. They proceeded thither in fury. Pupienus, 
when aware of their approach, proposed to send for the 
Germans ; but Balbinus, fearing that it was meant to employ 
them against himself, refused his consent. Meantime the 
prfEtorians arrived, forced the entrance, seized the two aged 
emperors, tore their garments, treated them with every kind 
of indignity, and were dragging them to their camp, till, 
hearing that the Germans were coming to their aid, they 
killed them, and left their bodies lying in the street. They 
carried the young Gordian with them to their camp, where 
they proclaimed him emperor; and the senate, the people, 
and the provinces, readily acquiesced in his elevation. 

The youthful emperor was the object of general affection; 
the soldiers called him their child, the senate their son, the 
people their delight. He was of a lively and agreeable tem- 
per , and he was zealous in the acquisition of knowledge, in 



^. D. 238-244.] murder of gordian. 229 

order that he might not be deceived by those about him. In 
the first years, however, of his reign, public affairs were in- 
differently managed. His mother, who was not a Mamaea, 
allowed her eunuchs and freedmen to sell all the great offices 
of the state, (perhaps she shared in their gains,) and in con- 
sequence many improper appointments were made. But 
the marriage of the young emperor (241) brought about a 
thorough reformation. He espoused the daughter of Misi- 
theus, a man distinguished in the cultivation of letters, and 
he made his father-in-law his preetorian prefect, and guided 
himself by his counsels. Misitheus, who was a man of virtue 
and talent as well as of learning, discharged the duties of his 
office in the ablest manner. 

A Persian war soon called the emperor to the East, (242.) 
Sapor, [Shahpoor,) the son and successor of Artaxerxes, had 
invaded Mesopotamia, taken Nisibis, Carrh;u, and other 
towns, and menaced Antioch. But the able conduct of 
Misitheus, when the emperor arrived in Syria, speedily as- 
sured victory to the Roman arms ; the towns were all recov- 
ered, and the Persian monarch was obliged to repass the 
Tigris Unfortunately for Gordian and the empire, Misi- 
theus died in the following year, (243,) to the great regret 
of the whole army, by whom he was both beloved and 
feared. The office of praetorian prefect was given to M. 
Julius Philippus, who is accused, though apparently without 
reason, of having caused the death of his predecessor. 
Now, however, having in effect the command of the army, 
Philip aspired to the empire. He spoke disparagingly of 
the youth of Gordian; he contrived, by diverting the sup- 
plies, to cause the army to be in want, and then laid the 
blame on the emperor. At length, (244,) after a victory 
gained over the Persians on the banks of the Abora, he led 
the troops into a country where no provisions could be pro- 
cured ; a mutiny in consequence ensued, in which the em- 
peror was slain, and Philip was proclaimed in his place. 
Gordian was only nineteen years of age when he met his 
untimely fate ; he had reigned five years and eight months. 
The soldiers raised him a tomb on the spot, and the senate 
plficed him among the gods 

CONTIN. 20 



230 PHiLippus. [a. d. 2^14-249 

3£. Julius Philippus. 
A. u. 997—1002. A. D. 244—249, 

The adventurer who had now attained the iriperial purple 
was an Arab by birth, and it is even pretended a Christian 
in religion. He probably entered the Roman service in his 
youth, and gradually rose to rank in the army. 

Being anxious to proceed to Rome, Philip lost no time in 
concluding a treaty with Sapor. He then, after a short stay 
at Antioch, set out for Italy. At Rome, he used every 
means to conciliate the senators by liberality and kindness; 
and he never mentioned the late emperor but in terms of 
respect. To gain the affections of the people, he formed a 
reservoir to supply with water the part of the city beyond 
the Tiber. 

In the fifth year of his reign, (248,) Rome having then 
attained her one thousandth year, Philip, in conjunction 
with his son, now associated with him in the empire, cele- 
brated with great magnificence the secular games. The.se 
had been already solemnized by Augustus, by Claudius, 
by Domitian, and Severus, and Rome now witnessed them 
for the Inst time. 

Philip would appear to have acted unwisely in committing 
extensive conmiands to his own relations ; for, in Syria, 
where his brother Priscus, and in Moesia, where his father- 
in-law, Severianus, commanded, rival emperors were pro- 
claimed. The Syrian rebel was named Jotapianus ; the 
McEsinn was a centurion, named P. Carvilius Marinus. 
Philip, it is said, in alarm, called on the senate to support 
him, or to accept his resignation, (249 ;) but while the other 
senators maintained silence, Decius, a man of rank and 
talent, reassured him, speaking slightingly of the rebels, and 
asserting that they could not stand against him. His pre- 
diction proved correct ; for they both were shortly after 
slain. Philip then obliged Decius, much, it is said, against 
his inclination, to take the command of the Moesian and 
Pannonian legions. But when Decius reached the army, 
;he soldiers insisted on investing him with the purple. He 
wrote to the emperor, assuring him of his fidelity ; but Philip 
ivould not trust to his declarations, and, leaving his son at 
Rome with a part of the praetorians, he put himself at the 
head of his troops to chastise him. The armies met near 



k D. 249-251.] GOTHIC WAR. 231 

Verona; Philip was defeated and slain, and wien the news 
reached Rome, the praetorians slew his sen ard proclaimed 
Decius. 



i ? 



.1:1 



C Messius QuiiiUis Trajanus Decius. 
A.u. 1002—1004. A.D. 249—251. 

Decius was born at Bubalia, a town near Sirmium, in 
Pannonia. He was either forty-eight or fifty-eight years of 
age, it is uncertain which, when he was proclaimed empe- 
ror ; and, from the imperfect accounts which we have of his 
reign, he would seem to have been a man of considerable 
ability. His reign was, however, brief and unquiet. It had 
hardly commenced, when he had to go in person to quell an 
insurrection in Gaul, and all the rest of it was occupied in 
war with the Goths. j 

This people, whose original seats seem to have been the | [: 

Scandinavian peninsula, had at an early period crossed the i 

Baltic, and settled on its southern coast. They had gradu- j 

ally advanced southwards, and they now had reached the 'a 

Euxine. In the time of Alexander Severus, they had made I 

inroads into Dacia; and in that of Philip, they ravaged both | 

that province and Mcesia. In the first year of Decius, (250,) '] 

the Gothic king Cniva passed the Danube at the head of \ 

70,000 warriors, and laid siege to the town of Eustesium, | 

{Novi ;) being repelled by the Roman general Gallus, he | 

advanced against Nicopolis, whence he was driven by the | 

emperor or his son, (it is uncertain which,) with a loss of | 

30,000 men. Undismayed by his reverses, he crossed Mount i 

Htcmus, in the hope of surprising Philippopolis ; Decius fol- ;• 

lowed him, but his camp <at Beraea was surprised by the | 

Goths, and his troops were cut to pieces. Philippopolis f. 

stood a siege of some duration ; but it was taken, and the |1 

greater part of its inhabitants were massacred, The Goths ? 

now spread their ravages into Macedonia, the governor of ? 

which, Philip's brother Priscus, assumed the purple under i 

their protection. | 

It seems most probable that it was the younger Decius i 

who met with these reverses, for the emperor must have 
been at Rome, as we find that, on his leaving it, (251,) to 
direct the Gothic war, a person named Julius Valens was 
declared emperor, to the great joy of the people. He was, 



232 CALLUS. [a. d. 21! 2, 

however, killed shortly after. Decius, who was worthy of 
ein()ire, was, meantime, amidst the cares of war, engaged in 
the visionary project of restoring the long-departed public 
virtue which had once ennobled Rome. With this view he 
proposed to revive the office of censor ; and, the choice of 
the person being left to the senate, they unanimously voted 
it (Oct. 27) to P. Licinius Valerianus, as being the man 
most worthy of it. The decree was transmitted to the em- 
peror, who was in Thrace; he read it aloud in a large 
assembly, and exhorted Valerian, who was present, to accept 
the proffered dignity. Valerian would fain excuse himself. 
We know not if the emperor was satisfied with his excuses, 
but, from the turn which public affairs took, the censorship 
was never exercised. 

Decius was successful against the Goths, who offered to 
surrender their booty and prisoners if allowed to re]>ass the 
Danube; but the emperor, who was resolved to strike such 
a blow as would daunt the barbarians, and make them 
hcTiceforlh respect the Roman arms, refused all terms. 
The Goths, therefore, gave him battle in a place where a 
part of their front was covered by a morass. The younger 
Decius was slain by an arrow in the beginning of the action ; 
but the emperor, crying out that the loss of one soldier did 
not signify, led on his troops. In the attempt to cross the 
morass, they were pierced by the arrows of the enemy, or 
swallowed up in the mire, and the body of the emperor was 
I never found. 



I 



5 C. Vibius Trebonianus Gallus. 

t 

\ A.u. 1005—1006. A.D. 252—253. 

I The senate, it is said, but more probably the "army, con- 

\ ferred the vacant purple on Gallus, the governor of Moesia. 

il He adopted Hostilianus, the remaining son (f Decius, and 

i| gave him the title of Augustus; but this youth dying soon 

\ after of the plague, Gallus associated his own son Volusia- 

I nus in the empire. Unable, probably, to resist the victorious 

I Goths, Gallus agreed that they should depart with their 

[ booty and prisoners, and even consented to pay them annu- 
ally a large sum of gold. He then set out for Rome, where 

I he remained for the rest of his reign, ruling with great ni'ld- 
ness and equity 



i.D. 253.] JEMILIAN, he. 233 

The Goths and their allies, heedless of treaties, again 
(253) poured over the Danube; but iEmilianus, the gov- 
ernor of Moesia, gave them a signal defeat, and his victo- 
rious troops forthwith proclaimed him emperor. Without a 
moment's delay, he put them in motion for Rome. Gallus 
advanced to engage him ; the troops came in sight of each 
other at Interamna, ( Terni,) and those of Gallus, seeing 
themselves the weaker, and gained by the promises of ^mil- 
ianus, murdered the emperor and his son, and passed over 
to the side of the rebel. 



C Julius yEmilianus. 



n 



iEmilianus is said to have been a Moor by birth. Of his i 

previous history nothing is known. He wrote to the senate, | 

to say that they should have the whole civil administration, [; 
and that he would be no more than their general ; and that 



assembly readily acquiesced in his elevation. (. 

But Valerian had been sent by Gallus to fetch the legions [• 

of Gaul and Germany to his aid ; and these troops, as soon | 

as they heard of his death, proclaimed their general emperor. p 

He led them into Italy ; and the troops of iEmilianus, which ^ j 

were encamped at Spoleto, fearing the strength and number l] 

of the advancing army, murdered their emperor to obviate | 

a conflict. The reign of iEmilianus had not lasted four | ^ 

m mths. 1 1 



P. Licinius Valerianus and P. Licinius Gnllienus. | 

A. u. 1006—1013. A. D. 253—260. I 

Valerian is said to have been sixty years of age when thus i 

raised to the empire. Feeling the infirmities of age, or in i 

imitation of the practice of so many preceding emperors, he | 

associated with him his son Gallienus, a young man devoid p 

neither of courage nor ability, but immoderately addicted \ 

to pleasure. I 

Had the Roman empire been in the condition in which it | 

ivas left by Augustus, Valerian might have emulated that I 

emperor, and have displayed his virtues and beneficence in ; 

promoting the hap-tiness of his subjects. But a great change 

20 « D D 



f 



n 



234 VALERIAN AND GALLIENUS. [a. D. 253. 

had taken place in the condition of Rome ; her legions no 
longer inspired their ancient terror ; her northern and east- 
ern provinces were exposed to the ravages of those who had 
formerly cowered before her eagles. Valerian could there- 
fore only exhibit his wisdom in the selection of his generals ; 
and it is to be observed that his choice never fell on an un- 
I worthy subject. 

The enemies by whom the empire was assailed at this 
period, were the Franks, the Alemans, the Goths, and the 
Persians. As the scanty notices of these times do not enable 
us to arrange events chronologically, we will give a separate 
view of the wars, with each of these peoples, during the 
reigns of Valerian and his son. 

We have already observed the proneness of the German 
i I tribes to form confederations. The Chaucans, Cheruscans, 

1 1 Chattans, and some adjoining states, had lately, it would 

i I seem, entered into one of these political unions, under the 

I \ name of Franks, j r. Freemen. Their strength and number 
! 'j aow causing uneasmess for Gaul, the young emperor, Gallie- 
{*■ lus, was sent to that country ; but the chief military com- 
I 'j mand was conferred on Postumius, a man of considerable 

II ability. The arms of the legions were successful in various 
encounters ; but they were finally unable to prevent the pas- 
sage of an army of the Franks through Gaul, whence, sur- 
mounting the barrier of the Pyrenees, they poured down into 
the now unvvarlike Spain. The rich city of Tarragona was 
taken and sacked ; the whole country was devastated, and 

J the Franks, then seizing the vessels which they found in the 

< ports, embarked to ravage Africa. We know not what was 
their ultimate fate; they were probably, however, destroyed 

3 in detail by the Roman troops and the provincials. 

\ A portion of the great Suevian confederation had formed 

1 a new combination, under the name of Alemans, i. r. AIl- 

) men, on account of the variety of tribes which composed it. 

I Like the Suevians, their forces were chiefly composed of 

\ cavalry, with active footmen mingled with them ; * and they 

I always proved a formidable foe. While Gallienus was in 

I Gaul, a body of them entered Italy, penetrated as far as Ra- 

j venna, and their advanced troops came nearly within sight 

' \ of Rome. The senate drew out the praetorian guards, and 

; added to them a portion of the populace to oppose them ; 
^nd the barbarians, finding themselves greatly outnumbered^ 

• The Hamippi of the Greeks. See Hist, of Greece, d. 219. 



n 



A. B. 255-262.] GOTHIC INVASIONS. 235 

hastened to get beyond the Danube with their plunder. 
Gallienus, it is said, was so much alarmed at the spirit and 
energy shown by the senate on this occasion, that he issued 
an edict interdicting all military employments to the sena- 
tors, and even prohibiting their access to the camps of the 
legions. It is added that the luxurious nobles viewed this 
indignity as a favor rather than an insult. 

Gallienus is also said to have overcome a large army of 
Alemans in the vicinity of Milan.* He afterwards espoused 
Pipa, daughter of the king of the Marcomans, (one of the 
confederates,) to whom he gave a territory in Pannonia, as a 
means of averting the hostilities of the barbarians. 

The Goths were now masters of the northern coast of the 
Euxine; and, finding their attacks on the northern provinces 
generally repelled with vigor, they resolved to direct their 
efforts against more unwarlike districts. Collecting a quan- 
tity of the vessels used for navigating the Euxine, they em- 
barked (258) and crossed that sea. They made their first 
attempt on tne frontier town of Pityus, which was long ably 
defended against them ; but they at length succeeded in 
reducing it. They thence sailed to the wealthy city of 
Trebizond, [Trapezus ;) and, though it was defended by a 
numerous garrison, they effected an entrance during the 
night. The cowardly garrison fled without making any re- 
sistance ; the inhabitants were massacred in great numbers ; 
the booty and captives were immense, and the victors, havino- 
ravaged the province of Pontus, embarked there on board 
of the ships which they found in the harbors, and returned 
to their settlement in tl>e Tauric Chersonese. 

The next expedition of the Goths was directed to the 
Bosporus, (261.) They took and plundered Chalcedon and 
Nicomedia, Nicaea, Apamaea, Prusa, and other cities of Bi- 
thyuia. The accidental swelling of the little river Rhynda- 
cus saved the town of Cyzicus from pillage. 

The third expedition of the Goths was on a larger scale, 
(262.) Their fleet consisted of five hundred vessels of all 
sizes. They sailed along the Bosporus and Propontis ; took 
and plundered Cyzicus; passed the Hellespont, and entered 
the .lEgean. They directed their course to the Piraeeus; 
Athens could offer no resistance; the Goths ravaged Greece 
with impunity, and advanced to the shores of the Adriatic. 
Gallienus roused himself from his pleasures, and appeared in 

* ^onaras, xii. He says the Alemans were 300,000, the Romans 
only 10,000 strong 



236 VALERIAN AND GALLIENUS. [a. D. 259-260. 

arms. A Herulan chief with his men was induced to enter 
the Roman service ; the Goths, weakened by this defection, 
broke up ; a part forced their way to the Danube over land ; 
the rest embarked, and, pillaging and burning the temple of 
Diana at Ephesus on their way, returned to the Euxine. 

Sapor, of Persia, had been long engaged in war with 
Chosroes, king of Armenia, a prince of the house of Arsa- 
ces. Unable to reduce the brave Armenian, he caused him 
to be assassinated ; and Armenia then received the Persian 
yoke. Elated with his success. Sapor invaded the Roman ter- 
ritory, took Nisibis and Carrhai, and spread his ravages over 
Mesopotamia. Valerian, alarmed for the safety of the East- 
ern provinces, proceeded thither in person, (259.) The 
events of the war which ensued have not reached us. All 
that we know with certainty is, that Valerian was finally de- 
feated and made a captive, (260.) The circumstances of his 
capture were somewhat similar to those of the taking of 
Crassus. His army, by ignorance or treachery, got into a 
position where neither discipline nor courage could avail, 
being without supplies and suffering from disease. The sol- 
diers clamored for a capitulation ; Sapor detained the depu- 
ties that were sent to him, and led his troops up to the camp ; 
and Valerian was obliged to consent to a conference, at 
which he was made a prisoner. 

Valerian ended his days a captive in Persia. We are told 
that Sapor treated him with every kind of indignity ; that 
he led him about in chains clad in his imperial purple; that, 
when the haughty Persian would mount his horse, the cap- 
tive emperor was made to go on his hands and knees to 
serve as his hor>e-l)lock ; and that, when deatli at length 
released him from his sufferings, his skin w.is stripped off, 
tanned, and stuffed, and placed in one of the most celebrated 
temples of Persia. The sufferings of Valerian are, however, 
probably of the same kind with the tortures of Regulus and 
the iron cage of Bajazet — gross exaggerations of some degree 
of ill treatment or of necessary precaution 



P. Licinius Gallienus. 

a. u. 1013—1021. a. d. 260—208. 

The captivity of Valerian was lamented by all but his son, 
who felt himself relieved by it from the restraint imposed on 



A D. '260. \ THE THIKTY TrRA> TS. 237 

him by his father's virtue. He even affected to act the phi- 
losopher on the occasion, saying, in imitation of Xenophon, 
" I knew that my father was mortal ; " but lie never made 
any attempt to procure his liberty, and he abandoned him- 
self without restraint to sensual indulgence. 

The reign of Gallienus is termed the Time of the Thirty 
Tyrants. This word seems to have recovered its ancient 
Grecian sense, and to have merely signified prince, or rather 
usurper, that is, one who claims the supreme power already 
held by another. The tyrants of this time were, in general, 
men of excellent character, who had been placed in the com- 
mand of armies by Valerian, and were invested with the pur- 
ple by their soldiers, often against their will. The number 
of these usurpers, who rose and fell in succession, did not 
exceed eighteen or nineteen; but some very ftmciful analogy 
led to a comparison of them with the Thirty of Athens, and 
in the Augustan History an effort is made, by including 
women and children, to raise them to that number. 

The East, Illyricum, Gaul, Greece, and Egypt, were the 
places in which these tyrants appeared. We will notice 
them in order. 

After the defeat of Valerian, Sapor conferred the title of 
emperor on a person named Cyriades, the son of a citizen 
of Antioch. This vassal forthwith conducted the Persian 
troops to the pillage of his native city; and so rapid and so 
secret was their march, that they surprised the Antiochenes 
while engaged at the theatre. The massacre and devasta- 
tion usual in the East ensued. The Persian monarch then 
poured his troops into Cilicia, took and plundered Tarsus 
and other towns ; then, crossing Mount Taurus, he laid siege 
to Cffisarea in Cappadocia, a cii/ with 400,000 inhabitants. 
It was stoutly defended for some time ; but treachery at length 
delivered it into the hands of the Persians, and massacre and 
pillage followed. Sapor now spread his ravages on all sides; 
but the Roman troops, having rallied under the command 
of Ser. Anicius Ballista, who had been prietorian prefect, 
checked his career, and, as he was retiring towards his own 
states, he found himself assailed by an unexpected enemy. 

Soon after the defeat and capture of Valerian, a train of 
camels laden with presents entered the camp of Sapor. 
They were accompanied by a letter from Odenatus, a 
wealthy citizen of Palmyra, (the ancient Taduior,) contain- 
ing an assurance that he had never acted against the Per- 
sians. Sapor, enraged at such insolence, (as he deemed it,) 



238 GALLIENUS. [a. D. 261-264 

tore the letter, flung the gifts into the river, and declared 
that he would exterminate the insolent writer and his lainily, 
unless he came before his throne with his hands bound behind 
his back. Odenutus at once resolved to join the Romans; 
he collected a force chiefly composed of the Bedoweens, or 
Arabs of the Desert, over whom he had great influence. 
He hovered about the Persian army, and, attacking it at the 
passaire of the Euphrates, carried off" much treasure, and 
some of the women of the Great King, who was forced to 
seek safety in a precipitate retreat. Odenatus made himself 
master of all Mesopotamia; and he even passed the Tigris, 
and made an attempt on Ctesiplion, (201.) Gallienus gave 
him the title of his general of the East, and Odenatus him- 
self took soon after that of king of Palmyra. 

The Roman troops in the East, meantime, being resolved 
not to submit to Gallienus, were deliberating on whom they 
would bestow the purple. Acting under the advice of Bal- 
lista, they fixed on the prstorian prefect, M. Fulvius Macria- 
nus, a man of great military talents, and, what was perhaps 
of more importance in their eyes, extremely wealthy. Macria- 
ims conferred the office of pra;torian prefect on Ballista, and, 
leaving with him his younger son and a part of the army to 
defend the East, he put himself at the head of 45,000 men, 
and. taking with him his elder son, set out for Europe, {'Ziy2.) 
On the borders of lllyricum he was encountered by M'. Acil- 
ius Aureolus, the governor (or, as some say, the tyrant) of 
that province; and in the battle which ensued, himself and 
his son were slain, and his troops surrendered. After the 
deatii of Macrianus, Ballista assumed the purple; but he was 
slain by order of Odenatus, whom Gallienus, (204,) with the 
full consent of the senate and people of Rome, had made 
his associate in the empire, giving him the titles of Caesar, 
Augustus, and all the other tokens of sovereignty. 

Tib. Cestius yEmilianus, who commanded in Egypt, as- 
sumed the purple in that province, (202,) in consequence, it 
is said, of a sedition in the most turbulent city of Alexan- 
dria; but he was defeated the following year, taken prisoner, 
and sent to Gallienus, who caused him to be .strangled. 

It was in Gaul that the usurpers had most success. As 
soon as Gallienus left that country, (260,) the general M. 
Cassius Latienus Postumus was proclaimed emperor; and his 
authority appears to have been acknowledged in both Spain 
and Britain. He is described as a man of most noble and 
upright charatter; he administered justice impartially, and 



A. D. 261. \ THE THIRTV TYRANTS. 239 

he defended the frontier against the Germans with valor and 
success. Possessed of the affections of the people, he easily 
maintained himself against all the efforts of Gallienus; but 
he was slain at last, ('^67,) in a mutiny of his own soldiers, 
to whom he had refused the plunder of the city of Mentz, in 
which a rival emperor had appeared. Postumus had associ- 
ated with himself in the empire Victorinus, the son of a 
lady named Aurelia Victoria, who was called the Mother of 
the Camp, and who had such influence with the troops, (we 
know not how acquired, but probably by her wealth,) as to be 
able to give the purple to whom she pleased. Victorinus 
being slain by a man whose wife he had violated, a simple 
armorer, named Marius, wore the purple for two days, at 
the end of which he was murdered ; and Victoria then caused 
a senator named P. Pivesus Tetricus to be proclaimed em- 
peror, who maintained his power for some years. 

At the time when Macrianus claimed the empire, P. Vale- 
rms Valens, the governor of Greece, finding that that usurper, 
who was resolved on his destruction, had sent L. Calpurnius 
Piso against him, assumed the purple in his own defence. 
Piso, being forced to retire into Thessaly, caused himself to 
be proclaimed emperor there ; but k\\ joined him, and he 
was slain by a party of soldiers sent against him by Valens, 
who was himself shortly after put to death by his own 
troops. Both Valens and Piso were men of high character; 
especially the latter, to whom the senate decreed divine 
honors, and respecting whom Valens himself said that " he 
would not be able to account to the gods below, for having 
ordered Piso, though his enemy, to be slain ; a man whose 
like the Roman republic did not then possess." 

C. Annius Trebellianus declared himself independent in 
Isauria, and T. Cornelius Celsus was proclaimed emperor in 
Africa; but both speedily perished, (265.) Among the ca- 
lamities of this reign was an insurrection of the slaves in 
Sicily, similar to those in the time of the republic. 

While his empire was thus torn asunder, Gallienus thought 
only of indulgence, and the loss of a province only gave him 
occasion for a joke. When Egypt revolted, " Well," said 
he, "cannot we do without Egyptian linen?" So, when 
Gaul was lost, he asked if the republic could not be secure 
without cloaks from Arras. He was content to retain Italy, 
satisfied with a nominal sovereignty over the rest of the em- 
pire ; and, whenever this seat of dominion was menaced, he 
exhibited in its defence the vigor and personal courage 
which he really possessed. 



240 GALLIENUS. [a. d. -268 

Gaul and Illyricutn were the quarters from which Italy had 
most to apprehend : Gallienus therefore headed his troops 
against Postuinus; and, when D. Lielius Ingenuus revolted, 
in Pannonia, he marched against him, defeated and slew him, 
and made the most cruel use of his victory, to deter others, 
(260.) Q,. Nonius Regillianus, who afterwards revolted in 
tiie same country, was slain by his own soldiers, (263;) but, 
when Aureolus was induced to assume the purple, (268,) the 
lllyrian legions advanced, and made themselves masters of 
Milan. Gallienus, shaking off sloth, quickly appeared at the 
head of his troops. The hostile armies encountered on the 
banks of the Adda, and Aureolus was defeated, wounded, and 
forced to shut himself up in Milan. During the siege, a con- 
spiracy was formed against the emperor, by some of the prin- 
cipal officers of his army ; and one night, as he was sitting at 
table, a report was spread that Aureolus had made a sally. 
Gallienus instantly threw himself on horseback, to hasten to 
the point of danger, and, in the dark, he received a mortal 
wound from an unknown hand. 



CPIAFTER VI.* 

CLAUDIUS, AURELIAN, TACITUS, PROBUS, 
CARUS, CARINUS, AND NUMERIAN. 

A. u. 1021—1038. A. D. 268—285. 

CLAUDIUS. INVASIONS OF THE GOTHS. AURELIAN. ALE- 
MANIC WAR. WAR AGAINST ZENOUIA. TETRICUS. 

DEATH OF AURELIAN. TACITUS. HIS DEATH. PRO- 
BUS. HIS MILITARY SUCCESSES. HIS DEATH. CARUS. 

PERSIAN WAR. HIS DEATH. DEATH OF NUMERIAN. 

ELECTION OF DIOCLETIAN. BATTLE OF MARGUS. 

We now enter on a series of emperors of a new order. 
Born nearly all in humble stations, and natives of the province 
of lilyricum, they rose, by merit, through the gradations of 
military service, attained the empire, in general, without crime, 
maintained its dignity, and checked or punished the inroads 

* Authorities : Zosimus, the Augustan History, and Epitomators. 



A. D. 268.] CHARACTER OF CLAUDIUS. 241 

of the barbarians. This series commences with the death 
of Gallienus, and terminates with that of Licinius, embra- 
cing a period of somewhat more than half a century, and 
marked, as we shall find, by most important changes in the 
Roman empire. 



M. Aurelius Claudius. 
A. u. 1 )21— 1023. A. D. 268— 270. 

The murmurs of the soldiers, on the death of Gallienus, 
were easily stilled by the promise of a donative of twenty 
pieces of gold a man. To justify themselves in the eyes of 
the world, the conspirators resolved to bestow the empire on 
one who should form an advantageous contrast to its late 
unworthy. possessor ; and they fixed on M. Aurelius Claudius, 
who commanded a division of the army at Pavia. The sol- 
diers, the senate, and the people, alike approved their choice; 
and Claudius assumed the purple with universal approbation. 

This excellent man, in whose praise writers of all parties 
are agreed, was a native of lllyricum, born, apparently, in 
humble circumstances. His merit raised him through the 
inferior gradations of the army; he attracted the notice of 
the emperor Decius, and the discerning Valerian made him 
general* of the Illyrian frontier, with an assurance of the 
consulate. 

Aureolus was soon obliged to surrender, and he was put 
to death by the soldiers. An army of Alemans, coming per- 
haps to his aid, was then, it is said, defeated by Claudius, 
near Verona. After his victory, the emperor proceeded to 
Rome, where, during the remainder of the year, he devoted 
"his time and thoughts to the reformation of abuses in the 
state. Among other just and prudent regulations, he directed 
that the properties confiscated by Gallienus should be restored 
to their original owners A woman, it is said, came, on this 
occasion, to the emperor, and claimed her land, which, she 
said, had been given to Claudius, the commander of the cav- 
alry. This officer was the emperor himself; and he replied, 
that the emperor Claudius must restore what he took when 
he was a private man, and less bound to obey the laws.t 

The following year, (269,) the Goths and their allies em 

* The term no^ in use for general was dux, whence our duke. 
t Zonaras, p. ill). 

CONTIN. 21 E B 



242 CLAUDIUS. [a. d. 269-270 

barked, we are told, to the number of 320, 00 warriors, with 
their wives, children, and slaves, in two, c , as some say, six 
thousand vessels, and directed their course to the Bosporus. 
In passing that narrow channel, the number of their vessels 
and the rapidity of the current caused them to suffer consider- 
able loss. Their attempts on Byzantium and Cyzicus having 
failed, they proceeded along the northern coast of the ^Egean, 
and laid siege to the cities of Cassandria and Thessalonica. 
While thus engaged, they learned that the emperor was on 
his march to oppose them : and, breaking up, they advanced 
into the interior, wasting and plundering the country on their 
way. Near the town of Naii^sus, in Dardania, they encoun- 
tered the Roman legions. The battle was long and bloody, 
and the Romans were, at one time, on the verge of defeat; 
but the skill of Claudius turtied the beam, and the Goths 
were finally routed, with a loss of 50,000 men. During the 
remainder of the year, numerous desultory actions occurred, 
in which the Goths sustained great losses; and, being finally 
hemmed in on all sides by the Roman troops, they were forced 
to seek refuge in Mount ILcmus, and pass the winter amidst 
its snows. Famine and pestilence alike preyed on them : and 
when, on the return of spring, (270,) the emperor took the 
field against them, they were obliged to surrender at discre- 
tion. A portion of their youth were enrolled in the imperial 
troops ; vast numbers both of men and women were reduced 
to slavery; on some, lands were bestowed in the provinces; 
few returned to their seats on tiie Euxine. 

The pestilence which had afflicted the Goths proved .dso 
fital to the emperor. He was attav'ked and carried off by it 
at Sirmium, in the 57th year of his age. In the presence of* 
his principal officers, he named, it is said, Aurelian, one of 
his generals, as the fittest person to succeed him; but his. 
brother Quintilius, when he heard of his death, assumed the 
purple at Aquileia, and was acknowledged by the senate. 
Hearing, however, that Aurelian was on his march agamst 
him, he gave up all hopes of success, and, opening his veui3, 
died, after a reign of seventeen days. 



L. Domitius Aurelianus. 

A. V. 1023—1028. A. D. 270—275. 

Aurelian, like his able predece.ssor, was a man of humble 
birth. His father is said to have been a small farmer, and 



A. D, 270.] AURELIAN. '2i3 

his mother a priestess of the Sun, in a village near Sirmium. 
He entered the army as a common soldier, and rose through 
the successive gradations of the service to the rank of gen- 
eral of a frontier. He was adopted in the presence of Va- 
lerian, (some said at his request,) by Ulpius Crinitus, a sena- 
tor of the same family with the emperor Tnijan, who gave 
him his daughter in marriage, and Valerian bestowed on 
him the office of consul. In the Gothic war, Claudius had 
committed to him the command of the cavalry. 

Immediately on his election, Aurelian hastened to Rome, 
whence he was speedily recalled to Pannonia by the intelli- 
gence of an irruption of the Goths. A great battle was 
fought, which was terminated by night without any decisive 
advantage on either side. Next day the Goths retired over 
the river, and sent proposals of peace, which was cheerfully 
accorded ; and for many years no hostilities of any account 
occurred between the Goths and Romans. But while Aure- 
lian was thus occupied in Pannonia, the Alemans, with a 
force of 40,000 horse and 80,000 foot, had passed the Alps 
and spread their ravages to the Po. Instead of following 
them into Italy, Aurelian, learning that they were on their 
return home with their booty, marched along the Danube 
to intercept their retreat, and, attacking them unawares, he 
reduced them to such straits that they sent to sue for peace. 
The emperor received the envoys at the head of his legions, 
surrounded by his principal officers. After a silence of some 
moments, they spoke by their interpreter, saying that it was 
the desire of peace, and not the fear of war, that had brought 
them thither. They spoke of the uncertainty of war, and 
enlarged on the number of their forces. As a condition of 
peace, they required the usual presents, and the same annual 
payments in silver and gold that they had had before the war. 
Aurelian replied in a long speech, the sum of which was that 
nothing short of unconditional surrender would be accepted. 
The envoys, returning to their countrymen, reported the ill 
success of their embassy; and forthwith the army turned 
back and reentered Italy. Aurelian followed, and came up 
with thein at Placentia. The Alemans, who had stationed 
themselves in the woods, fell suddenly on the legions in the 
dusk of the evening; and nothing but the firmness and skill 
of th? emperor saved the Romans from a total overthrow. 
A second battle was fought near Fano in Umbria, on the 
spot where Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal was defeated and 
slain, five hundred years before. The Alemans were totally 



244 AURELIAN. [a. D. 27J 

routed, and a concluding victory at Pa\ a delivered Italy 
from their ravages. Aurelian pursued the barbarians beyond 
the Alps, and then turned to Pannonia, which the Vandala 
had invaded. He engaged and defeated them, (271.) They 
sent to sue for peace, and he referred the matter to his 
soldiers, who loudly expressed their desire for an accommo- 
dation. The Vandals gave the children of their two kings 
and of their principal nobles for hostages, and Aurelian took 
two thousand of them into his service. 

There had been some seditions at Rome during the time 
of the Alemanic war, and Aurelian, on his return to the 
capital, acted with great severity, and even cruelty, in pun- 
ishing those engaged in them. He is accused of having put 
to death senators of high rank, on the slightest evidence, and 
for the most trifling offences. Aware, too, that neither Alps 
nor Apennines could now chock the barbarians, he resolved 
to put Rome into a posture to stand a siege ; and he com- 
menced the erection of massive walls around it, which, 
when completed by his successors, formed a circuit of twen- 
ty-one miles, and yielded a striking proof of the declining 
strength of the empire. 

Aurelian, victorious against the barbarians, had still two 
rivals to subdue before he could be regarded as perfect mas- 
ter of the empire. Tetricus was acknowledged in Gaul, 
Spain, and Britain ; Zenobia, the widow of (Jdenatus, ruled 
the East. It is uncertain against which he fir«t turned hi.s 
arms ; but, as the greater number of writers give the priority 
to the Syrian war, we will here follow their example. 

Odenatus and his eldest son, Herod, were treacherously 
slain by his nephew Maeonius; but Zenobia, the widow of 
the murdered prince, speedily punished the traitor, and then 
held the government in the name of her remaining sons. 
This extraordinary woman claimed a descent from the Ptole- 
mies of Egypt. In her person she displayed the beauty of 
the East, being of a clear dark complexion, with pearly white 
teeth and brilliant black eyes. Her voice was strong and 
harmonious ; she spoke the Greek, Syrian, and Egyptian 
languages, and understood the Latin. She was fond of 
study, but at the same time she loved vigorous exercises; 
and she accompanied her husband to the chase of the lion, 
the panther, and the other wild beasts of the wood and 
desert, ajid by her counsels and her vigor of mind, she greatly 
contribute ' to his success in war. To these manly qualities 
was unitec a chastity rarely to be found in the East. View- 



A I). 271.] ZENOBIA. 245 

ing the union of the sexes as the appointed means of con- 
tinuing the species, Zenobia would admit the embraces of 
her husband only in order to have offspring. She was tem- 
perate and sober, yet, when needful, she could quaff wine 
with her generals, and even vanquish in the combats of the 
table the wine-loving Persians and Armenians. As a sove- 
reign, Zenobia was severe or clement, as the occasion re- 
quired ; she was frugal of her treasure beyond what was 
ordinary with a woman, but when her afTairs called for lib- 
erality, no one dispensed them more freely. 

After the death of Odenatus, Zenobia styled her three sons 
August! ; but she held the government in her own hands : 
she bore the title of Queen of the East, wore royal robes 
and the diadem, caused herself to be adored in the Oriental 
fashion, and put the years of her reiga on her coins. She 
defeated an army sent against her by Gallienus; she made 
herself mistress of Egypt, and her rule extended northwards 
as far as the confines of Bithynia. 

Aurelian, on passing over to Asia, reduced to order the 
province of Bithynia. The city of Tyana in Cappadocia 
resisted him ; but the treachery of one of its inhabitants put 
it into his hands. He pardoned the people, and he aban- 
doned the traitor to the just indignation of^the soldiers. On 
the banks of the Orontes, he encountered the troops of the 
Queen of the East. A cavalry action ensued, and, the Pal- 
myrenians being greatly superior in that arm, Aurelian em- 
ployed the stratagem of making his cavalry feign a flight, 
and then turn and attack the pursuing enemies, when wea- 
ried and exhausted with the weight of their heavy armor. 
The defeated Palmyrenians retired to Antioch, which they 
quitted in the night, and next day it opened its gates to Au- 
relian. He advanced then, with little opposition, to Emesa, 
where he found the Palmyrenian army, 70,000 strong, en- 
camped in the plain before the city. Zenobia herself was 
present, but the command was intrusted to her general, 
Zabdas. In the engagement, the Roman horse, unable to 
withstand the ponderous charge of the steel-clad Palmyre- 
nians, turned and fled. While the Palmyrenian cavalry was 
engaged in the pursuit, their light infantry, being left un- 
protected, offered little resistance to the legions, and a total 
rout ensued. Zenobia, seeing the battle lost, and knowing 
that the people of Emesa favored the Romans, abandoned 
that city, and retired and shut herself up in Palmyra, her 
capital. 

21 * 



246 AURELIAN. [a.d. 272. 

The city of Tadtiior, or Palmyra, as it was named by the 
Greeks, seems to have been, from the earliest times, a place 
of importance in the trade between the Persian Gulf and the 
Mediterranean Sea, being situated in an oasis of the desert, 
abounding in herbage, trees, and springs, and lying within 
sixty miles of the Euphrates, and somewhat more than three 
times that distance of the coast of Syria. Solomon, king of 
Israel, had made himself master of this important post, and 
fortified it. Its advantages being the gift of nature, and not 
of man, it continued to flourish under all the surrounding 
vicissitudes of empire. In the time of Trajan, it became a 
Roman colony, and it was adorned with those stately pub- 
lic edifices whose ruins command the admiration of modern 
Europe. 

In their march over the desert, the Roman troops were 
harassed by the attacks of the Bedoween Arabs. They 
found the city of Palmyra strongly fortified, and abundantly 
supplied with the means of defence. When the siege had 
lasted for some time, Aurelian wrote, offering advantageous 
terms to the queen and the people ; but, fully convinced that 
famine would soon prey on the Roman army, and that 
the Persians and Arabs would hasten to her relief, Zenobia 
returned a haughty and insulting reply. The expected suc- 
cors, however, did not arrive; convoys of provisions entered 
the Roman camp ; and Probus, whom Aurelian had de- 
tached for the reduction of Egypt, having accomplished his 
commission, brought his troops to join the main army. 
Want began to be felt within the walls of Palmyra; and Ze- 
nobia, finding that the city must surrender, resolved to fly to 
the Persians, and seek by their aid to continue the war. 
Mounting one of her fleetest dromedaries, she left the city, 
and had reached the Euphrates, and even entered the boat 
which was to convey her across, when the party of light 
horse sent in pursuit, came up and seized her. When 
brought before the emperor, and demanded why she had 
dared to insult the emperors of Rome, she replied, that she 
regarded him as such, as he had conquered ; but that slve 
never could esteem Gallienus, Aureolus, and such persons, 
to be emperors. This ])rudent answer won her favor, and 
Aurelian treated her with respect. The city soon surren- 
dered, and the enjperor led his army back to Eiuesa, where 
he set up his tribunal, and had Zenobia and her ministers 
and friends brought to trial. The soldiers were clamorous 
for the death of the queen, but the emperor was resolved to 



A. D. 272.] TETRICUS. 247 

reserve her to grace his triumph; and it is added, that she 

belied the greatness of her character by weakly throwing all I 

the blame on her ministers. Of these, several were executed, 

among whom was the celebrated Longinus, the queen's i 

secretary. He died with the equanimity of a philosopher, 1 

comforting his companions in misfortune. i 

Aurelian had passed the Bosporus on his return to Rome, ! 
when intelligence reached him that the Palmyrenians had 
risen on and massacred the small garrison he had left in 
their city. He instantly retraced his steps, arrived at Anti- 
och before it was known that he had set out, hastened to 

Palmyra, took the city, and massacred men, women, and ! 

children, citizens and peasants, without distinction. As he \ 

was on his way back to Europe, news came that Egypt had j 

revolted, and made a wealthy merchant, named Firmus, em- } 
peror, and that the export of corn to Rome had been stopped. 

The indefatigable Aurelian soon appeared on the banks of j 

the Nile, defeated the usurper, and took and put him to j 

death. ] 

The overthrow of Tetricus (whether it preceded or fol- 

lowed these events) left Aurelian without a rival. Tetricus, | 

it is said, was so wearied with the state of thraldom in which | 

he was held by his mutinous troops, that he secretly wrote || 

to Aurelian to come to his deliverance. When the emperor | 

entered Gaul, Tetricus found it necessary to affect the alac- | 

rity of one determined to conquer or die ; but, when the ar- j 

niies encountered on the plains of Chalons, he betrayed his | 

troops, and deserted in the very commencement of the bat- | 

tie. His legions fought, notwithstanding, with desperation, | 

and perished nearly to a man. r 

Victorious over all his rivals, and all the enemies of j 

Rome, Aurelian celebrated a triumph with unusual magnifi- { 

cence. Wild beasts of various kinds, troops of gladiators, j. 

and bands of captives of many nations, opened the proces- i! 

sion. Tetricus and his son walked, clad in the Gallic habit; i 

Zenobia also moved on foot, covered with jewels and bound \ 

with golden chains, which were borne up by slaves. The \ 

splendid cars of Odenatus and Zenobia, and one the gift of I 

the Persian king to the emperor, preceded the chariot drawn I ' 

by four stags, once the car of a Gothic king, in which Au- i 

relian himself rode. The senate, the people, the army, j 
horse and foot, succeeded ; and it was late in the day when 
the monarch reached the Capitol. • | 

The view of a Roman senator led in triumph, in the per- 



ii48 AUKELIAN. [a. d. 275 

son of Tetricus, (an act of which there was no example,) 
cast a gloom over the minds of the senators. The insult, 
if intended for such, ended, however, with the procession. 
Aurelian made him governor of the southern part of Italy, 
and honored him with his Iriendship. He also bestowed on 
the Palmyrenian queen an estate at Tibur, where she lived 
many years, and her daughters matched into some of the 
noblest Roman families. 

The improvement of the city by useful public works, the 
establishment of daily distributions of bread and pork to the 
people, and the burning of all accounts of moneys due to 
the treasury, were measures calculated to gain Aurelian the 
popular favor. But a reformation of the coinage became the 
cause or pretext of an insurrection, the quelling of which 
cost h\'.n the lives of seven thousand of his veteran soldiers. 
Enveloj)ed as the whole affair is in obscurity, the senators 
must have been implicated in it ; for Aurelian's vengeance 
fell heavily on the whole body of the nobility. Numbers of 
them were cast into prison, and several were executed. 

Aurelian quitted Rome once more for the East, in order 
to carry on war against the Persians. On the road in 
Thrace, having detected his private secretary, Mnestheus, 
in some act of extortion, he menaced him with his anger. 
Aware that lie never threatened in vain, Mnestheus saw that 
himself or the emperor must die : he, thtirefore, imitating 
Aurelian's writing, drew up a li.st containing his own name 
and those of the principal olhcers of the army as marked out 
for death. He tdiowed this bloody list to those who were 
named in it, advising them to anticipate the emperor's cru- 
elty. Without furtlier inquiry, they resolved on his murder, 
and, falling on him between Byzantium and Heraclea, they 
despatched him with their swords. 



M. Claudius Tacitus. 
1028—1029. A. D. 275—276. 



After the death of the emperor Aurelian, a scene without 
example presented itself — an amicable strife between the 
senate and the army, each wishing the other to appoint an 
emperor, and the empire without a head and without a tu- 
mult for the greater part of a year. It originated in the 
k'ilovving manner : 



•p 



h. D. 275.] TACITUS. 249 

» 

The assassins of Aurelian speedily discovered their error, 
and Mneslheus expiated his treason with liis life. The sol- 
diers, who lamented the emperor, would not raise to his 
place any of those concerned in his death, however inno- 
cently ; and they wrote to the senate, requesting them to \ ( 
appoint his successor. The senate, though gratified by the \ 
deference shown to them by the army, deemed it prudent to i | 
decline the invidious honor. The legions again pressed ] \ 
them, and eight months passed away in the friendly contest. , [ 
At length, (Sept. 28,) the consul assembled the senate, and, i < 
laying before them the perilous condition of the empire, j I 
called on Tacitus, the First of the Senate, to give his opin- ? 1 
ion. But ere he could speak, he was saluted emperor and 1 ^ 
Augustus from all parts of the house; and, after having in \ i 
vain represented his unfitness for the office on account of his ' | 
advanced age, he was obliged to yield to their wishes, and J i 
accept the purple. The praetorian guards willingly acqui- 1 1 
esced in the choice of the senate ; and, when Tacitus pro- 1 1 
ceeded to the camp in Thrace, the soldiets, true to their || 
engagement, submitted willingly to his authority. { I 

Tacitus was now seventy-five years old. He was one of | | 

those men who were, perhaps, less rare at Rome than we s | 

generally imagine; who, in the possession of a splendid for- 1 1 

tune, spent a life, dignified by the honors of the state, in the 1 1 

cultivation of philosophy and elegant literature. He claimed i | 

a descent from the historian of his name, whose works formed I J 

his constant study ; and after his accession to the empire, he | s 

directed that ten copies of them should be annually made \ I 

and placed in the public libraries. 1 1 

Viewing himself only as the minister of the laws and the !; ? 

senate, Tacitus sought to raise that body to its former con- ] | 

sideration, by restoring the privileges of which it had been | \ 

deprived. Once more it began to appoint magistrates, to \ | 

henr appeals, and to give validity to the imperial edicts 1 1 

But this was merely a glimpse of sunshine irradiating the 1 1 

decline of its greatness. In history, there is no return ; and | I 

the real power of the once mighty Roman senate had de- ] i 

parted forever. | | 

Aurelian had engaged a body of the Alans, a Sarmatian 
tribe who dwelt about Lake Maeotis, for the war against Per 
sia. On the death of that emperor, and the suspension of 
the war, they ravaged the provinces south of the Euxine, to 
indemnify themselves for their disappointment. Tacitus, on 
taking the command of the army, offered to make good to 

F F 



1 



"i 



I 



250 PROBus. [a. d. 276 

them the engagements contracted oy his predecessor. A 
good number of them accepted the terms and retired, and he 
lod the legions against the remainder, and speedily reduced 
them. As these military operations fell in the winter, the 
emperor's constitution, enervated by age and the relaxing 
clime of southern Italy, proved uneijual to them. His mind 
was also harassed by the factions which broke out in the 
camp, and even reached his lent ; and he sank under men- 
tal and corporeal suffering, at Tyana, on the 22d of April, 
276, after a brief reign of six months and twenty days. 



I M. Aurclius Prubus. 



A. V. 1029—1025. A. D. 276—282. 



On the death of Tacitus, his brother Florianus claimed 
' I the empire as if fallen to him by inheritance, and the legions 

yielded him their obedience; but the army of the East 
obliged their general, Probus, to assume the purple, and a 
civil war commenced. The con.stitution of the European 
troops soon, however, began to give way under the heat of 
the sun of Asia ; sickness spread among them ; desertions be- 
came numerous; and when, at Tarsus in Cilicia, the army 
of Probus came to give them battle, they averted the contest 
by proclaiming Probus, and putting their emperor to death, 
after a reign of less than three months. 

Probus was another of those Illyrians, who, born in an 
humble station, attained the empire by their merit, and hon- 
ored it by their virtues. He entered the army young, and 
speedily became distinguished for his courage and his prob- 
ity. His merit did not escape the discerning eye of Vale- 
rian, who made him a tribune, though under the usual age; 
gave him the command of a body of auxiliary troops, and 
recommended him strongly to Gallienus, by whom; and by 
the succeeding emperors, he was greatly esteemed, and 
trusted with important commands. Aurelian rated him very 
highly, and is even thought to have destined him for his 
successor. 

After the death of Florianas, Probus wrote to the senate, 
apologizing for having accepted the empire from the hands 
of the soldiery, but assuring them that he would submit 
himself to their pleasure. A decree was unanimously passed, 
investing him with all the imperial titles and powers. In 



A. D. 277-279.] GERMAN WAR. 251 

return, Probus continued to the senate the right of hearing 
appeals, appointing magistrates, and of giving force to his 
euicts by tiieir decrees. 

Tacitus had punished severely some of those concerned in 
the murder of Aureliar. ; Probus sought out and punished 
the remainder, but with less rigor. He exhibited no enmity 
toward those who had supported Florianus. 

The Germans had laken advantage of the interregnum 
which succeeded the death of Aurelian, to make a formidable 
irruption into Gaul, where they made themselves masters of 
not less than seventy cities, and were in possession of nearly 
the whole of the country. Probus, however, as soon as his 
affairs permitted, (277,) entered Gaul at the head of a numer- 
ous and well-appointed army. He gave the Germans several 
defeats, and forced them to repass the Rhine, with a loss, it is 
said, of 400,000 men. He pursued them over that river; 
and nine of their kings were obliged to come in person to 
sue for peace. The terms which the emperor imposed were, 
the restoration of all their booty, the annual delivery of a 
large quantity of corn and cattle, and 16,000 men to recruit 
the Roman armies. These Probus distributed in parties of 
fifty and sixty throughout the legions ; for it was his wise 
maxim, that the aid derived from the barbarians should be 
felt, not seen. He also placed colonies of the Germans, and 
other tribes, in Britain, and some of the other provinces. 
He had, further, it is said, conceived the idea of making the 
conquered Germans renounce the use of arms, and trust for 
their defence to those of the Romans ; but, on considering 
the number of troops it would require, he gave it up, con- 
tenting -hi^nself with making them retire behind the Necker 
and Elbe, with building forts and towns in the country, be- 
tween these rivers and the Rhine, and running a wall, two 
hundred miles in length, from the Rhine to the Danube, as 
a defence to Italy and the provinces against the Alemans. 

After the conquest of the Germans, the emperor led his 
troops into Raetia and Illyria, where the terror of his name 
and his arms daunted the Goths and Sarmatians, and gave 
security to the provinces. He then (279) passed over to 
Asia, subdued the brigands of Isauria, expelled them from 
their fastnesses in the mountains, in which he settled some 
of his veterans, under the condition that they should send 
their sons, when eighteen years of age, to the army, in order 
that they might not be induced, by the natural advantages 
of the country, to take to a life of freebooting, and prove as 
dangerous as their predecessors. Proceeding through Syria, 



252 PKOBUS. [a. D. 27Ji 

he entered Egypt, an J reduced the peofle named Blemniy- 
ans,* who had taken the cities of Coptos and Ptolemai's. He 
conchided a peace with the king of Persia, and, on hia 
return through Thrace, he bestowed lands on a body of 
200,000 Bastarnians, and on some of theGepidans, Vandals, 
and other tribes. He triumphed for the Germans and Blem- 
myans on his return to Rome. 

A prince so just and upright, and, at tlie same time, so 
warlike as Probus, might have been expected to have no 
competitors for empire; yet even he had to take the field 
against rival emperors. The first of these was Saturninus, 
whom he himself had made general of the East, a man of 
both talent and virtue, and for whom he had a most cordial 
esteem. But the light-minded and turbulent people of 
Alexandria, on occasion of his entry into their city, saluted 
him Augustus; and, though he rejected the title and retired 
to Palestine, he yet, not reflecting on the generous nature of 
Probus, deemed that he could no longer live in a private 
station. He therefore assumed the purple, saying, with 
tears, to his friends, that the republic had lost a useful man, 
and that his own ruin, and that of many others, was inevi- 
table. Probus tried in vain to induce him to trust to his 
clemency. A part of his troops joined those sent against 
him by the emperor; he was besieged in the castle of Apa- 
maea, and taken, and slain. 

After the defeat of Saturninus, two officers, named Proc- 
ulus and Bonosus, assumed the purple in Germany. They 
were both men of ability, and the emperor found it necessary 
to take the field against them in person. Proculus, being 
defeated, fled for succor to the Franks, by whom he was be- 
trayed; and he fell in battle against the imperial troops 
Bonosus held out for some time ; but, having received a de- 
cisive overthrow, he hanged himself As he had been re- 
markable for his drinking powers, one who saw him hanging 
cried, " There hangs a jar, not a man." Probus treated the 
families of both with great humanity. 

Probus, though far less cruel, was as rigid a maintainer 
of discipline in the armv as Aurelian had been. His mode 
was to keep the legions constantly employed, and thus to 
obviate the ill effects of idleness. When he commanded in 
Egypt, he employed his troops in draining marshes, improv- 
ing the course of the Nile, and raising public edifices. In 

* This people inhabited the mountains between Upper Egypt and 
the Red Sea. 



A. D. 282.] CARus. 253 

Gaul and Paniionia, he occupied them in forming vine- 
yards. His maxim was, that a soldier should not eat his 
food idly ; and he even used to express his hopes that the 
time would come when the republic would have no further 
need of soldiers. This language naturally produced a good 
deal of discontent; and when, on his march against the Per- 
sians, who had broken the peace, (282,) he halted at his 
native town of Sirmium, and set the soldiers at work to cut 
a canal, to drain the marshes which incommoded it, they 
broke out into an open mutiny. Probus fled for safety to an 
iron tower, whence he was in the habit of surveying the prog- 
ress of the works; but the furious soldiers forced the tower, 
and seized and murdered him. They then lamented him, 
and gave his remains an honorable sepulture. 



M. Aurelius Carus^ 
A. u. 1035—1036. A. D. 282—283. 

Notwithstanding their grief and repentance for the mur- 
der of Probus, the soldiers did not part with their power of 
choosing an emperor. They conferred the purple on Carus, 
the praetorian prefect; and the senate was, as usual, obliged 
to acquiesce in their decision. 

Carus was about sixty years of age. The place of his 
birth is uncertain, but probability is in favor of Tllyricum. 
He stood high in the estimation of the late discernincr eni- 
peror, and he was undoubtedly a man of considerable ability. 

The first care of the new emperor was to punish the au- 
thors of the death of his predecessor. He then raised his 
two sons, Carinus and Numerian, (who were both grown 
up,) to the dignity of C.-esars; and, as the barbarians, after 
the death of Probus, had passed the Rhine and the Lower 
Danube, he sent Carinus into Gaul, directing him, when he 
had repelled the invaders, to fix his residence at Rome, and 
govern there during his absence. He himself, taking Nume- 
rian with him, marched against the Sarmatians, (283,) 
whom he defeated with a loss of 16,000 slain and 20,000 
prisoners; and, having thus secured the Illyrian frontier, he 
led his army over to Asia for the Persian war. 

When Carus passed the Euphrates, the Persian monarch, 
Varanes (Bahram) II., though an able and a valiant prince, 
being engaged in a civil war, could not collect a force suffi- 

CONTIN. 22 



254 CARINUS AND NUMERIAN. [a. D. 283. 

cient to oppose to the Romans : he therefore sent to propose 
terms of peace. It was evening when the s.mbassadors ar- 
rived at the Roman camp. Cams was at the time seated on 
the grass eating his supper, which consisted of a bowl of cold 
boiled peas and some pieces of salt pork, with a purple woollen 
robe thrown over his shoulders. He desired them to be brought 
to him, and when they came he told them that, if their master 
did not submit, he would in a month's time make Persia as 
bare of trees and standing corn as his own head was of hair ; 
and, suiting the action to the word, he pulled off the cap 
which he wore, and displayed his head totally devoid of hair. 
He invited them, if hungry, to share his meal ; if not, he 
bade them depart. They withdrew in terror; and Carus 
forthwith took the field, and recovered the whole of Mesopo- 
tamia; he defeated the troops sent against him, and took the 
cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon. He was advancing into 
the interior of Persia, when, one day as the army was en- 
camped near the Tigris, there came on a most furious thun- 
der-storm ; and, immediately after a most awful clap, a cry 
was raised that the emperor was dead. His tent was found 
to be in flames; but whether his death was caused by light- 
ning or by treachery, remained uncertain. 



M. Aurelius Carinus and M. Aurelius Numcrianus. 
A. u. 1036—1038. A. D. 283—285. 

The death of Carus appears to have occurred about the 
end of the year 283. The authority of lis sons was readily 
acknowledged; and Numerian, apprehmsive, as it might 
seem, of the designs of his brother, gave up the Persian war 
and set out on his return to Europe. 

Numerinn was a prince of an amiable disposition, a lover 
and cultivator of literature, a poet, it is said, of no mean 
order, and an eloquent declaimer. He was married to the 
daughter of Arrius Aper, to whom Carus had given the im- 
portant post of prajtorian prefect ; and as, on account of a 
weakness in his eyes, Numerian was obliged to remain shut 
up in his tent, or to travel in a close litter, all public business 
was transacted in his name by his father-in-law. The army 
had reached the shores of the Bosporus when a report was 
spread that the emperor, whom they had not seen for some 
time, had ceased to exist. The soldiers broke into the im 



K, D. 285.] CARINUS. 255 

perial tent., and there found only the corpse of Numerian. 
The concealment of his death and other circumstances 
caused suspicion to fall on Aper. He was seized and laid 
in chains ; a general assembly of the army was held while 
the generals and tribunes sat in council to select a successor 
to Numerian. Their choice fell on Diocletian, the com- 
mander of the body-guard. The soldiers testified their ap- 
probation. Diocletian, having ascended the tribunal, made 
a solemn protestation of his own innocence, and then caused 
Aper to be led before him. " This man," said he, when he 
appeared, " is the murderer of Numerian ; " and, without giv- 
ing him a moment's time for defence, he plunged his sword 
into his bosom. 

It may cause some surprise that the army should have 
proceeded to the election of an emperor while Carinus was 
yet living. We know not what intrigues there may have 
been on the part of Diocletian; but the vices of that prince 
are said to have been such as would fully justify his exclusion. 
His conduct at Rome had been so vicious, and he put such 
unworthy persons into office even during his father's life- 
time, that Carus cried he was no son of his, and proposed to 
substitute for him in the empire Constautius, the governor 
of Dalmatia. When the death of his father had removed all 
restraint, he gave free course to his vicious inclinations, dis- 
playing the luxury of an Elagabalus and the cruelty of a 
Domitian. The news; however, of the death of his brother, 
and the elevation of Diocletian, roused him to energy, and he 
placed himself at the head of his troops. After a succession 
of engagements, the decisive conflict took place (May, 285) 
on the plain of Margus, near the Danube in Moesia. Carinus 
was betrayed or deserted by his own troops, and he was slain 
by a tribune whose wife he had seduced. 



During the long period now elapsed, the aspect of the Ro- 
man world remained nearly as we have already described it. 
The absence of a respectable middle class of society, abject 
poverty and enormous wealth standing in striking contrast 
in the provinces as well as in Italy, unbridled luxury, and 
the want of all noble and generous feeling, every where 
met the view. At the same time, foreign trade, of which 
luxury is the great promoter, was in a most flourishing state, 
and inmiense fortunes were acquired by traffic. The silks, 
the spices, and the precious stones and pearls of India, and 



256 LITERATURE. 

the amber of the Baltic, reached Rome in abundance, and 
were purchased by its luxurious nobles and their ladies at 
enormous prices. 

The history of this period has noticed two inatances 
which may give us some idea of the wealth of individuals 
in those days : the one is that of a Roman nobleman, the 
emperor Tacitus ; the other that of an Alexandrian mer- 
chant. The landed and other property of the former pro- 
duced him an income of two hundred and eighty millions 
of sesterces, and his ready money at the time of his acces- 
sion sufficed for the pay of the army. The merchant was 
Firmus, who assumed the purple in t'he time of Aurelian. 
This man had a great number of merchantmen on the Red 
Sea for his trade with India; he carried on a commerce 
with the interior of Africa ; he contracted with the Blem- 
myans for the produce of their mines, and he had also com- 
mercial relations with the Saracens or Bedoween Arabs. 
He possessed, moreover, extensive manufactories, and it is 
said that he used to boast that the paper manufactured by 
him would suffice to maintain an army. 

The Roman army at this period was evidently on the de- 
cline in respect to discipline and moral force. The soldiers 
were now accustomed to luxuries and indulgences unknown 
to the troops of the republic or of the early days of the em- 
pire. Barbarians entered the Roman service in great num- 
bers ; and we shall ere long find officers of the very highest 
rank and power bearing German names. 

The maintenance of good military roads had always been 
an object of solicitude with the Roman government. We 
have seen the care of Augustus on this head ; and that wi.se 
emperor had also instituted a system of posts for the despatch 
of letters on public business, and the conveyance of persons 
employed by the government. This system was now great- 
ly extended, and post-houses were established at regular dis- 
tances along all the great roads, furnished with horses, mules, 
and carriages, for the conveyance of goods as well as persons. 
These beasts and carriages were provided gratis by the in- 
habitants of the di-strict in which the post-house stood, and 
the supplying of then) was a most onerous burthen. Any 
one bearing an imperial diploma could demand horses and 
carriages, and food for himself and attendants without pay- 
ment. The system was in effect the same as that which 
prevails at the present day in Turkey, where the sultan's 
frmdn corresponds exactly with the imperial diploma. 
When the emperor was on his way to any part of his do- 



PHILOSOPHY. 257 

minions, his whole court and retinue were maintained at the 
charge of the inhabitants of tlie towns where he halted ; and 
at each he expected to find a palace ready furnished. In 
like manner, the wants of the troops when on their march 
were to be supplied ; and when we reflect how frequently 
they were removed from one frontier to another, and how 
incessant most of the emperors were in their movements, 
we may form some conception of the oppression endured by 
the subjects. 

Literature partook of the general decline. After the 
reign of Trajan, we do not meet with a single Latin poet 
or historian possessing any merit. The Greek language 
was not, however, equally barren. Plutarch, who wrote on 
such a variety of subjects in so agreeable a manner, flour- 
ished under the Antonines. The witty Lucian was his 
contemporary. History was written by Arrian, Dion Cas- 
sias, and Herodian, with more or less success. The travels 
ofPausanias in Greece are of great value to the modern 
scholar ; and the medical writings of Galen, and the works 
of Ptolemy on astronomy and geography, long exercised a 
most powerful influence over the human mind in both 
Europe and Asia. In poetry the Grecian muse of this 
period aimed at no higher flight than her Latin sister. 

The branch of literature (if we may so term it) most culti- 
vated at this time was philosophy. The Stoic system found 
many followers ; it numbered among its professors the em- 
peror Marcus Aurelius, who bequeathed to posterity his 
Meditations, in ten books; and Arrian, the historian and 
statesman, published the lessons of his master, Epictetus. 
But the philosophy which far eclipsed all the others, was the 
New Platonism of Alexandria, of which it is necessary to 
speak somewhat in detail. 

In the writings of Plato there is much that has a mystic 
tone, borrowed perhaps from the Pythagoreans, or derived 
immediately from the East. In such parts the usual charac- 
teristics of mysticism appear; simple truths are enveloped in 
figurative language, and vain attempts are made at explain- 
ing things beyond the reach of human knowledge. As such 
we may mention the Timaeus and similar pieces, which are 
certainly the least valuable portion of the philosopher's 
writings. But owing to their obscurity, which gives them a 
vague air of magnificent profundity, these were the very 
pieces that some most admired ; and their resemblance to 
22 * GO 



258 PHILOSOPHY. 

the dreamy speculations of the East strongly recommended 
them to those whose turn of mind led them to mysticism 
and to the cultivation of occult philosophy. Alexandria was 
the chief seat of this Platonism, and its professors .there ob- 
tained the name of Eclectics ; for, taking their leading 
principles from the works of Plato, they added such of 
those of the Stoics, the Peripatetics, and of the Oriental 
philosophy, as were capable of being brought into harmony 
with those of their master. The writings of Philo the Jew 
will show how Platonism and the Law of Moses were made 
to accord. 

Toward the close of the second century, this philosophy 
received a more e.xtended form from a teacher named Am- 
monius Saccas, a man of great ingenuity and of a lively 
imagination. His object was to bring all sects of philoso- 
phy, and all forms of religion, Christianity included, into 
one harmonious whole. His system differed from that of 
the Eclectics in this, that, while thiy viewed the different 
systems as composed of truth and error, he regarded them 
as all flowing from the one source of truth, and therefore 
capable of being reduced to their original unity. He held 
the world to be an eternal emanation of the Deity; and he 
adopted and extended the Egyptian and Plat»nic notion of 
Djemons of different ranks and degrees. The human soul, 
he asserted, might, by means of certain secret rites, become 
capable of perceiving and conversing with these intelligences. 
This art, which he termed Thcurgia, was a kind of magic, 
the exercise of which was confined to those of highest order 
in the sect. With this was combined a system of rigid ascet- 
icism, enjoined on all who aimed at freeing the soul from the 
bonds of the body. Aminonius, who was born a Christian, 
represented Christ as having been an admirable 'I'heurgist; 
and he labored to bring the Christian doctrine into accord- 
ance with his own peculiar views, by representing such parts 
of it as resisted his efforts as interpolations made by ignorant 
disciples. As many of the Christians studied in his school 
the effect of the New Platonism, as it was named, or theit 
speculations, proved extremely injurious, and many of the 
subsequent errors and superstitions into which they fell, may 
be traced to that source. The most distinguished of the 
New Platonists were Porphyry, Plotinus Proclus, Simplicius, 
and Jamblichus. The sect flourished till the time of the 
final triumph of Christianity. 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 259 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHURCH. CORRUPTION OF RELI- 
GION. THE EBIONITES. GNOSTIC HERESIES. MONTA- 
GUS. THE PASCHAL QUESTION. COUNCILS. THE HIE- 
RARCHY. PLATONIC PHILOSOPHY, ITS EFFECTS. RITTS 

AND CEREMONIES. CHRISTIAN WRITERS. 

The Christian religion, during the last two centuries, had 
made rapid progress, and extended itself to Spain, Gaul, 
Britain, and the most remote parts of the Roman empire; 
but it at the same time had to endure external persecution 
and internal corruption. It also underwent a change in its 
discipline and government, and thereby lost a portion of its 
original simplicity. Of these subjects we will now treat. 

Nothing can be more erroneous than the idea given by 
Gibbon and other skeptical writers of the tolerant spirit of 
the ancient world. This boasted tolerance merely extended 
to allowing £ach people to follow its own national system 
of religion, and worship its own traditional deities, provided 
they did not attempt to make proselytes. It was in effect the 
toleration still to be found in Mohammedan countries; but, 
with respect to thfe worship of new or foreign deities by their 
own citizens, the laws both of Greece and Rome were strict 
and severe. One of the charges on which the excellent Soc- 
rates was condemned to death, was that of introducing new 
deities; and the language of the Roman law was, "Let no 
one have any separate worship or hold any new gods; nor 
let any private worship be offered to any strange gods, unless 
they have been publicly adopted."* We find that this law 
was acted on in all times of the republic, and that the magis- 
trates had the power to prevent any foreign mode of worship, 
drive from the city or otherwise punish its professors and 
ministers, and seize and destroy their religious books. t The 
reason of these laws was probably political rather than re- 
ligious; for all governments have a natural and a just aversion 
to secret societies, which are so easily and so frequent y con- 

* Cicero, Laws, ii. 8. 

t Livy, iv. 30 ; xxxix. 16. Val. Max. i. 3. Dion, lii. 36. 



260 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

verted to jrolitical purposes, and the professors of a religion 
different from that of tlie state will always form a distinct so- 
ciety, and, as they increase in numbers, may prove dangerous 
to the political constitution. 

The early Christians were unfortunate in many circum- 
stances. The Jews, who were their most implacable ene- 
mies, were established in all parts of the empire; and they 
were not only exposed to their calumnies and persecutions, 
but, as they were regarded as merely a sect of that people, 
they came in for their share of the odium under which they 
lay. Again, proaelytism was of the very essence of the new 
faith ; and this was a point on which the Roman government 
was most jealous and apprehensive. Further, the Christians 
were taught to hold ail idolatrous riles in the utmost abhor- 
rence; and, as these were woven into the whole texture of 
public and private life, they found it necessary to alietaiu 
from the theatres, and from all public shows and solemnities; 
and they were obliged to be eijually on their guard ni the re- 
lations of private life, and hence they were regarded as mo- 
rose and unsociable. The spiritual monotheism of the Chris- 
tians was, moreover, considered as atheism * by those who 
had no conception of religion disjoined frou) temples, images, 
and a plurality of objects of worship. The simple rites and 
practices of their religion also furnished materials of calumny 
to their enemies. The .symbolical eating and drinking of the 
body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, for exampfe, was 
converted into Thyestian banquets, and their Agap^e or love- 
feasts were representetl as scenes of riot and pollution. The 
Christians them.selves, too, were not always prudent; they 
gave at times needless offence, and many exhibited what we 
may term a selfish eagerness to obtain the crown of martyr- 
dom. 

We thus see that the Christians were amenable to the 
ancient law of Rome for introducing a new religion and 
neglecting to comply with that of the state, and for their zeal 
in making proselytes to their opinions. They were at the 
same time odious to the vulgar, for their abstinence from the 
temples and the public shows. All kinds of calumnies were 
therefore spread abroad respecting them; and we need not 
wonder at these finding ready acceptance with the vulgar, 
when we recollect how they operated on the minds of such 

* [Much the same as, at the present day, deism and atheism are 
often confounded by the ignorant and bigoted. — J. T. S] 



PLRSECUTIONS. 261 

men as Tacitus and Suetonius. To such a pitch did the 
])opular dislike of the Christians at length rise, that the guilt of 
all public calamities was laid on them. " If the Tiber," says 
Tertullian,* "has overflowed its banks; or the Nile has not 
overflowed; if Heaven has refused its rain; if the earth has 
been shaken ; if famine or plague has spread its ravages, 
the cry is immediately raised, ' To the lions with the Chris- 
tians!'" 

When Christianity had triumphed over its foes, and was 
become the religion of the state, men began, like voyagers 
escaped from shipwreck, to looR back with an eye of compla 
cency on the perils through which it had passed, and felt a 
pleasure in magnifying its calamities and sufterings. The 
number of persecutions was gradually raised to the mystic 
number of ten, the number of the victims was prodigiously 
magnified, and imagination amused itself in varying the 
modes of their torture. The apostle John, for example, was 
[pretended to have been] thrown, at Rome, by order of 
Domitian, into a caldron of boiling oil, from which he came 
forth unscathed ; and St. Babylas was, at Pergamus, put in- 
to a brazen bull, heated red-hot; though these martyrdoms 
were apparently unknown to the learned Eusebius, and there 
are little grounds for supposing that there was any persecu- 
tion in the time of Domitian. The chief inventors of these 
pious legends were the monks, a class of men who have al- 
ways exhibited a strong inclination for the supernatural and 
the horrible. We will here briefly sketch the sufferings of 
the church, as they are to be derived from authentic sources.! 

The first persecution of the Christians is that by Nero, 
above related. That, as we have seen, was merely an effort 
made by a tyrant to throw the guilt with which he was him- 
self charged on a body who were generally obnoxious : 
there was nothing whatever religious or political in it, and 
we have no reason for supposing that it was of long duration, 
or extended beyond the city of Rome. Eusebius mentions a 
tradition that St. Paul was beheaded and St. Peter crucified 
at this time; but little reliance is to be placed on such ac- 
counts, and it is extremely doubtfuHfthe latter ever came to 
Rome. 

Under the Flavian family, the Christiana were unmolested. 

* Apol. 40. 

t In the following account of the persecutions, we have made Euse- 
bius our principal guide. Very few of the Acts of the Saints and Mar- 
tyrs of the first three centuries, as Moslieini observes, are genuine. 



262 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

Doniitian, indeed, is said, toward the close of his reign, to 
have exercised some severities against them. On this occa- 
sion, \vc are told, the two grandsons of Judas, tiie brother of 
our Lord, were brought before him, as being of tlie family of 
David. In answer to his inquiries, they told him that their 
whole property consisted of a small piece of land, which they 
cultivated themselves ; and they showed their hands hardened 
with toil. The kingdom of Christ which they expected they 
described as a celestial one, which would not appear till the 
end of the world. The tyrant, apprehending little from the 
heirs of such a kingdom, dismissed them with contempt, and 
put an end to the persecution.* 

In the reign of Trajan, Eusebius says, "there was a partial 
persecution excited throughout the cities, in consequence of 
a popular insurrection," i. c. an insurrection of the populace 
against the Christians, the usual source of persecution. It 
would appear to have been very partial indeed, for he men- 
tions but one martyr, St. Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, a 
kinsman of our Lord's. The celebrated letter of Pliny to 
Trajan, however, proves that in some parts of the empire the 
Christians were exposed to nmch perd. This amiable man, 
being appointed governor of Pontus and Bithynia in the year 
103, found numerous charges brought against persons of all 
ages and sex&s as Christians. Unwilling to punish, and un- 
certain how to act, he wrote to the emperor for advice.t Tra- 
jan, in his reply, directed that the Christians should not be 
sought after, but that, if accused and convicted, they should 
be punished, and that no anonymous accusations should be 
attended to. Considering the Roman law on the subject, 
and the general state of sentiment and feeling at the time, 
this rescript is highly creditable to the humanity and the 
justice of the emperor. From Pliny's letter we learn that a 
chief ground of proceeding against the Christians was the em- 
peror's aversion to clubs and societies, {lutccrias,) for which 
reason Pliny was very strict in prohii)iting the Christians 
from meeting together to celebrate the Eucharist or hold 
their love feasts. 

We ftirther learn that the number of the Chrisunns was 
very considerable, both in the towns and in the country, and 
that the heathen temples had been nearly deserted ; but that, 
when the law was put in force, such numbers abandoned their 

* Hegesippus ap. Euseb. iii. '20. t Plin. Ep. x. 07, 98 



PEKSKCUTIONS. ' 263 

faith, that Pliny had strong hopes that the s iperstition, as he \ 
ternnid it, might be suppressed. 

So far was Hadrian from being a persecutor, that, ac- i 

cording to Justin Martyr,* Serenius Granianus, the procon- 1 

sul of Asia, having written to him " that it did not appear ! 

just to put the Christians to death without a regular accu- j 

sation and trial, merely to gratify the outcries of the popu- ' 

lace," he issued a rescript, directed to Granianus's successor, j 
Minucius Fundanus, directing him to pay no regard to mere 

petitions and outcries, but to judge of the accusations himself, i 

and to punish the accused according to the quality of their I 

offence, if it was clearly proved that they had transgressed j 

the laws, but at the same time to punish severely any one t 

who should bring a false and slanderous accusation. The ; 

emperor, it would seem, wrote to the same effect to some of j 

the other governors. t ) 

During the reign of the excellent Antoninus Pius, the i 

Christians suffered no molestation on the part of the govern- j 

ment ; but they had much to endure from the malignity and • 

siipe-j'stition of the populace of the provincial towns of Asia. ■ 

The emperor, however, interposed in their behalf, and re- j 

newed the directions of Hadrian to the authorities in the ij 

provinces. « 

Hitherto the sufferings of the ('hristians had been com- ] 

paratively light ; but under the reign of the philosophic M. ';■ 

Aurelius, a severe persecution raged against them. It is not I 

quite clear whether any edicts were made by the emperor di- l 

recting them to be punished,| but he certainly held them in | 

contempt, and he was anxious to uphold the ancient religion | 

and ceremonies of the state, and may therefore have been in- ? 

clined to deal rigorously with those who rejected and opposed i, 

them. Still, on examining the accounts of the martyrdoms f 

in this reign, it will appear that they resulted in general from I 

the usual cause — the hatred of the populace towards the \ 

Christians. \ 

The year 166, in which Aurelius first left Rome for the 5 

German war, is usually fixed on as the commencement of the | 

persecution. A Christian, named Ptolemaeus, and two others \ 

were put to death at Rome, solely, we are told, on account I 

of their faith. On this occasion, Justin Martyr (by whom we ;, 

* Euseb. iv. 8, 9. t Euseb. iv. 26. ; 

i Melito (ap. Euseb. iv. 26) v(^ould seem to assert that there were 1 

decrees issued against the Christians by Aurelius; but Tertullian j 

(Apol. 5) avers the contrary. j 



264 ■ THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

are informed at' the fact) addressed his second Apology to 
the emperor and the senate. He was himself, soon after, 
with some others, put to death by the city prefect Rusticus. 
As Rusticus was a philosopher, and the Epicurean Crescens, 
Justin's great opponent, was then at Rome, there appears to 
be some reason for supposing that the philosophers had 
already adopted that spirit of inveterate hostility to the 
Christians which caused them to become their unrelenting 
persecutors. It was also in this year that the persecution 
broke out at Smyrna, in which the venerable Bishop Poly- 
carp, and about a dozen other Christians, suffered for their 
faith. The church of Smyrna wrote, on this occasion, an 
epistle to those of Pontus, from which we learn the following 
particulars. 

' The letter commenced with an account of the other 
martyrs and their siiffcrini^fs. " Tlie by-standers," it says, 
" were struck with amazement at seeing them lacerated with 
scourges to their very blood and arteries, so that the flesh con- 
cealed in the very inmost parts of the body, and the i>owcl3 
themselves, were exposed to view. Then they were laid upon 
sea-shells, and on the sharp heads of spears on the ground, and, 
after passing through every kind of punishment and torment, 
were at last thrown as food for wild beasts." The youth and 
Deauty of one of these martyrs, named Germ aniens, interest- 
ed the proconsul so much, that he earnestly implored him to 
take compassion on himself; but the ardent youth even irri- 
tated the beast to which he was exposed, and speedily per- 
ished. The multitude then beijan to call for Polycarp. This 
venerable prelate had, on the urgency of his friends, retired 
from the city ; but he was discovered and seized by those 
sent in quest of him. When brought back to Smyrna, he was 
conducted straight to the Stadion, (where public shows were 
exhibited,) and led to the tribunal of the proconsul, who 
urged him to deny Christ, and swear by the genius of Caisar. 
" Eighty-and-six years," said the holy prelate, " have I served 
! I Christ, and he never did me wrong; and how can I now 

; [ blaspheme my King that has saved me?" After several vain 

attempts to influence him, the proconsul caused the herald to 
proclaim aloud, " Polycarp confesses that he is a Christiai " 
The multitude then, both Jesvs and Gentiles, cried out, 
" This is that teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, 
the destroyer of our gods, he that teaches multitudes not to 
sacrifice, not to worship." They insisted that a lion should 
be loosed at him; but, being informed that that part of the 



PERSECUTIONS. 265 

show WHS over, they cried out that he should be burnt alive , 
and they forthwith began to collect wood and straw from the 
shops and baths for the purpose, " the Jews, as usual, freely 
offering their services." It was the custom to secure the 

victim to the stake with nails ; but at his own request Poly- \ \ 

cnrp was merely bound to it. He uttered a most devout | | 

pr^yer, and fire was then set to the pile. But the flames did i j 

not approach him ; *' they presented," says the narrative, " an i 

appearance like an oven, as when the sail of a ve.ssel is tilled l^ ] 

with the wind, and thus formed a wall round the body of the j ; 

martyr; and he was in the midst, not like burning tlesh, but i !| 

like gold and silver, purified in the furnace. We also per- |< 

ceived a fragrant odor, like the fumes of incense or other I 

precious aromatic drugs." The executioner at length, by f \ 
the order of the people, ran him through with his sword ; and [ 

the gush of blood, it is added, was so great as to extinguish i 5 

tlie fire. At the instigation of the Jews, the body of the ^,1 

martyr was burnt, lest, as they s lid, the Christians should \ I 

begin to worship Polycarp instead of him that was crucified. | | 

The letter asserts that the martyrdom of Polycarp terminated 'i j 

the persecution at Smyrna; but as martyrs are mentioned at fj. 

Pergamus, victims may still have continued to be given to the g S 

popular fury. 1 1 

Hitherto the persecution of the Christians seems to have || 

been nearly confined to Asia, and to have been chiefly ex- jj 

cited by the Jews; but in the year 177, Gaul, whither the \\ 

gospel had now penetrated, became the scene of persecution | I 

on a scale of magnitude as yet Vvithout example. The j ^ 

churches of Lyons and Vienne wrote to those of Asia a full | ; 

account of their sufferings, from which it appears that the 1 1 

governor and the populace were equally envenomed against 1 1 

ihe Christians, and that the emperor himself, when consulted I f 

on the subject, merely directed that those who were Roman 1 1 

citizens should be beheaded, those who renounced their faith f I 

be dismissed, leaving the rest to be exposed to the beasts, or || 

put to death in other barbarous modes. Among the victims | \ 

were Pothinus, bishop of Lyons, a venerable prelate of ninety II 

years of age, and Attains of Pergamus, a man of great zeal f { 

and piety. But the constancy of a female slave, named ' ,i 

Blandina, was the subject of admiration to both Christians | | 
and Gentiles. Every refinement of torture was exercised 
upon her ; day after day she was tortured or exposed to the 
beasts, who, however, would not even touch her. At length 
she was put in a net, and flung before a furious bull; and 

CONTIN. 23 H H , , 

■ 



266 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

when he liad tossed her till she became insensi.Je she waa 
despatched by the executioner. Among the modes of torture 
employed was an iron chair made quite hot, in which the 
victims were compelled to sit till their flesh was literally 
roasted ; hot plates of brass were also fastened to the tender- 
est parts of their bodies. Heathen slaves, belonifirig to the 
Christians, were seized, and by terror or persuasion were iu- 
duceu, says the letter, " to charge us with the feasts of Thy- 
estes, and the incests of CEdipus, and such crimes as we may 
neither think nor speak of, and such indeed as we do not even 
believe were committed by men." 

The reign of Commodus was a period of repose to the 
church. Severus also favored the Christians in the first 
years of his reign; but in 202 he issued an edict forbidding 
any one to become a Jew or a Christian. This gave occa- 
sion to tlie exercise of some severities, of which the principal 
scene was Alexandria. In the- reigns that intervened between 
Severus and Decius, the Christians were either favored or 
unmolested, with the exception of that of Maximin, who per- 
secuted the heads of the church, on account of their attach- 

I ment to his virtuous predecessor. 

Decius, as we have seen, was anxious to restore the ancient 
institutions of Rome. As these were connected with the re- 
ligion of the state, and as the Christians, whose faith was 
most strongly opposed to that religion, were now become ex- 

' ceedingly numerous, he saw that he must suppress their doc- 

1 trine before he could hope to carry his design into effect. 

I He accordingly issued an edict, requiring all his subjects, 

under heavy penalties, to return to the ancient religion ; and 
a persecution of the church, more severe than any that had 
yet occurred, was the immediate result The fervid declama- 
tion of St. Cyprian, or the highly-colored fancy-piece of St. 
Gregory Nyssen, on this subject, cannot be relied on with im- 
plicit confidence ; but from the fact that numbers (including 
priests And even prelates) apostatized, arid from the con- 
stancy of the tradition, there can be no doul)t but that the 
persecution was both general and severe. The bishop of 
Rome suffered martyrdom, those of Jerusalem and Antioch 
died in prison. The celebrated Origen was also among 
those who suffered imprisonment and torture in this calami- 
tous period. 

Valerian is said to have been at first extremely favorable 
to the Christians ; but when he was in the East, influenced 
by Macrianus, he wrote to the senate, ordering the severest 



PERSECUTIONS. 267 

measures to be adopted against them. The persecution 
which ensued was terminated by the captivity of the emperor 
in the year 260 ; and Gallienus wrote circulars to the bishops, 
authorizing them to resume the public exercise of their of- 
fices, and assuring them of his protection. 

Among the martyrs in the time of Valerian, the most illus- 
trious was St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage. 

This able, zealous, and eloquent prelate had prudently 
concealed himself during the persecution of Decius. When 
Valerian's first edict was issued, the proconsul summoned 
him before him, and informed him that the emperor required 
all who had abandoned the religion of the state to return to 
it.* Cyprian replied that he was a Christian, and a bishop, 
a worshipper of the true and only God. A sentence of banish- 
ment was then pronounced against him, and he was sent to 
Curubis, a city on the sea-coast, about forty miles from 
Carthage. On the arrival, however, of a new proconsul, he 
was allowed to return to Carthage, and reside in his gardens 
near the city. He had not been there long when (258) the 
proconsul received positive orders to proceed capitally against 
the Christian teachers. An officer was therefore sent with 
some soldiers to arrest Cyprian and bring him before the tri- 
bunal. As his cause could not be heard that day, the officer 
took him to his own house for the night, where he treated 
him with much attention, and allowed his friends free access 
to him. The Christians kept watch all through the night, in 
the street before the house. In the morning, the bishop was 
conducted before the proconsul's tribunal. Having answered 
to his name, he was called on to obey the emperor's mandate, 
and offer sacrifice. He replied, " I do not sacrifice." The 
proconsul urged him, but he was firm ; and that magistrate, 
having consulted with his council, read from a tablet his sen- 
tence in the following words : " That Thascius Cyprianus 
should be -immediately beheaded, as the enemy of the gods 
of Rome, and as the chief and ringleader of a criminal as- 
sociation, which he had seduced into an impious resistance 
against the laws of the most holy emperors. Valerian and Gal- 
lienus." The bishop calmly responded, " God be praised ! " 
the Christians, who were present in great numbers, cried out, 
" Let us too be beheaded with him." Cyprian was then led 
away to the plain before the city ; the presbyters and dea- 
cons accompanied him, and aided him in his preparations for 

* The prelate had been a convert. 



26S THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

doath; he took off his upper garment, and, directing them to 
give the executioner five-and-tuenty pieces of gold, laid his 
hands on his face, and bent his head, which was struck off at 
one blow. In the night his body was conveyed, amidst a 
multitude of lights, to the burial-place of the Christians, and 
there deposited, the government giving no opposition.* 

After the reign of Valerian, the church had rest for nearly 
half a century, when its last and greatest persecution broke 
out. We will relate that event in its proper place. 

On reviewing the history of the church for the first three 
centuries, various subjects of reflection present themselves. 
We may, for example, observe, as we have already done, that 
the sufferings of the Christians have been greatly exaggerated 
by the frauds and fictions of succeeding ages; that ihe per- 
secutions on the part of the Roman government were politi- 
cal rather than religious, as they occurred in the reigns of the 
best emperors, who were evidently prompted by the desire of 
restoring the ancient institutions to which the Roman great- 
ness was ascribed; that, finally, the greatest sufferings of the 
Christians were caused bv the fanatic spirit of the populace, 
especially in the cities of Asia, and at the instigation of the 
Jews; and were sometimes brought on bv their own impru- 
dence. It may further be observed, that the charge made 
against the heathen priesthood of exciting the fanaticism of 
the people out of regard to their own gains, does not seem to 
be well founded. They did not, in fact, except in Asia Mi- 
nor, form a separate caste or order ; and they therefore had 
not the corporate spirit which would inspire them with jeal- 
ousy and fears. Finallv, we would observe that the popular 
saying, " The blood of the martyrs is the .seed of the church," 
should be received with groat limitations. That many were 
led to view Christianity with a favorable eye when they saw 
the constancy with which even women and children met tor- 
ture and death, is not to be denied ; the same effects were 
observed in England in the time of dueen Mary Tudor. 
But false religion, heresy, even atheism itself, have had their 
martyrs; and the progress of Christianity should be ascribed 
to its true causes, namely, its purity, and the other causes al- 
ready enumerated. 

It is a melancholy reflection, that, giving the greatest ex- 



* There is a very circumstantial account of the martyrdom of Cyp 
rian, by tiie deacon Pontius, who was in attendance on him ; the pro 
consular acts also remain, and the two accounts harmonize. 



PERSECUTIONS. * 269 

tent consistent with truth and probability to the number of 
Chri>tians immolated by the policy or the intolerance of hea- 
then Rome, it still fell infinitely short of that of the victims 
sacrificed to the bigotry of Papal Rome. When we think of 
the crusade against the Albigenses, of the 50,000 or 100,000 
Protestants destroyed in the Netherlands, the St. Bartholo- 
mew massacre in France, the 100,000 persons burnt by the 
Inquisition, and the other dreadful deeds of the church of 
Rome, the persecutions of Aurelius, of Decius, and even of 
Diocletian, shrink into absolute insignificance; and we are 
forced to acknowledge that the perversion of true religion can 
outgo any false religion in barbarity. At the same time we 
must protest against the acts of Popery being laid to the 
charge of genuine Christianity. 

Tiie evils of persecution were only transient; but those in- 
flicted by heresy and false doctrine were deep and perma- 
nent, and their ill effects are felt even at the present day. 
The pride of the human intellect, and the desire to discover 
those secrets which are not to be known to man, gave origin 
to most of those opinions which we find recorded as monstrous 
heresies by the Fathers of the Church. These may be all 
comprehended under the term Gnosis, (I'l'Giuig, kiioioledgc,) 
the word used to designate the false philosophy which then 
prevailed, and which had been derived from the sultry re- 
gions of India and Persia. To this is to be added the New 
Platonism of the Greeks, which, however, had borrowed large- 
ly of the Oriental philosophy, and the Judaism or corrupted 
religion of the people of Israel. From these various sources 
flowed all the corruptions of the pure aiid simple religion of 
the gospel ; and so early did their operation commence, that it 
may be said that the stream had hardly burst from the sacred 
mount when it was defiled with mundane impurities. 

It is not our intention to treat of all the heresies enumera- 
ted by the Fathers. We shall only touch upon the principal 
ones, commencing with those which originated in Judaism.* 

From the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul, 
we learn that the Jewish converts in general, from devotion 
to their law, whose precepts they regarded as of everlasting 
obligation, and from their ignorance of the true nature and 
spirit of Christianity, held that the observance of the cere- 

* In th'* remainder of this chapter, our immediate authority has been 
the learn d, candid, and judicious Mosheim. The references to Ire- 
na3us and ather writers will be fj'md in his works. 

23* 



270 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

monial law was necessary for salvation. Against this eriv>ne- 
ous notion tlie apostle Paul exerted himself with the utmost 
vigor ; and he succeeded in checking its progress among 
the Gentile converts. It still, however, continued to prevail 
among the Christians of Judsa; and after the destruction of 
Jerusalem, in the reign of Hadrian, tliose who persisted in 
maintaining it withdraw to Peraja, or the region beyond the 
Jordan, and formed there a church of their own. They soon, 
however, split into two sects, named Nazarenes and Ebion- 
ites;* each of which had its peculiar gospel, differing from 
those which have been received by the church in general. 
The former, who held that the Mosaic law was binding only 
on Jews, were not regarded as heretics; but the latter, deny- 
ing the miraculous conception of Christ, and asserting that 
the Mosaic law, with all the additions made to it by the tra- 
ditions of the Pharisees, was binding on every one, were nat- 
urally phiced luider that denomination. Neither attained to 
any importance ; and after no very long time their names 
alone remained to testify their former existence. 

On looking through the ancient religions of Europe, from 
the Frozen Ocean to the Mediterranean, one is struck with 
the absence of all j)urely malignant beings: in those of Asia, 
on the contrary, we usually encounter one or more deities 
whose delight is in the production of evil, or whose office is 
destruction. In the Mosaic religion, the evil power is justly 
represented as the mere servant of the supreme God; but in 
some of the uninspired creeds, he is exalted into the rival and 
enemy of the great Author of good. This system received 
its fullest development in the ancient religion of Persia, 
where, beside the origrinal cause of all, there was a hierarchy 
of good spirits ruled over by a prince nanied Ormuzd, who 
were engaged in ceaseless conflict with Ahriman, the prince 
of darkness, and his subordinate spirits. ^ The Apocryphal 
books of the Jews show that during the Captivity they had im- 
bibed many ideas from the religion of their conquerors; and 
at the time when Christianity was first promulgated, the Ori- 



• That is, The Poor, as the term signifies in Hebrew. The best- 
founded opinion as to its origin is, that it was adopted by themselves 
on account of their humility or poverty. 

f [It should, however, be added, that both Ormuzd and Ahriman 
were subordinate to the supreme first cause, according to this system, 
and that it was a fundamental article that, in the end, Ahriman was to 
be overcome bv Ormuzd. — J. T. S.] 



GNOSTICISM. 271 

ental philosophy, or Gnosis, as this system is denominated, 
was widely spread over western Asia. 

The doctrine of the two principles evidently arose from 
the wish to explain the origin of evil. Nature and reason 
lead man to regard the Supreme Being as purely good. That 
evil could not proceed frozTi him was manifest; whence, then, 
the ills of nature and the vice and pains of man? Matter 
which composed the parts of the world and the bodies of man 
was an apparent cause; but matter, sluggish and inert, could 
hardly be supposed to have organized itself, and produced the 
beauty, order, and harmony, so conspicuous in the material 
world ; and if that task was assigned to the Deity, he became, 
by necessary inference, the author of all the evil that thence 
resulted. There must therefore have been some intelligent 
being the author of evil. On the subject of the nature of this 
being there was much difference of opinion. Some regarded 
him as equa' to and coeternal with the good Deity; others 
held him to be generated of matter; others, again, maintained 
that he wa-i the offspring of the Deity, who, from pride and 
envy, had rebelled against the author of his being, and erected 
a separate state for himself. Many viewed the creator of the 
world as one of the spirits generated by the Deity, who was 
moved to his work by a sudden impulse, and acted with the 
approbation of the Deity, from whom pride afterwards caused 
him to fall off, and to seduce men to disobedience. Others 
thought he had a natural tendency lo evil; others, that, like 
the wo/ld and man, his work, he was composed of both good 
and evil. All agree'd in the belief of an eternal warfare be- 
tween the good and evil principles. 

The professors of this philosophy gave to the good being 
the fppellation of Depth, ( A'v^oc,) on account of his unfathom- 
able nature; they named his abode the Fulness, (/JArjouH/u,) 
a v.-ist expanse resplendent with everlasting light. Here he 
abode for ages in solitude and silence, till at length, moved 
by .'jome secret impulse, he begat of himself two intelligences, 
of/'i of either sex. These gave being to others, who becom- 
vig progenitors in their turn, the region of light was gradual- 
.'( peopled with a numerous family of blessed spirits; but the 
/"arther their remove, in the order of birth, from the original 
•jjarent, the less was their degree of goodness, knowledge, and 
power. To the higher class of these spirits was given the 
name of ^Eons, ( /((Jj*'fc,) or eternal beings. 

Matter lay, rude and undigested, far beyond the realms of 
light. It was agitated by turbulent, irregular, mtestinal mo- 



272 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

tions, and contained in it the seeds of moral and natural 
evil. In this condition it was found by the JEon, who was to 
give it form. This being, named the Demiurge {Jrjuiovayo, j 
or Worker, having fashioned the world, fdled it with men and 
other animals, giving them particles of the divine essence to 
animate their material bodies. He then threw off his allegi- 
aiice to the author of his being, assumed the government of 
the world, dividing it into districts, of whicli he assigned 
the government to the inferior spirits who had assisted him 
in the work of creation. The Deity, however, did not aban- 
don the world altogether. Moved with compassion for the 
divine portion of man which was confined in the prison of 
the flesh, and liable to be involved in ignorance and tainted 
with vice, he from time to time sent fortli teachers, endowed 
witli wisdoin and filled with celestial light, to instruct man- 
kind in truth and virtue; but the Demiurge and his associater 
persecuted and slew the divine messengers, and opposed the 
truth by superstition and sensual pleasures. Their efforts 
were but too successful ; a small portion only of mankind 
continued in the worship of the true God and the |)ractice 
of virtue; all the rest were sunk in idolatry and sensuality. 
The former, when freed from their bodies by death, were 
admitted at once into the realms of supernal light; the latter 
were forced to migrate into various bodies ; but the greater 
part, if not all of them, <vill at length be purified and restored 
to their celestial country, and then the Deity will dissolve the 
material world, and reduce it to its primitive state, and vice 
and misery will cease forever. 

The belief of the essential malignity of matter was calcu- 
lated to produce two opposite effects on the moral conduct 
of man. Some would think it their duty to invigorate the 
spirit and keep the bodv under by meditation, by fasting, 
by self-denial, and mortification of every kind. Hence the 
Yogees of Brahmanism, the Fakeers and Dervishes of Mo- 
hammedanism, and the monks of Buddhism and corrupted 
Christianity. Others, maintaining that the essence of piety 
consisted in a knowledge of the Supreme Being, and the 
maintenance of an intercourse with him by contemplation 
and abstraction, and that the pure soul wa.s unaffected by the 
acts of its impure companion, held th;it the practice of virtue 
was not enjoined by the Deity, but was '^nly the artifice of 
the prince of tlie world to keep men in obedience. They 
therefore freely indulged all their sensual propensities. This 
explains the charges of dissoluteness made against some secta 



GNOSTICISM. 273 

of the Gnostics ; but these charges, which are certainly ex- 
aggerated, must not be implicitly received. 

Had this false philosophy remained distinct from Chris- 
tianity, it might have proved comparatively innocuous. But 
the Gnostic piiilosophers looked forward to the appearance 
of another of the divine messengers who were to redeem 
mankind from the tyranny of the Demiurge ; and many of 
them, struck by the miracles of Jesus Christ, and the purity, 
sublimity, and comprehensiveness of his doctrine, which 
tended to abrogate the Mosaic law, (regarded by them as the 
work of the Demiurge,) and overthrow the idolatry of the 
heathen, saw in him the long-expected envoy of heaven, and 
embraced his religion. Their firmly-rooted tenets, however, 
did not accord with its divine simplicity; and they found it 
necessary to modify it considerably. For this purpose, they 
asserted that the religion of Christ consisted of two sets of 
doctrines; the one easy, and suited to the capacity of the 
vulgar, which was contained in the books of the New Testa- 
ment ; the other of a higher nature and deeper import, re- 
vealed by Christ in private to his apostles, for their knowl- 
edge of which they were indebted to Peter, Paul, and 
Andrew ; in whose names they forged various Gospels and 
Epistles. They also maintained that the copies of the New 
Testament in common use had been corrupted, and produced 
what they affirmed to be genuine transcripts of the real 
originals. They moreover appealed to certain books which 
bore the venerable names of Seth, Noah, Abraham, and other 
holy men, as their authors, as well as to those propagated in 
the name of Zoroaster and other Eastern sages. They thus 
were enabled, in conformity with their tenets, to deny that 
the Mosaic law was given by God, to maintain that Christ 
was by nature far inferior to the Father, and that he never 
really assumed a natural body ; and totaliy to reject the doc- 
trine of the resurrection, regarding all the passages relating 
to it as merely figurative. It proved fortunate for Christianity 
that the Gnostics were not united in one consistent body, but 
were divided into several sects; for, agreeing in general princi- 
ples, they differed widely among themselves as to their manner 
of viewing and explaining particular doctrines; and their dis- 
sensions gave their adversaries many advantages in the contest. 
From sundry passages in the apostolic writings,* it may be 
justly inferred that the Gnosis had affected Christianity within 

* Col. ii. 8. 1 Tim. i. 3, 4 ; iv. 1 , seq. ; vi. 20. 2 Tim. ii. 16. Tit. iii. 9. 

I I 



274 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

a very few years from the date of its first promu gation. It 
was not, however, till the second century, and the reign of 
Hadrian, that the Gnostics began to form themselves into 
sects, and became formidable to the church. We will now 
enumerate the principal foui Jers of these sects, and state their 
leading tenets. 

At the head of the Gnostic heretics is usually placed Si- 
mon Magns, who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles ; 
but it is extremely doubtful if he be the Gnostic teacher ; 
and at all events he was an open enemy, and not a secret 
corrupter of Christianity. The same obscurity, hangs over 
Menander and Cerinthus, who are regarded as his successors 
The two former are said to have been Samaritans, the latter 
a Jew. All studied at Alexandria, and all held the leading 
Gnostic tenets. Cerinthus, however, manifested some re- 
spect for the law of Moses, declaring that such parts of it as 
Christ had sanctioned should be observed. He also thought 
more favorably than the Gnostics in general of the creator of 
the world, who, according to him, had acted in creation con- 
formably to the will of the supreme Deity. He did not, 
thercf)re, regard matter as ab.solutely evil, or deny the 
resurrection. According to him, the man Jesus was boru in 
the natural way of Joseph and Mary, and the A^on Christ 
descended on him, at his l)aptism, in the form of a dove; and 
previous to the crucifixion, the JEon returned to the Pleroma, 
leaving the man to suffer the pains of the cross. There ap- 
pear to be no grounds for charging Cerinthus with immoral- 
ity of either life or doctrine. His errors were those of the 
head rather than of the heart. , 

Saturninus, a native of Antioch, was a Gnostic philoso- 
pher, who embraced Christianity in the second century. He 
taught that Satan, the ruler of matter, was coeval with the 
Deity; that the world was created by seven angels, without 
the knowledge of the Deity, who, however, was not dis- 
pleased when he saw it, and breathed into man a rational 
soul; that he then divided the world into seven districts, of 
which he committed the government to the creating angels, 
one of whom was over the Hebrew nation, and gave it a law 
through Moses. Satan, he said, enraged at the creation of 
the world, and the virtue of its inhabitants, formed another 
race of men out of matter, with malignant souls like his own ; 
and hence arose the great moral differences to be observed 
among men. After a time, the founders of the world re- 
belled against God, who sent his Son on earth, arrayed in 



GNOSTIC HERESIES. 275 

an apparent body, to deliver the souls of good men from 
both them and Satan. The moral discipline of Saturniniis 
was ascetic and severe; he discouraged marriage; he en- 
joined abstinence from wine and flesh-meat ; and taught to 
keep under the body, as being formed from matter which 
was in its essence evil and corrupt. 

Wliile Saturninus was spreading his doctrines in Syria, 
an Alexandrian philosopher, named Basilides, who had em- 
braced Christianity, was engaged in diffusing a somewhat 
similar system througii Egypt. The leading principles of 
Gnosticism formed the basis of his system also, in which the 
Deity and the seven ^Eons formed a sacred Ogdoad. Two 
of these yEons, named Wisdom (Sophia) and Power, [Di/na- 
?nis,) generated certain princes, or angels, who, having 
founded a heaven for themselves, generated other inferior 
angels, who, in iheir turn, formed a heaven and generated 
angels, and the process went on till the number of heavens 
was three hundred and sixty-five, which were all under the 
dominion of a supreme lord, who bore the mystic name of 
Abraxas.* The prince of the last of these heavens, which 
lay on the confines of the eternal matter, conceived the idea 
of reducing it to form, which he eflTected with the aid of his 
angels The origin of the vice and misery of man being 
explained in the usual way, but of course with some varia- 
tions, Basilides affirmed that Mind, or Intelligence, (r\of'<;,) 
the first of the seven ^ons, was directed by the Deity to 
descend on earth, and put an end to the dominion of the 
presiding angels, and restore the knowledge of his father 
among them. He therefore took the semblance of a body, 
and, when the god of the Jews caused him to be condemned 
to death, he adopted that of Simon the Cyrencean, who was 
compelled to bear his cross; and it thus was Simon, and not 
.fesus, who, in reality, was crucified. The souls of those 
who obeyed the precepts of Christ would, at death, pass to 
the realms of supreme bliss ; those of the disobedient would 
migrate into the bodies of men and other animals. The 
body being composed of matter, which was incapable of pu- 
rity, would never be raised. The moral system of Basilides 
was extremely rigorous. He asserted the utmost freedom 
of the will, declared that God would forgive no offences but 
those that were involuntary, and regarded the inclination to 

* That is, 365 ; for the letters of it, taken aa numerals, give that nun* 
ber. Of such nonsense is mysticism usually composed 



276 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

any sin as identical with the actual commission of it. Seme 
of the followers of Basilides, however, abusing the maxim 
that " to the pure all things are pure," and asserting that the 
soul is unaffected by the acts of its material companion, 
plunged into vice and licentiousness. 

Another Alexandrian, named Carpocrates, the contemporary 
of Basiiides, also became the founder of a sect. His theo- 
logical principles appear not to have differed nmch from the 
ordinary Gnostic ones. Writers are unanimous in describing 
his moral system as licentious in the extreme. In their 
accounts there is, probably, as usual, much exaggeration ; 
but it is certain that he held that there was no natural dis- 
tinction between good and evil ; and that women, and all 
other things, should be common. We know not, however, 
how these principles may have been modified, so as to make 
them accord witii the notions of the Deity, and the necessity 
of virtue, common to him with all the Gnostic sects. 

The reputation and influence of these hcresiarchs were 
far eclipsed by those of Valentine, another Alexandrian, and 
a presbyter of the church. After spreading his system among 
his countrymen, he went to Rome, where he made such a 
number of proselytes, that the church, in alarm, excommuni- 
cated him as a heretic. He then took up his abode in the 
isle of Cyprus, and openly became the head of a sect which 
was soon very widely diffused. 

The system of Valentine, as transmitted to us by the an- 
cient Fathers, is so intricate that we cannot undertake to 
give an account of it. It also, in wildness and absurdity, 
seems to transcend all others; but, no doubt, many things 
have been misunderstood ; and to others Valentine might 
have been able to give a tolerably rational appearance. He 
placed in the Pleroma thirty yEons, fifteen of either sex, 
which he divided into three orders. To these he added 
four others of a different nature. Two of these last were 
named Christ and Holy Ghost; and the last of the ^ons 
was Jesus, the most noble of them, who was formed by the 
ilnited efforts of all the others.. One of the female ^Eons, 
named Sophia, produced a daughter, who was called Acha- 
moth, and who, beirig expelled from the Pleroma, became, by 
a long and intricate course, the origin of the world, the his- 
tory of whose creation, and of the nature of man, is related 
with more complexity than in the other Gnostic systems, with 
which that of Valentine agrees in all the main points. The 
moral system founded on this theology by Valentine, was 



GNOSTICS. 277 

strict, and free from impurity ; but many of his followers 
made it sanction their sensuality and vice. 

Many other sects, founded on the doctrine of the two prin- 
ciples, are enumerated by ancient writers ; but as they never 
were of any importance, we need not notice them. The 
names of Bardesanes, Tatian, and Marcion, however, demand 
some attention. 

Bardesanes was a Christian of Edessa, and a writer in the 
defence of his faith in the time of Marcus Aurelius. He 
adopted and modified the Oriental doctrine, and became the 
founder of a sect ; but he afterwards returned to the church, 
and opposed his own doctrines. Tatian, a native of Assyria, 
was also a writer in the cause of his religion ; and, in like 
manner, he embraced the doctrine of the two principles. 
His exact theological tenets are not known, but his moral 
system was ascetic in the extreme; for he enjoined his dis- 
ciples to renounce wedlock, abstain from animal food, and 
live in solitude, on the slightest and most meagre diet, and 
even to use water instead "of wine in the Lord's Supper. 
Marcion, the son of a bishop in Pontus, being excommunica- 
ted by his own father for either his immorality or his heresy, 
came to Rome; where, being unable to obtain readmission 
into the church, he joined a Syrian named Cerdo, and be- 
came the head of a sect which spread widely and continued 
long. His system contained the usual doctrine of the two 
opposite principles, and of the separate creator of the world, 
and of the unreal body of Christ. His rule of life was 
ascetic, and so severe as to make death an object of desire, 
rather than of apprehension. 

On taking a general view of the different modifications of 
Gnosticism, we find them all agreeing in recognizing the 
eternity of matter; in regarding the founder of the world as 
totally distinct from the supreme Deity ; in believing the 
bodies of men to have been formed by the former being, 
while their souls proceeded from the latter ; and in maintain- 
ing that the body, when once dissolved by death, would never 
be reanimated ; while the soul, if it flung off the yoke of the 
creator of the world, would ascend to the realms of light and 
happiness. The Asiatic Gnostics, holding to the ancient 
Oriental principle, believed in the existence of a separate 
prince of matter, the author of evil; but this prince was un- 
known to the systems of the Egyptian Gnostics, who, on the 
other hand, introduced into them Egyptian notions respect- 

CONTIN, 34 •' ' ■ 



278 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

inor the heavens, the stars, the descent and ascent of souls, 
and similar fancies. 

The asceticism which springs from the doctrine of the 
evil nature of matter, and the consequent necessity of deliv- 
ering the soul from the influence of the body, lies at the 
foundation of the greater part of the errors and corruptions 
into which the church fell. The Mosaic law, notwithstand- 
ing its numerotis ceremonial observances, was a cheerful 
system; and Christianity, that ''perfect law of liberty," as it 
is most justly called, is decidedly opposed to all austerity and 
rigor. Yet we find, even in the second century, the germs 
of those opinions and practices which gradually brought in 
monkery and its attendant evils. At this time appeared in 
Phrygia a heretic named Montanus, whose opinions were em- 
braced by Tertullian, one of the most distinguished Fathers 
of the church at the time, and whose system imbodied many 
of the rigorous principles above alluded to, which had hith- 
erto l>een little more than the peculiar notions of individ- 
ual Christians. This visionary (for sucli he appears to have 
been) conceived that the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete promised 
to the apostles, had descended on himself, for the purpose 
of empowering him to foretell future events, and establishing 
a more rigorous system of morals than that founded on the 
precepts of Christ and his apostles. He drew over numbers 
to his opinions, among whom were two wealthy women named 
Priscilla and Maximilla, from the former of whom the sect 
received one of its appellations, th;it of Priscillianists. His 
disciples, as well as himself, pretended to the gift of proph- 
ecy, and the sect spread rapidly through the empire. The 
bishops of Asia excommunicated Montanus and his followers, 
and their example was followed by the prelates in other parts; 
but the sect continued to exist in a sej)arale state. 

The principal features in the doctrine of Montanus were 
the injunction of a greater frequency, and greater rigor, in 
fasting, than had as yet prevailed in the church ; * the for- 
bidding of second marriages; the absolute and irrevocable 
excommunication of adulterers, as well as of murderers and 
idolaters; the requiring virgins, as well as widows and wives, 
(to whom the usage had hitherto been confined,) to wear 
veils; the forbidding Christians, in time of persecution, to 
seek their safety in flight, or purchase it from the heathen 

• The only fest hitherto observed in the church was tliat of Passion- 
week. 



THE PASCHAL FEAST. *279 

magistrates. Morrtanus, also, as may be inferred from the 
writings of his follower Tertullian, prohibited all kinds of 
costly attire, and ornaments of the person, and discouraged 
the cultivation of letters and philosophy. In all these opin- 
ions, as we have said, he did little more than enforce prin- 
ciples which had long been held by the more rigorous 

members of the church ; but while these had maintained \ 

them in a spirit of meekness and charity, he arrogantly im- I 

posed them as the dictates of the Holy Spirit, whom, con- \ 

sequently, those who refused to submit to these trifling and ; 

irrational precepts, would incur the guilt of resisting. This, 1 

combined with his absurd and dangerous prophecies, fully, ; 

we think, justified the church in refusing to hold communion \ 

with him. I 

Another source of heresy, in this period, was the nature ; 

of Christ. Praxeas, an opponent of Mohtanus, denied all | 

distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; \ 

and affirmed that it was the Father, the sole God, that took \ 

a human body in the person of Christ. Hence his follow- 1 

ers were named Monarchians and Patripassians. On the \ 

other hand, Theodotus and Artemon denied the divinity of \ 

Christ, and maintained that his superior excellence was ) 

solely owing to his body being divinely begotten. I 

The dispute of greatest magnitude in the church, during s 
this period, was that respecting the Paschal feast, or day . 
of the institution of the Lord's Supper. This the Asiatic \ 
Christians kept on the fourteenth day of the first Jewish \ 
month, the day of the Passover, alleging the authority of the 
apostles Philip and John. But as this interrupted the great | 
fast of Passion-week observed by the church, all the other I 
Christians deferred it till the eve of the day of the resurrec- ] 
tion, resting on the authority of the apostles Peter and Paul, 
As the day of the Passover was variable, depending on the I 
moon, (the Jewish months being lunar,) there was this fur- 
ther inconvenience, that the third day from it, that of the j 
resurrection, did not always fall on the first day of the week, * 
the day fixed by the church for its observance. Various I 
attempts having therefore been made, to no purpose, to get j 
lid of this anomaly, toward the close of the second centu- ^ 
ry, Victor, bishop of Rome, supported by several provincial \ 
councils, wrote in very dictatorial terms to the churches of ' 
Asia, requiring them to conform to the priactice of the other 
churches; and, when they returned a spirited refusal, he was 
proceeding to excommunicate them, when iTenaeus, bishop 



i i 



280 THE CHKISTIAN CHURCH. 

of Gaut, interposed, and a compromise was effected. The 
Asiatics, however, retained their peculiar usage till the tiine 
of the council of Nicaia. 

We will now proceed to notice the government and doc- 
trines of the clmrch during the second and third centuries. 

Each clmrch, /. e. congregation, with its bishop and pres- 
byters, was independent, forming a little republic, presided 
over by magistrates chosen by the people, and each meas- 
ure of moment was decided by the popular voice. These 
churches were at first confined to the cities and towns ; 
but, gradually, as the faith was spread among the country 
people, churches were formed in the villages, over which 
were set presbyters, sent by the church in the adjacent city 
or large town, who exercised nearly all the functions of the 
bishop, and were therefore named Chorepiscopi, i. e. rural 
bishops. These daughter-churches were, however, like all 
others, independent; but they testified a filial reverence for 
the church which had founded them, and whose authority 
they in some sort recognized. By degrees, it became the 
practice for the churches of a province to form themselves 
into ati association, and to hold conventions for the discus- 
sion of matters of common interest, at which the churches 
were represented by their bishops. This practice is said to 
nave originated in Greece ; and it is easy to recognize the 
resemblance between these Synods, {2:uioi)<u,) as they were 
called by the Greeks, or Councils, {Concilia,) as they were 
styled by the Latins, and the ancient Amphictyonies, and 
the Si/iwfls of the Achsean and ^Elolian Leagues.* The 
laws and regulations made in these assemblies were termed 
Canons, (yv'iiojf.,) i. f. rules. 

The introduction of these councils caused a great alter- 
ation in the constitution of the church.. The origina. rights 
of the peoj)le became, in consequence of them, nearly eva- 
nescent, for every matter of importance was now determined 
by the councils. On the other hand, the dignity and au- 
tliority of the prelates was proportionably enlarged. Their 
tone grew bolder, and they now spoke of themselves as the 
legitimate successors of the apostles, and empowered to im- 
pose laws by their own authority. The primitive equality 
among the bishops themselves also disappeared ; for, as it 
was necessary that a council should have a president, the 
t>ffice was bestowed on the bishop of tlie chief city of th« 

* See History of Greece, pp. 24 and 440. 



1 1 



GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH. 281 

province, which city was naturally selected as the most ap- 
propriate place for holding the council. Hence arose the | I 
title and dignity of Metropolitan ; and further, as councils \ 
became more extensive, and began to include the prelates of i } 
more provinces than one, it was deemed expedient to have a | \ 
chief ibr each division of the earth included in the Roman j ' 
empire ; and a tacit superiority was therefore conceded to 
the bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, with prece- 
dence to the first, on account of the greater dignity of the 
city in which he resided. These three ecclesiastical poten- 
tates were afterwards named Patriarchs. In this manner, 
from the smallest beginnings, arose the Hierarchy of the 
church, which, in course of time, attained to such an as- 1 1 
tounding eminence. j I 

The high authority of the Hebrew Scriptures enabled the | f 

ministers of the church to enlarge their pretensions to an- \. i 

thority. They conceived or represented themselves to have , | 

succeeded to all the rights of the Jewish priesthood. The I I 

bishop accordingly claimed the rights and authority of the t | 

high-priest ; the presbyters those of the ordinary priests I j 

the deacons those of the Levites. Hence followed the de^ j | 

mand of tithes and first-fruits, which there is abundant rea- 1 1 

son to suppose was made even before the third century 1 1 

It is not unlikely that it was also these Jewish notions that 1 1 

gave origin to the distinction of clergy and laity,* which 1 1 

very early prevailed in the church. f fj 

In the third century we find among the clergy a variety 1 1 

of inferior officers, such as Sub-deacons, Acolyths, (^attend- | i 

ants,) Ostiaries, (floor-keepers,) Readers, and Exorcists. As | | 

these performed duties which had hitherto been discharged f I 

by the deacons, we see nothing improbable in the supposition i | 

that they were indebted for their origin to the pride of these i | 

last-named ministers, who now confined themselves to the ii 

more honorable functions of their office, devolving the more || 

menial ones on an inferior class of persons. Perhaps, how- | ^ 

ever, the more simple solution will be found in the principle I 

of the division of labor, which the great increase of the | 

church may now have called into operation. I 

Such, then, was the appearance presented by the Chris- f 

tian church at the close of the third century. The distinc- I 

tion was drawn clear and broad between the clergy and the ] 

laity; the former forming an order variously subdivided, | 

* KktiQixol, from xkiiooc, lot or office; XuCxol, from Xaog, people. 
24* " J J 



282 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

and claiming peculiar privileges. Were we to adopt the 
assertions of Cyprian, Eusebius, and other Christian writers, 
who find the causes of all the persecutions in the vices of 
the clergy, we should view them as utterly depraved ; but 
these writers indulged too much in rhetorical exaggeration 
to deserve implicit credit ; and though it must be conce- 
ded, tl it pride, ambition, avarice, luxury, and other vices, 
defiled the purity of the Christian priesthood, the truth is 
probaby contained in the assertion of Origen, that, though 
such was undoubtedly the case, the preeminence, in point 
of virtue, in the Christian ministers, as compared with the 
heathen magistrates and other persons in office, was incon- 
testable. They were, in fact, men, and, as such, of different 
degrees of moral worth; if some were eminently bad, others 
were as eminently good, :ind the great majority indifferent. 
FiniiUy, to repeat an observation already made, the errors 
or vices of its professors cannot be laid to the charge of the 
Christian religion. 

The first Christians, mostly selected from the humbler walks 
of life, bad been ignorant or careless of literature and phi- 
losophy ; but, in tl)e course of time, philosophers were num- 
bered among the converts to Christianity, and their attempts 
at making it liarmonize with their previous notions, were a 
principal cause of its corruption. We have already shown 
this in the case of the Gnostics; and we shalTnow briefly 
exhibit the iiifluciice of the philosophy of Greece on the 
doctrines of the church. 

The first philosopher who appears to have joined the 
Christian society, Wiis Justin, named the Martyr. He was 
a Platonist; and such also were most of the other Christian 
philosophers, for the tenets of Plato were those which ap- 
peared most akin to the doctrines of the gospel. But it was 
the Eclectic Platonism of Alexandria that was chiefly fol- 
lowed by the Christians, who had a seminary in that city, 
named the Cateclietic School, which was successively pre- 
sided over by Panttenus, Athenagoras, and Clement, and. in 
which the attempt was made to bring religion and philosophy 
into unison. A contest prevailed between the followers of 
this system .-Mid ihe advocates for gospel simplicity ; but the 
victory was on the side of the former, and the formation, 
toward the end of the second century, of the sect of the 
, New Platonists, by the celebrated Ammonins Saocas, as- 

} sured their triumph and the corruption of the gospel. The 

learned among the Christians now began, like the Gnostics^ 



CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHr. 283 

to maintain, that in the Scriptures there was, beside the lite- 
ral sense, a latent and higher one; for thus only could their 
nairatives and precepts be made to accord with the new 
philosophic ideas. In this they followed the example of the 
Jewish Platcnist, Philo, who had already employed this sys- 
tem to some extent ; and any one who peruses his writings, 
or those of Justin, Clement of Alexandria, and the other 
early Christian philosophers, will easily perceive how widely 
it departs from all the principles of sane interpretation. As, 
however, many saw the danger of making such high matters 
known to the simple and ignorant, the plan of the old Egyp- 
tian priesthood was adopted, and the principles of their re- 
ligion were taught to the people with all plainness and sim- 
plicity, while the philosophic interpretation was reserved for 
the more advanced in faith, and even to them only commu- 
nicated orally. Hence arose what has been termed the Se- 
cret Discipline, {Disciplina Arcani ;) that is, in effect, mystic 
theology. Hence, too, followed a similar distinction in mor- 
als ; there was one rule for the multitude, another for the 
aspirants to higher sanctity and to perfection. These last 
were, on the Gnostic principles already explained, to seek 
retirement and mortify the flesh, avoiding marriage and all 
indulgence of the senses; while the former were left to live 
like other men, to engage in the affairs of the world, and 
become the fathers and mothers of families. This was the 
origin of hermits, monks, and coenobites, of whom we shall 
hereafter treat more largely. 

A twofold distinction in the discipline and ceremoij,ies of 
the church speedily followed. These philosophizing Chris- 
tians, reflecting on the mysteries of the heathen religions, 
thought that it would be becoming to have something sim- 
ilar in the church. The laity was therefore divided into the 
Profane and the Initiated or Faithful ; the former, who had 
either not been yet baptized, (such being named Catechu- 
mens or learners,*) or those who for some oflence had been 
expelled from the communion of the Faithful, were only adt 
mitted to a portion of the divine service; while the latter 
enjoyed all the rights and privileges of the full Christian, 
voting in the assemblies, being present at all parts of the 
service, and partaking of the Agapas or Love-feasts, and 
of the Lord's Supper. A holy silence toward the profane 
respecting these mysteries was required from them. The 

* Ot xoiTrixorutroty the being, instructed. 



284 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

terms belonging to the heathen mysteries were freely and 
fondly employed, and baptism and the Eucharist were re- 
garded as of the most awful import, and far removed from 
tlieir original simplicity. In the former, which was publicly 
administered every year, at Easter and Whitsuntide, by the 
bishop or presbyters, the persons to be baptized, after they 
had repeated the creed and confessed, and renounced their 
sins, were immersed in water, signed with the cross, anoint- 
ed, and by prayer and imposition of hands dedicated to God. 
They then, in token of the new birth, received iiidk and 
honey, and the ceremony thus concluded. The Lord's Sup- 
per was administered every Sunday. . A portion of the bread 
which formed a part of the ordinary oblations of the faithful, 
was separated, and was consecrated by the prayers of the 
bishop; and it then was divided and distributed, as also was 
the wine when it had been previously mixed with water.* A 
portion of both the elements was sent to those who were 
sick or absent. This rite was regarded as absolutely neces- 
sary to salvation, and there appears reason to believe that 
even in the second century the superstition respecting it was 
such as to cause it to be administered to infants. 

It is manifest, that in form, in discipline, and in doctrine, 
the church was no longer what it had been in the days of the 
apostles. Some of the changes were the necessary conse- 
quence of the progress of time and the alteration of circum- 
stances ; but others, and by far the greater in number, and 
most pernicious in effi'ct, had been introduced in imitation 
of the Jewish hierarchy, of the mysteries of the heathen re- 
ligion, and its rites and ceremonies, or from the desire to 
make Christianity correspond with the philosophy of the 
East, or with that of Plato. Though the effect was inju- 
rious, the motives of the authors of the changes were, in 
general, pure, and they acted more from ignorance than 
design. 

During this period, the church began to have a literature 
of its own. The apostolic Fathers, (as those are named 
who had been contemporaneous with any of the apostles,) 
Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Hermas, Ignatius, and Poly- 
carp, have left some writings, all, with the exception of a 
triHiMg allegory, the Shepherd of Hermas, in the epistolary 
form. But some are .spurious, and others have suffered from 

' Blood and water having flowed from the side of Jesus when ho 
was pierced with the spear. 



FATHERS OF THJE CHURCH. 2S5 

interpolation ; and they are of little value, except as witnesses 
of the doctrine of the church in their time. The.r immense 
inferiorit}' to those of St. Paul is very striking. In the sec- 
ond century flourished Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, and 
Theophilus, who wrote Apologies or defences of the Chris- 
tian religion, beside treatises on various subjects. Irenaeus, 
bishop of Lyons, in Gaul, has left a work, in five books, 
against heresies, whence we chiefly derive our knowledge of 
them. Clement of Alexandria, a man of great learning, but 
too eager to find the heathen philosophy in the Jewish and 
Christian Scriptures, was the author of numerous works; 
three of which, namely, the Paedagogue, the Exhortation, and 
the Stromata, or Patchwork, have come down to our times. 
The only Latin writer remaining from this century is Ter- 
tullian, bishop of Carthage, a man of vigorous capjicity, but 
feeble in judgment, and morose and melancholy in temper. 
His style possesses strength, but wants elegance ; and his 
arguments are rather rhetorical, than correct and con- 
vincing. 

The principal Greek writers of the third century were 
Julius Africanus, Dionysius the Great, bishop of Alexandria, 
Gregory, bishop of New Caesarea, (named Thaumaturgus, 
i. e. Wonder-worker, from the miracles which he was said 
to have wrought,) Methodius, and Hippolytus; but their 
works, which were not of a high order, have mostly perished. 
Far superior to all of this or the preceding age was Origen, 
a presbyter of Alexandria, a man of most extensive learning, 
of profound piety, and of high talent; but in whom, as in 
most of the Fathers, imagination largely preponderated over 
judgment. 

The Latin writers of thus century were Cyprian, bishop 
of Carthage, and the two apologists, Arnobius and Minu- 
cius Felix. Cyprian was pious and eloquent ; but his style 
is too rhetorical, and his temper was too haughty and ovep 
bearing. 



HISTORY 



THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 



PART III. 

THE CHRISTIAN EMPERORS. 



CHAPTER I.* 
DIOCLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN. 
* A. u. 10:38— 1058. a.d. 285— 4J05. 

BTATE OF THE EMPIRE. CI^ARACTER OF DIOCLETIAN. IM- 
PERIAL POWER DIVIDED. THE BAGAUDS. CARAUSIUS. 

REBELLION IN EIJYPT. PERSIAN WAR. TRIUMPH OF THE 

EMPERORS. — -THEIR RESIGNATION. PERSECUTION OF THE 

CHURCH. 

The Roman empire hnd now lasted for three centuries. 
During that period, the forms of the republic under which 
the policy of Augustus had concealed the despotism of the 
imperial rule, had been silently laid aside, and the people 
were become accustomed to the display of arbitrary power, 
uplield by the arms of the soldiery. Occasionally, a faint 
gleam of the ancient Roman spirit broke forth, as in the 
time of the emperor Tacitus ; but the general aspect pre- 
sented by the inhabitants of the Eternal City, as it now 
began to be called, was that of a sensual, enervated nobility, 
and a beggarly, turbulent populace. The provinces, enjoy- 

* Authorities : The Epitomators, the Panegyrists, and Lactantius. 



A. D. 285.] CHARACTER OF DIOCLETIAN. 287 

ing the rights of whieh Rome had once been so jealous, 
exhibited more of virtue and of vigor; and nearly all the 
emperors, for the two last centuries, had been provincials by 
origin. While the civil condition of the empire was thus 
undergoing inevitable change, its ancient systems of religion 
were last receding before that of the gospel, and an expe- 
rienced eye might easily discern that the final triumph of the 
latter was certain. We are now to witness that triumph, to 
behold, at the same time, the Roman emperors assuming the 
pomp and parade of the monarchs of the East, the irruptions 
of the barbarians becoming every day more formidable, and 
the empire of the West finally sinking beneath their attacks. 

Diocletian, into whose hands the empire had now fallen, 
was another of those able IHyrian peasants whom their own 
talents and m«rits had raised to the height of imperial pow-i^: 
cr. He is said to have been the freedman, or the son of a 
freedman, of a Roman senator named Anulinus. The place 
of his birth was a small town in Dalraatia.* He entered 
the army, and gradually rose to the post of commander of 
the body-guards, which he held when the votes of his com- 
panions in arms invested him with the purple. Good sense 
and prudence were the distinguishing features in the character 
of the new emperor. His courage was calm and collected, 
rather than impetuous ; and he never employed force where 
policy could avail. In this, as in some other points, he re- 
sembled Augustus ; and the personal courage of both has 
accordingly been called into question by malignant or super- 
ficial observers. The empire which Augustus had founded 
Diocletian remodelled, and his name stands at the head of 
a new order of things. 

Diocletian used his victory over Carinus with a modera- 
tion which had never hitherto been equalled. None of the 
adherents of his adversary suffered in life, fortune, or honor. 
Though unversed in letters, and ignorant of the philosophy 
of the schools, he appreciated the mild philosophy of M. Au- 
relius, and declared his intention of making him his model 
in the art of government. In imitation of that emperor, or, 
more probably, from the suggestion of his own sound judg- 
ment, he resolved to give himself a partner in the empire... 

The extensive frontiers of the Roman dominion were now, 

J 

* Its name is supposed to have been Doclia, from a tribe of Illyrians, 
and his own name was probably Docles, which he Hellenized to Dio- 
des, and then Latinized to Diocletianus. See Gibbon, eh. xiii. The 
Gentile name of his patron was apparently Valerius. 



283 DIOCLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN. [a. D. 5:86-287 

SO constantly and so vigorously assailed by the Persians and 
Germans, that no single person could attend to their defence, 
and experience had shown that generals intrusted with the 
command of large armies, might become the rivals of their 
sovereigns. The person whom Diocletian fixed on as 
his colleague was his ancient mate in arms, Maximianus, 
who, born a peasant in the district of Sirmium, had, like 
himself, risen solely by merit. A second Marius, Maxiinian 
was rude, brutal, and ferocious, a brave soldier, an able 
officer, but neither a general nor a statesman of any account. 
For the superior wisdom and knowledge of Diocletian, he 
had the utmost respect, and he always stood in awe of hio 
genius. It is remarkable that Diocletian was able to exer- 
cise as much influence over the rude Maximian, as Aurelius 
had possessed over the luxurious Verus — a proof, perhaps, 
of his greater force of mind. 

Diocletian first conferred on his friend the dignity of a 
Caesar, and then raised him to the more elevated rank of an 
Augustus, (Apr. 1,286.) On this occasion, the emperors 
assumed, the one the surname of Jovius, the other that of 
Herculius, in allusion to their different characters, and the 
parts they were to bear in the state. Diocletian retained 
for himself the administration of the provinces of the East, 
and fixed on Nicomedia as his place of residence ; to Max- 
imian he assigned those of the West, and Milan became his 
imperial abode. 

In the following year, (287,) Maximian found employmen'. 
for his arms in suppressing an insurrection of the peasantry 
of Gaul, who, under the name of Bagauds, a term of dubious 
origin,* were spreading devastation through the country. It 
is remarkable that, at ail periods of her history, France has 
presented the spectacle of a rural population reduced to the 
extreme of misery by the oppression of an aristocracy, or of 
the government. Predial servitude to a tyrannic nobility 
was the condition iu which the Romans found the Gallic 
peasantry ; under their own dominion, the same system was 
continued, and the evil was acgravated by the weight of 
taxation, and the insolence of a haughty soldiery. The 
Franks and other German conquerors succeeded to this 
power, and transmitted it to the feudal lords of the middle 
ages, with whose descendants it continued to the close of the 

" It is derived by some from the Celtic Bagad., a tumultuous as 
sembly. 



A. D. 2S9.] THE BAGAUDS. 289 

eighteenth century; and, in consequence of the extreme di- 
vision of landed property which has since taken place, and 
the high direct taxes imposed on the proprietors, the govern- 
ment appears likely to become, ere long, the owner of the 
far greater part of the produce of the soil, and the cultiva- 
tors to, sink gradually to the condition of the serfs, their 
ancestors. 

The j at qurj-ie, or insurrection of the French peasantry, in 
the fourteenth century, as narrated in the graphic and ani- 
mated pages of Froissart, will enable us to form a conception 
of the rising of the Bagauds, in the fourth century. In both 
cases, the insurgents were unable to make head against the 
fully-armed troops opposed to them ; in both, the vengeance 
taken on them was cruel and remorseless. 

The leaders of the Bagauds, named iElianus and Aman- 
dus, had assumed the imperial ensigns; their coins may still 
be seen ; but their ambition was short-lived. A more fortu- 
nate usurper appeared in Britain. The Franks and other 
German tribes of the north coast having now begun to ad- 
dict themselves to piracy, a Roman fleet was stationed at 
Boulogne, (Bononia,) in order to protect the coasts of Gaul 
and Britain from their ravages. The command of this fleet 
was given to Carausius, a native of that country, (i. e. a Me- 
napian,) a man of very low origin, but skilled in navigation, 
and of approved courage. It was soon discovered that the 
pirates used to pass down the channel unobserved or unmo- 
lested, but that they were apt to be intercepted on their re- 
turn, and that a considerable part of the booty gained from 
them never found its way into the imperial treasury. Max- 
imian, convinced of the guilt of the admiral, gave orders for 
his death ; but the fleet was devoted to Carausius, and he 
passed with it over to Britain, and, having induced the legion 
and the auxiliaries stationed there to declare for him, he 
boldly assumed the purple ; and the emperors, after some 
fruitless attempts to reduce him, were obliged (289) to ac- 
knowledge his rank and title. 

It soon appeared that even two emperors would not suflice 
for the defence of the provinces, and Diocletian resolved to 
associate two other generals in the imperial power. Under 
the title of Caesars, they were to rank beneath the emperors, 
but their power was to be absolute in the parts of the empire 
assigned them. The persons selected were Galerins Max- 
imianus, a native of Dacia named Armentarius, from his 

CONTIN. 25 K K 



290 DIOCLiriAN AND MAXIMIAN. [a. D. 296. 

original employment of a herdsman, and Constantius,* a 
grand-nephew in the female line of the emperor Claudius. 
The former was, as might be expected, rude aiid martial; 
the latter, though a soldier from his youth, was polisiied in 
maimers, and mild and. amiable in temper. Perliaps it was 
in imitation of the policy of Augustus, that Diocletian re- 
quired the Cajsars to divorce their wives and marry the 
daughters of himself and his colleague. He bestowed the 
hand of his own daughter Valeria on Galerius, and Theo- 
dora, the stepdaughter of Maximian, became the wife of 
Constantius. For himself Diocletian reserved Thrace, 
Egypt, and the Asiatic provinces, while his Cajsar Galerius 
governed tlioso on the Danube ; Maximian held Italy and 
Africa ; his Ccesar Constantius had charge of Spain, Gaul, 
and Britain. 

The power of Carausius, the ruler of this last-named 
island, was now at its height; by repressing the incursions 
of the Caledonians and the invasions of the Germans, he pre- 
served internal tranquillity ; his fleets rode triumphant on 
the ocean, and he still retained Boulogne and its district on 
the continent. But the loss of a rich province was galling 
to the pride and the dignity of the empire, and Constantius 
undertook the task of reducing the British ruler, (29'2.) By 
running a mole across the harlior of Boulogne, he obliged 
that town and a great part of the usurper's fleet to surrender. 
While he was preparing a fleet for the invasion of the island, 
he received intelligence of the death of Carausius, who was 
assassinated (294) by Allectus, his principal minister. The 
murderer assumed the vacant power and dignity, and more 
than two years elapsed before Constantius had assembled a 
fleet and army sufficient to attempt the recovery of the island. 
At length, (296,) he prepared to invade it in three separate 
places. The first division, under the praetorian prefect As- 
clepiodotus, put to sea on a stormy day, and by the favor 
of a fog having escaped the fleet of Allectus, which lay off 
the Isle of Wight, effected a landing in the West. As soon 
as his troops had debarked, the prefect set fire to his sliip- 
pin'i;. Allectus, who had taken his station with a large army 
fet London, to await the arrival of Constantius, hastened to 
<he West; but his troops were few and dispirited, and after a 

" H(? is nsually named Chlorus, from his pnllid hue, as it xould 
appear, though the Panegyrist (v. 10) speaks of his rubor. Tillemont 
rays that it is only in the later Greek writers that his Ofi(ne Chlorus 
aupears. 



A. D. 296.J PERSIAN WAR 291 

brief conflict he was defeated and slain.* Constantius, when 
he landed, met with no opposition ; and this noble island was 
thus, after a separation of ten years, reunited to the empire. 

Africa and Egypt gave at this time occupation to the two 
emperors. In the former, a man named Julian assumed the 
purple at Carthage, and five confederated Moorish tribes in- 
vaded the province. But, on the appearance of Maximian, 
Julian stabbed himself, and the Moors were easily defeated, 
and forced to abandon their mountain fastnesses. In Egypt, 
one Achilleus had assumed the purple at Alexandria, and 
the Blemmyans were ravaging the valley of the Upper Nile. 
Diocletian sat down with a large army before Alexandria : 
he cut off the aqueducts which supplied it with water, and 
strongly secured his camp against the sallies of the besieged ; 
and after eight months the rebellious city was obliged to sur- 
render at discretion. A severe vengeance was taken, and 
many thousands of the inhabitants were slaughtered ; the 
cities of Busiris and Coptos were totally destroyed, and all 
Egypt suffered by sentences of death or exile. To oppose 
an effectual barrier to the incursions of the Blemmyans, the 
emperor induced the Nobetae or Nubians to quit their abodes 
in the deserts, and settle in the country about Syene and the 
Cataracts, which he resigned to them on the condition of 
their guarding that frontier of the empire. While he re- 
mained in Egypt, Diocletian made many wise laws and regu- 
lations, calculated to promote the happiness and prosperity of 
the country. f 

A war ensued with Persia, on account of Armenia. We 
have seen that, from the time of Augustus, the Roman em- 
perors had claimed and exercised the right of bestowing the 
investiture of that kingdom. After the defeat, however, of 
Valerian, the Persian monarch, having caused the Armenian 
king Chosroes to be assassinated, had made himself master 
of the country. Tiridates, the infant son of the murdered 
monarch, was saved by his friends, and committed to the care 
of the Roman emperors. He grew up strong, active, dex- 
terous in the use of arms, and undauntedly courageous ; and 

* Compare the invasion of England by William the Norman. 

t Among others, he directed that a strict search should be made " for 
all the ancient books which treated of the admirable art of making gold 
and silver," and committed them to the flames. This Is the earliest 
mention of the vain science of alchemy. See Gibbon, [chap, xiii.] 
This folly st'll prevails in the East. See Fraaer's Travels in Kobrdis- 
tan, &c., for an instance at the presenft day. 



292 DIOCLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN. [a. D. 296-297 

he won tlie warm friendship of Licinius, the sworn mate and 
friend of Galerius. At the instance of this last, Diocletian 
declared Tiridates king of Armenia; and as soon as the new 
monarch appeared on the frontiers, (286,) the Armenians, 
weary of the insults and oppression of the Persians, received 
him with transports of joy. The Persian garrisons were 
speedily driven out of the country; and, as a civil war was 
raging at the time among the Sassanian princes, Tiridates 
was able not only to recover Armenia, but to carry his arms 
into Assyria, When, however, the civil conflict terminated, 
and Narses was acknowledged king of Persia, the whole force 
of the empire was turned against the revolted Armenians, 
and Tiridates was once more obliged to seeii. the protection 
of the Roman emperors. 

As the language of Narses now became insolent and 
menacing, atid prudence and honor alike demanded the 
restoration of Tiridates, Diocletian prepared for war, (29G.) 
Fixing his own abode at Antioch, he committed the conduct 
of the war to Galerius, whom he had sumnvoned for the 
purpose from the banks of the Danube. Galerius crossed 
the Euphrates, and entered on the plains of Mesopotamia. 
After some indecisive fighting, the clouds of Persian cavalry 
enveloped his army, which was far inferior in number, on the 
very ground which, more than three centuries before, had wit- 
nessed the defeat and death of Crassus. The Romans sus- 
tained a total overthrow ; and Galerius, when he reached 
Antioch, had the mortification to be received with cold aus- 
terity by Diocletian, whose chariot he had to follow on foot, 
in his imperial purple, for the length of a mile. 

A new army, however, was soon formed from the troops 
of Illyricum and the Gothic auxiliaries; and Galerius, at the 
head of 25,000 gallant soldiers, was permitted again to try 
his fortune, (297.) Warned by experience, he now shuimed 
the plains, and advanced through the mountains of Armenia. 
In person, attended by only two horsemen, he undertook the 
perilous task of exploring the strength and the dispositions 
of the hostile force. He then made a sudden attack on the 
Persian camp ; the rout of the enemy was instantaneous and 
complete. Narses, who was wounded in the action, fled to 
jMedia ; the Persian camp, replete with riches, became the 
prey of the victors ; * the monarch's own harem fell into the 

* A Roman soldier, it is said, meeting with a leathern bag full of 
pearls, threw away the latter, of which he could not coaceive the uae^ 



A. D. 303.] PERSIAN VAR. 293 

hands of the Romans ; and rude as was the nature of Gale- 
rius, his treatment of the royal ladies equalled that of Alex- 
ander the Great, on a similar occasion. Diocletian, when 
he heard of this great victory, set out from Antioch, and met 
the now elated Galerius at Nisibis. Here they were soon 
waited on by Apharban, a person high in the confidence ot 
the Persian monarch, with proposals for a treaty of peace. 
After an interview with the emperors, the Persian was dis- 
missed with an assurance that Narses should speedily be 
informed of the terms on which peace mi<iht be obtained. 
The secretary, Sicorius Probus, accordingly soon after 
appeared in the Persian camp, and peace was concluded on 
the following conditions: All the northern Mesopotamia 
was to be resigned to the Romans, and the River Aboras* 
was to form the boundarv of the two empires in that country ; 
five provinces beyond tlie Tigris t were also to be ceded to 
the Romans; Tiridates was to be restored, and his dominions 
augmented ; the kings of Iberia to be nominated by the 
Roman emperors. 

The empire was now externally at rest ; the revolted prov- 
inces had been recovered, and the frontiers extended ; Dio- 
cletian, therefore, took the occasion of the commencement 
of the twentieth year of his reign (303) for celebrating a 
triumph for the victories obtained by his arms and under his 
auspices. For this purpose, he repaired to Rome, which he 
had not yet honored with his presence, and he and Maximian 
triumphed jointly, (Nov. 20,) for Africa, Egypt, Britain, and 
other countries, but more especially for Persia. The cere- 
mony displayed the usual pomp and magnificence; one cir- 
cumstance, unknown at the time, distinguished it from all 
others — it was the last real triumph that Rome was to 
witness. 

The importance of the eternal city had suffered a serious 
diminution by the altered circumstancesof the empire, which 
demanded the presence of the sovereigns nearer to the 
frontiers. The senate lost the consideration which it had 
heretofore enjoyed ; the once formidable praetorian guards 
were greatly reduced in number and influence ; they ceased 

and kept the bag. Am. Marc. xxii. 4. The same story is told of one of 
the followers of the first Khalifs ; but the Arab previously tried to chew 
f.he pearls, taking them for grains of millet. 

* This river rose near the Tigris, ran by Singara, and entei-ed the 
rjUphrates at Circesium. 

t Na:;iely, Zabdicene, Arzinene, Cordnene, Moxoene, and Intiline 
25* 



294 DIOCLETIAN, MAXIMIAN. [a. D. 304-305. 

to be the protectors of the imperial person, their place aa 
such being occupied by two legii>ns of the army of Illyricurn, 
which were named Jovians and Herculians, from the titles 
of the emperors. 

The stay of Diocletian, in this his first and last visit to 
the capital of the empire, did not exceed two months. The 
freedom and familiarity of tiie populace was harsh and un- 
pleasant to his ear, accustomed to the submissive adulation 
of Greeks and Orientals; motives of policy may also have 
concurred to give him a distaste for Rome. He quitted that 
capital, therefore, in the midst of the winter, and proceeded 
through Illyticura to the East. The fatigue of the journey 
and tlie severity of the weather brought on a lingeritig ill- 
ness. He was obliged to travel by short stages, and mostly 
in a close litter, and he did not reach Nicomedia till toward 
the end of the summer, (304.) His illness had then become 
serious; and it was not till tlie March of the following year 
(305) that he was able to appear in public. During his long 
confinement, he had reflected on the incompatibility of the 
cares of empire with the attention and indulgence which 
his advanced age and declining health demanded; and he 
adopted the resolution of resigning his imj)erial power, and 
retiring into private life. He communicated his intention 
to Maximian ; and, however adverse that restless emperor 
might be to parting with his power, he had been too long in 
the habit of submitting implicitly to the dictates of his wiser 
colleague to refuse compliance. On the same day, (May 1,) 
as had been previously arranged, both the emperors, the one 
at Nicomedia, the. other at Milan, performed the ceremony 
of their abdication, and the Ca3sars Galerius and Constantius 
became emperors in their stead.* Diocletian retired to his 
native province of Dalinatia, wliere, in the neighborhood of 
the city of S;dona, he built a magnificent palace, and em- 
ployed his hours in gardening and planting.! Maximian 
fixed his abode at a villa in Lucania, but we are not informed 
how he passed his days. 

The abdication of Diocletian is the earliest instance which 

* If we may crodil the author of the work De Mortibus Pcrscciuo- 
rum, Galerius forced Diocletian to resign. 

t DiocWlian survived liis abdication about eight years. He died in 
313. Wlien urged by the instances of Maximian and Galerius to re- 
sume his power, Jie replied, " I wish you could see the potherbs plant- 
ed by mj- own jiands at Salona, and you would surely never '.hink 
that power should be resumed." 



k. D. 305.] RESIGNATION OF EMPERORS. 295 

history records of the voluntary relinquishment of supreme 
power. It is the only one to be found in the ancient world ; 
but examples, though rare, occur in modern times. That 
of the emperor Charles V. will present itself to the minds of 
most readers ; but that monarch's abdication was the result 
of disappointed ambition, and his leisure was less nobly oc- 
cupied than that of the Roman emperor. The Turkish 
sultan Moorad II. twice quitted his throne for the enjoy- 
ment of irivate life; but he was each time recalled to it by 
the dangers of the state. The Spanish king Philip V. also 
abandoned the pomp of royalty for the practice of devotion ; 
but the death of his son and successor obliged him to re- 
sume the sceptre. Devotion and other causes had, in ear- 
lier times, produced resignations among the princes of the 
states founded on the ruins of the Roman empire. 

It is rather remarkable that a prince like Diocletian, born 
in the humbler walks of life, and trained up in arms, should 
have been the introducer of Oriental usages into the palace 
of the Roman emperors. But he seems to have been actua- 
ted by policy rather than pride or vanity ; he conceived that 
investing the emperor with the splendor of apparel, and 
rendering him difficult of access, would make him more 
venerable in the eyes of the multitude, and induce a more 
absolute submission to his will. He and his colleague, 
therefore, assumed the diadem, which ornament distin- 
guished them from the C.-esars; the purple robes of the em- 
perors were of silk and gold, and their shoes were adorned 
with precious stones. Numerous officers attended at the 
palace, and the care of the interior apartments was com- 
mitted to eunuchs. When any one appeared before the 
emperor, he was required to fall prostrate and worship liim 
after the fashion of the East. This display of imperial 
pomp, and the maintenance of four separate courts, caused 
an enormous increase of taxation, and consequent oppression 
of the people. We shall presently explain the whole of the 
altered imperial system more at length. 

Toward the end of the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, 
the last and greatest persecution of the Christian church 
commenced. Its origin was as follows : 

Christianity, as has been already observed, was now most 
widely spread, and Christians were to be found in all the 
ranks and contUions of society. Diocletian, though he 
himself adhered to the ancient faith, was tolerant, if not 



' ? 



296 DIOCLETIAN, MAXIMIAN. [a. D. 302 

even favorable to the new religion, which his wife and 
daughter are said to have secretly embraced, and which was 
openly professed by the imperial eunuchs Liicianus, Doro- 
theas, Gorgonius, and Andreas, and by most of the principal 
officers of the palace. Tlie Christian bishops were treated 
with respect, and new and more stately churches were 
rising in all the cities of the empire. But amid this seem- 
ing prosperity, a close observer might discern the distant 
approach of a tempest. Maximian and Galcrius were both 
inveterately hostile to the Christian faith, while the zeal and 
jealousy of the polytheists were alarmed at its rapid progress 
They clunii more closely to the religion of their ancestors 
I when tliey saw it menaced with destruction, and the new 

philosophy, which had based itself on the ancient supersti- 
tion, inspired its professors with hatred for its enemies and 
op^>onents. The philosophers saw plainly that by reasoning 
and eloquence alone its sinking cause could not be main- 
tained, and that its onlv resource was the employment of 
violent measures. We therefore find that the philosophers 
were the directors of the subsequent persecution, and the 
chief suggestors of the means for giving it efficacy. 

Galerius passed the winter after the conclusion of the 
Persian war at Nicomedia ; and during that period ho had 
frequent conferences with Diocletian on the subject of Chris- 
tianity. He rq)resentcd to the emperor bow utterly incom- 
patible it was with the ancient institutions of the state, 
forming, as it did, an empire within the empire, all whose 
members were reijularlv organized, and ready to act at any 
time as one man. Diocletian confessed that he saw the 
danger, and agreed to exclude the Christians from offices in 
the army and the palace; l)ut he expressed his disinclination 
to shed their blood, as not merely cruel, but impolitic. Ga- 
lerius, not content, prevailed on him to summon a council 
of the principal civil and military officers, to take the impor- 
tant matter into consideration ; and the o^juncil, when it 
met, seconded the views of the Caesar, into whose hands the 
reins of power were likely soon to fall. Diocletian, we may 
suppose, yielded to the arguments that were employed, as a 
man cf superior mind does when he gives way to his inferi- 
ors in intellect, foreseeing the consequences, but unable to 
preverlt them., A system of persecution was therefore pro- 
jected, and preparations were made for carrying it iatc 
eflect. 



i i 



A. D. 303.] PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH. 297 

From a motive probably of superstition, the day of the 
Terminalia, or festival of Terminus, the god of boundaries, 
(Feb. 23,) was fixed for that of commencing to set limits to 
the inroads made on the ancient faith of Rome. At dawn 

on that day, (303,) the prsetorian prefect, accompanied by 1 I 

some of the higher officers of the army and the revenue, pro- i j 

ceeded to the principal church of Nicomedia. The doors |S 

were broken open, the holy books were taken out and com- < | 

mitted to the flames, and the sacred edifice was demolished. ; I 

Next day, (24th,) an edict was published, ordering the j| 

demolition of all the churches throughout the empire, and ^| 

forbidding any secret religious assemblies to be held ; the 1 1 

bishops and presbyters were commanded to deliver up I j 

the sacred books to the magistrates, by whom they were to | | 

be burnt, and all the property of the church was declared to j | 

be confiscate. Christians were pronounced inc ipable of t \ 

holding any office, and Christian slaves were excluded from 1 1 

the boon of manumission. The judges might deterniine any M 

action brought against a Christian, but no legal remedy was * I 

granted to the Christian when the object of injury. The 'i i 

whole Christian body was thus degraded, robbed of its pub- I | 

lie property, and put without the pale of the law ; but the 'i | 

persecution still stopped short of blood. 1 1 

This edict was, in the usual manner, exposed to public | j 

view. But it had scarcely been displayed, when a zealous I | 

Christian tore it down, uttering invectives against its au- | i 

thors. His offence was treason ; and he expiated it with his 1 1 

life, being burnt at a slow fire. In the course of the fol- id r 

lowing fortnight, flames burst out twice in the jjalace ; and, 1 1 

as it was clear that they were not accidental, they were \\ 

ascribed to the vengeance of the Christians, by whose wri- 1 ?; 

ters the guilt is transferred to Galerius, who thus, they say, 1 1 

sought to irritate Diocletian against them. Whatever was 1 1 

the truth, the effect which Galerius desired was produced on |j | 

the emperor's mind. The imperial eunuchs were tortured i | 

and put to death with circumstances of the utmost barbarity. s | 

Anthemus, the bishop of Nicomedia, was beheaded, and | ' 

several of his flock perished at the same time. \ I 

A series of cruel edicts succeeded. By one, the gov- \ I 

ernors of provinces were ordered to cast all the Christian | f 

ecclesiastics into prison ; by a second, they were enjoined to I ; 

employ every kind of severity in order to make them aban- | | 
don their superstition, and sacrifice to the gods; by a third, 



298 DIOCLV.TIAN, 3IAXIMIAN. [a. D. 304 

(304,) the magistrates were commanded to force all Chris- 
tians, without distinction of age or sex, to sacrifice to the 
gods, and to employ every kind of torture for that purpose. 
The issuing of this edict was one of the last public acts of 
Diocletian, as his resignation took place in the course of 
the year. 

The efforts of Diocletian and Galerius were seconded by 
Maximian, who hated the Christians; and the persecution 
raged in Italy and Africa as in the East; but the mild Con- 
stantius protected the persons of his Christian subjects, 
though he found it necessary to consent to the demolition 
of tlieir churches. The entire duration of the persecution 
was ten years, (303 — 313;) it was more or less violent in 
different times and places, and according to the characters 
and political circumstances of the princes. On the part of 
the persecutors, every refinement of barbarity was practised ; 
on that of the persecuted, there was an abundant display of 
zeal and courage, though in many cases adulterated with 
fanaticism. At the same time, there were many, even bish- 
ops and presbyters, who gained the opprobrious title of Tra- 
ditors, by delivering the sacred Scriptures into the hands of 
the heathen. From the vague language employed by the 
ecclesiastical writers, it is difficult to form any clear idea of 
the number of those who suffered martyrdom in the space of 
the.se ten years. Gibbon estimates it at two thousand per- 
sons ; but his prejudices would lead him to put it at the 
lowest possible amount. Supposing i(, however, to be five, 
or even ten times .hat numl)er, it would still be far short of 
that of the victim s in any one of the religious me^sacrea 
perpetrated oy the church of Rome. 



A. D. 304-306.] GALERIUS, CONSTANTIUS. 299 



CHAPTER IL* 

GALERIUS, CONSTANTIUS, SEVERUS, MAX- 
ENTIUS. MAXIMIAN, LICINIUS, MAXIMIN, 
CONSTANTINE. 

A. u. 1057—1090. A. D. 304—337. 

THE EMPERORS AND CjESARS. CONSTANTINE. MAXENTIUS. 

FATE OF MAXIMIAN. WAR BETWEEN CONSTANTINE AND 

MAXENTIUS. - — CONSTANTINE AND LICINIUS. CONSTAN- 
TINE SOLE EMPEROR. CONSTANTINOPLE FOUNDED. HIE- 
RARCHY OF THE STATE. THE ARMY. THE GREAT OFFI- 
CERS. CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE. DEATHS OF CRIS- 

PUS AND FAUSTA. THE IMPERIAL FAMILY. WAR WITH 

THE GOTHS. DEATH AND CHARACTER OF CONSTANTINE. 

Galerius and Constantius. 
A. u. 1058—1059. A. 0. 305—306. 

The task of appointing Cajsars, in the place of himself 
and Constantius, was assumed by the haughty Galerius. For 
his own associate he selected his nephew Daza or Maximin^ 
and an Illyrian, named Severus, was appointed to the same | 

dignity under Constantius ; the government of Egypt and 
Syria was committed to Maximin ; that of Italy and Africa, 
to Severus. 

Little more than a year elapsed after the retirement of 
Diocletian, when events occurred which proved the futility > 

of his plan for governing the Roman world by emperors^ 
with subordinate Caesars. The first took place on thf occa- 
sion of the death of Constantius, who expired at York, on 
the 25th of July, 306. According to the rule established 
by Diocletian, Severus should have become the Augustus, 
and a new Ciesar have been appointed ; but the soldiers of 
the army of Britain insisted that the eldest son of the de- 
ceased emperor should succeed to his rank and power. This 
son was Constantine, afterwards so renowned. His mother, 

* Authorities: Zosimus, the Epitomalors and Panegyrists, Lactan- 
iius, Eusebius, and the Ecclesiastical Historians 



300 GALERIUSj COiNSTANTlNE, ETC. [a. >. 306 

named Helena, was the daughter of an innkeeper; and Con 
stantius had been obliged to divorce her on the occasion of 
his elevation to the rank of CcEsar. Constantine, who was 
then about eighteen yenrs of age, engaged in the service of 
Diocletian, and distinguished himself in the Egyptian and 
Persian wars. He rose to liigh rank in tlie army;, his ap- 
pearance, manners, and qualities were such as were sure to 
win the favor of the people and the soldiery, and Gale- 
rius, when emperor, marked him out as the object of his 
jealousy. Alarnied at the dangers to which he knew him 
to be exposed, Constantius earnestly besought of Galerius to 
allow his son to repair to him. After many delays, that em- 
peror gave a reluctant consent; and Constantine, fearful of 
treachery, travelled with the utniost speed, and joined his 
fatlier as he was embarking for Britain. There can be no 
doubt that the succession was not the mere spontaneous 
oficr of the soldiery, and that Constantine had employed the 
usual artifices, and made the usual promises, on this occasion ; 
for, in fact, his only safety now lay in empire. He, howev- 
er, affected a decent degree of reluctance; and he wrote to 
Galerius, excusing himself for what had occurred. Tiie first 
emotions of the emperor were those of surprise and fury ; 
but, on calm reflection, he saw the danger of a contest with 
the hardy legions of the West, and he consented to allow 
Constantine a share of the imperial power, giving him, how- 
ever, only the humbler title of Cajsar, while he conferred the 
vacant dignity of Augustus on Severus. Satisfied with the 
substance of power, Constantine was careless of titles ; he de- 
voted himself to the improvement of his dominions, and he 
discharged the duties of an affectionate brother to his six 
half-brothers and sisters, whom his father, when dying, had 
committed to his care. 



Galerius, Constantine, Maxentius, Licinius* 

.A. u. I0i>9— 1066. A. D. 306—313. 

The next event which proved the instability of the new 
e-rm of government, commenced with an insurrection ax 
Rome. From the time of the conquest of Macedonia, a 
Dcriod of nearly five centuries, the people of Rome had been 

• We only (jiention here the principal emperors. 



A-D. 307.] GALERIUS, CONSTANTINE, ETC. 301 

free from all direct taxes ; but now, in conformity with the 
new principles of government, Galerius prepared to impose a 
uniform property and capitation tax on the whole empire ; 
and, as no exemptions were to be allowed, the officers of the 
revenue began to make a list of the property and persons of 
the inhabitants of the capital. At the same time, directions 
were given for the removal of the prjetorian cohorts from the 
city, and for the demolition of tlieir camp. The pride of 
the soldiers, the self-interest of the citizens, caused them to 
unite in the determination of liberating Italy, and electing a 
native emperor. They cast theii* eyes on Maxentius, the 
.son of Maximian, and son-in-law of Galerius, a young man 
of neither talents nor virtue, who was then residing in a villa 
near the city. He readily yielded to their desires ; the pre- 
fect of the city, and a few other officers, were massacred, 
and Maxentius was invested with the purple. Severus, who 
was at Milan, prepared to march against the re-bels, who, on 
their part, invited Maximian to quit his retreat, and give 
them the advantage of his name and his experience ; and the 
old emperor, who may have had a greater share in the pre- 
vious transactions than is commonly supposed, lost no time 
in repairing to Rome. He there reassumed the purple, and 
his influence and authority caused numerous defections to 
take place in the army of Severus, when that prince appeared 
before the walls of the city. Severus found it, therefore, 
necessary to retire, and to shut himself up in Ravenna, 
where, as the works were strong, and his fleet commanded 
the sea, he might easily have maintained himself till Galerius 
should come to his relief Deceived, however, by the arti- 
fices of Maximian, he laid down his dignity, and surrendered 
himself on the promise of his life being secured. He was at 
first treated with respect; but when Galerius invaded Italy, 
the captive emperor was put to death. 

Constantine, at the head of the Gallic legions, had it evi- 
dently in his power to confirm or to overthrow the dominion 
of the new emperors. To win him over, Maximian under- 
took a journey to Gaul, and, by giving him in marriage his 
daughter Fausta, and conferring on him the dignity of Au- 
gustus, he secured his neutrality, if not his active coopera- 
tion. Galerius soon appeared in Italy, at the head of the 
iroops of lUyricum and the East, and advanced to Narni, 
within sixty miles of Rome, whence he' sent two of his prin- 
cipal officers to try to induce Maxentius to trust to his gen- 
erosity, rather than to risk the hazard of war. His offers 

CONTIN. 26 



302 GALERIUS, CONSTANTINE, ETC. [a. D. 307-31 1. 

were spurned at ; and so large a number of his men were 
gained over by Maximian, that he was obliged to make a 
rapid retreat, and his troops, on their route, devastated the 
country in the most merciless manner. Some time after, 
(^i07,) Gaierius conferred the dignity of Augustus on his 
early and constant friend Licinius ; and, when the account 
of this elevation reached Maximin, he caused himself to be 
saluted emperor by his troops. Gaierius found it necessary 
to acquiesce in his assumption, and the Roman world thus 
was ruled by six emperors at the same time. A preeminence 
was, however, tacitly conceded to Maximian and Gaierius 
by their respective coomperors. 

Maximian and his son were too opposite in character to 
remain long at unity. One or other, it was found, must re- 
sign the supreme power in Italy ; and, the prjetorian guards 
having decided in favor of Maxentius, under whom they ex- 
pected to enjoy more license, the aged emperor was obliged 
to seek a refuge with his son-in-law in Gaul. By Constan- 
tine he was received with every mark of respect; and, as 
the restless temper of the Franks required his own frequent 
presence on the Lower Rhine, in the periods of his absence, 
he committed the government of southern Gaul to his father- 
in-law. The abode of Maximian was at the palace of Aries ; 
and, when one time (310) a report was spread of the death 
of Constantine, who was carrying on war beyond the Rhine, 
the restless old man seized the royal treasures and distributed 
them among the soldiers, in the hope of being saluted by 
them sole emperor. As soon as intelligence of his proceed- 
ings reached Constantine, he made a rapid march from the 
Rhine to Chalons, on the Saone, embarked his troops on 
that river, and thence entering the Rhone at Lyons, arrived 
at Aries before his departure from the Rhine was known. 
Maxinnan escaped from that city, and took refuge at Mar- 
seilles : he was pursued thither by Constantine, to whom he 
was delivered up by the garrison ; and he was either put to 
death or ordered to terminate his life by his own hano * 

Gaierius did not long survive Maximian. He died the 
following year, (311,) of the same odious disease as the great 

• Vict Epit. il. 5. Eutrop. x. 4. According to ..actantius, (De 
M. P. 2;t, :i(),) his life waa spared on thia occasion ; but, having after 
wards conspired against Constantine, and killed a chamberlain in hi< 
stead, he was secretly strangled. Eurnenius, however, says, (Pane, 
gyr. ix. iiO,) " sibi iiiiputal quisquis uti noluit beneficio luo [Constan 
tine] nee ae dignum vita judicavii cum per te liceat ut viveret." 



K. D. 312.] CIVIL WAR. 303 

dictator Sulla. Licinius and Maximin itnmedia ely prepared 
to deci(]e by arms the possession of his dominions; but they 
were finnlly induced to accommodate their dispute by treaty, 
and divide the disputed territories, and the Hellespont and 
Bosporus became the boundary of their respective domin- 
ions. A sense of common interest soon united Licinius and 
Constantine, and a secret alliance was formed between Maxi- 
min and Maxentius. 

The contrast between the administration of Constantine 
and that of Maxentius was of the most striking character. 
In Gaul and Britain justice was carefully administered, op- 
pressive taxes were abolished or lightened, the inroads of tlie 
barbarians were checked. In Italy and Africa the wealthy 
were plundered or put to death, the virtue of their wives and 
daughters was exposed to the kist of a brutal tyrant, the 
soldiers were indulged in every species of license. During 
six years Rome groaned beneath the tyranny of its emperor, 
when at length (312) his own folly gave occasion to its de- 
liverance. 

Though Maximian had been driven from Italy by his un- 
worthy son, his death was made the occasion of a display of 
filial piety, and the statues of Constantine in Italy and Africa 
were cast down by the orders of Maxentius. Constantine, 
who was adverse to war, tried the effect of negotiation ; but 
finding that Maxentius, who openly claimed the empire of 
the West, had assembled a large army for the invasion of 
Gaul, he resolved to anticipate him and enter Italy, whither 
he was-secretly invited by the senate and people of Rome. 
At the head of about 40,000 veteran troops, he crossed the 
Alps * and descended into the plain of Piedmont, (312.) The 
troops of Maxentius numbered 170,000 foot and 18,000 horse; 
but they were chiefly raw levies, made in Africa, Italy, and 
Sicily, and Maxentius himself was utterly destitute of mili- 
tary talent or experience. The town of Susa, (Segusium,) 
at the fool of the Alps, closed its gates against Constantine; 
but it was taken by assault, and the greater part of the gar- 
rison slaughtered. On the plain of Turin a strong division 
of the army of Maxentius opposed the invaders. Its strength 
consisted in a large body of cavalry arrayed in full armor, 
after the manner of the Persians.! But the force of thia 

* The Cottian Alps, or Mount Cenis. 

t Called by the Greeks Cataphracts, by the Latins Clibanariana^ 
from tlie Persian word. They resembled the heavy cavalry of the 
middle ages, both horse and man being covered with armor. 



304 GALERIUS, CONSTANTINE, ETC. [a I^. 312. 

formidable mass was rendered of no avail by the skill of 
Constantine, who made his troops break their line and allow 
it to pass through when it charged, and then close and at- 
tack it when broken and divided. The troops of Maxentiiis 
soon turned and fled; and as the gates of Turin were closed 
against them, few of them escaped the sword of the victors. 
Constantine proceeded without delay to Milan; and nearly 
all Italy north of the Po declared for his cause. 

A brave and skilful ollicer, named Ruricius Pompeianus, 
commanded at Verona for Maxentius. As Constantine was 
advancing against that city, he was encountered, near Bres- 
cia, by a large body of cavalry, detached from the army 
at Verona; but he drove it back with loss, and then sat down 
before the city. Ruricius, having made all the dispositions 
necessary for defence, secretly quitted the town, and, having 
with great rapidity collected a sufficient force, advanced to 
its relief Constantine drew out his army to give him battle. 
The engagement commenced in the evening, and was con- 
tinued through the night Victory finally declared lor the 
Gallic legions; Ruricius was among the slain, and Verona 
surrendered at discretion. After a short stay at. that city, 
Constantine directed his march for Rome. At a place 
named Saxa Rubra, about nine miles from the city, close by 
the memorable Cremera, he found (Oct. 28) the army of 
Ma.ventius prepared to give him battle. In person, at the 
head of his Gallic horse, he charged the cavalry of the ene- 
my and routed it; the greater part of the infantry then turned 
and fled, but the brave prx'torian cohorts fought and fell 
where they stood. In the flight, Maxentius fell from the 
Mulvian bridge into the Tiber, and was drowned. His body 
was found next day, and his head preceded the entrance of 
Constantine into the city. 

Constantine used his victory with sufllcient moderation. 
The children of Maxentius and his mo.st distinguished ad- 
herents were put to death ; but the demand of the people for 
a trreater number of victims was steadily rejected. Inform- 
ers were punished; the exiles were recalled and restored to 
their estates ; a general amnesty was pa.ssed ; the senate was 
treated with respect and consideration. At the same time, 
Constantine; carried into effect the very measures, the appre- 
hension of which had raised Maxentius to empire. The 
praetorian guards were broken and dispersed among the 
legions on the frontiers!, and their fortified camp was demol- 
ished. The property tax, which Galerius had projected, and 



A. D. 313. J CONSTANTINE, LICINIUS. 305 

'.vhich Maxentius had levied, under the odious name of a 
iVee-trift, Was made perpetual on the senatorian order, whose 
mimber, apparently for this very purpose, was considerably 
augmented. 



Constantine and Licinius. 
A.u. 1066—1076. A.D. 313—323. 

Constantine remained only two months at Rome, being 
obliged to set out on his return for Gaul, where the Franks 
had renewed their incursions. On his way, he celebrated at 
Milan (813) the nuptials of his sister Constantia with Licin- 
ius, to whom he had betrothed her previous to the war with 
Maxentius. Immediately after the nuptial festival, the two 
emperors had to put themselves at the head of their troops; 
the one to chastise the Germans, and the other to oppose 
Maximin, who had crossed the Bosporus, and taken the cities 
of Byzantium and Heraclea. When Licinius arrived, with 
30,000 Illyrian veterans, within eighteen miles of this last 
town, he found his rival supported by 70,000 men of the dis- 
ciplined troops of the East. Each having vainly tried to 
seduce the soldiers of the other, they led their forces out to 
battle, (April 30.) The advantage was at first on the side of 
numbers; but the European troops, directed by the military 
skill of their leader, soon asserted their wonted superiority, 
and a decisive victory crowned their efforts. Maximin fled 
with the utmost rapidity, never halting till he reached Nico- 
media, distant a hundred and sixty miles from the field of 
battle. He was on his way to Egypt about three months 
after; when at Tarsus, he despaired of his affairs, and took 
poison, of which he died after much suffering. Licinius 
used his victory with barbarity. Resolved to remove all pos- 
sibility of rival claims to the empire of the East, he not only 
put to death the son and daughter of Maximin, the former 
of whom was only eight, the latter only seven years of age, 
but he involved in their fate Severianus, the son of .the late 
emperor Severus, and Candidianus, the natural son of his 
friend and benefactor Galerius. 

But his treatment of the wife and daughter of Diocletian 
was still more conclusive of the innate inhumanity of his 
character. After the death of Galerius, Maximin had sought 
the hand of Valeria. Meetins with a fiirm refusal, the tyrani 

26 * " MM 



306 CONSTA.NTINE, LICINIUS. [a. D. 314 

gave a loose to his rage ; he confiscated her property ; he put 
to the torture her eunuchs and servants; he executed some 
of her female friends, on false charges of adultery; and he 
condemned herself and her mother, Prisca, to exile in a Syr- 
ian village. Diocletian sought for permission for them tc 
join him at Salona ; but he was now powerless, and his appli- 
cation met with contemptuous neglect. On the death of 
Maximin, the two royal ladies proceeded in disguise to the 
court of Licinius. They were at first treated with kindness; 
but the execution of her adopted son, Candidianus, who had 
accompanied her thither, soon convinced Valeria that the 
tyrant only was changed, and she and her mother fled in a 
plebeian habit. After wandering about for fifteen months, 
they were discovered at Thessalonica, and were instantly 
beheaded, and their i)odies thrown into the sea. 

The number of the emperors was now reduced to two, 
and it might be supposed that, connected as they had been, 
both publicly and privately, they would remain at unity. 
Yet the very year after their becoming brothers-in-law, (314,) 
we find them drawing the sword against each other. The oc- 
casion was as follows : Constantine gave one of his sisters in 
marriage to a man of rank named Bassianus, whom he raised, 
with Licinius's consent, to the dignity of a Ciesar. Italy 
appears to have been destined for the new CiEsar ; but, some 
delay occurring in the appointment, Licinius secretly induced 
him to believe that Constantine was merely making a tool of 
him, and encouraged him to engage in a conspiracy against 
his benefactor. The plot was, however, speedily discovered; 
Bassianus was put to death; and as Licinius refused to give 
up one of the principal conspirators, who had fled to him, 
and as the statues of Constantine, in the t>. wn of yEmona, 
on the frontiers of Italy, had been thrown down, the empe- 
ror of the West entered Illyricuin at the head of 20,000 
men. Licinius, with 35,000 men, advanced to oppose him. 
The armies encountered (Oct. 8) near Cibalis on the Save, 
about fifty miles from Sirmium. The engagement lasted 
from morning till night, when Licitiius retired with a loss of 
20,000 njen. He h.astened to Sirmium to secure his family 
and treasures, and then, breaking down the bridge over the 
Save at that town, he proceeded to Thrace to collect a new 
army; and he conferred the title of Caesar on Valens, the 
general of the Illyrian frontier. Constantine made no delay 
in following him, and the emperors again measured their 
strength on the plain of Mardia in Thrace. The battle 



A. D. 3l4-;323.] CIVIL WAR. 307 

lasted all through the day, and was terminated by the night. 
The victory remained with Constantine, but with so much 
loss as inclined him to listen to proposals for peace. He 
made the deposition of Valens an absolute condition; and, 
that luckless prince being deprived of his purple and his 
life, a treaty was concluded which gave Pannonia, Dalmatia, 
Dacia, Macedonia, and Greece, to the Western empire. It 
was also agreed that two of the sons of the Western empe- 
ror, and tlie one son of the Eastern monarch, should be 
raised to the rank of Caesars. 

Peace now continued for above eight years. During that 
time, Constantine was engaged either in beneficial legislation 
or in defending the frontiers of his empire. His principal 
war, which he conducted in person, was against the Goths, 
who (321) invaded the countries south of the Danube. He 
forced them to purchase a retreat by the surrender of their 
booty and prisoners ; and then, repairing the bridge of Tra- 
jan, he crossed the river, and carried the war into their own 
country. No longer satisfied with the possession of the 
larger portion of the Roman empire, he now aimed at wrest- 
ing the remainder from Licinius, His preparations for war 
did not escape the observation of that emperor, who forth- 
with (323) assembled troops and shipping from ail parts of 
his dominions. An army of 150,000 foot and 15,000 horse 
covered the plains of Hadrianople, and a fleet of three 
hundred and fifty triremes occupied the Hellespont. The 
troops of Constantine (120,000 horse and foot) rendezvoused 
at Thesaalonica ; his fleet, which numbered only two hun- 
dred small vessels, was assembled in the port of the Pirieeus. 
Licinius, who occupied a strong camp on a hi'l over Hadri- 
anople, did not oppose the passage of the Hebrus by the 
enemy. The accounts of the engagement which ensued 
(July 3) are scanty and confused; but it would appear that 
the veteran troops of the West, evincing their wonted supe- 
riority, won their way up the hill, and routed the forces of 
the East, slaying 34,000 men, and taking their fortified 
camp; Constantine, who displayed the valor of a soldier 
and the conduct of a general, received a wound in the 
thigh: Licinius fled, and shut himself up in Byzantium, 
whither he was speedily followed by his victorious rival. 

Constantine directed that his fleet, which was commanded 
by his eldest son, the Csesar Crispus, should advance and 
force the passage of the Hellespont. His admirals selected 
eighty of their best ships for the purpose : the opposite 



308 CONSTANTINE, LICINIL S. [a. D. 0-23 

admiral, Amandusi, opposed thern vvitli two hundred. An 
the narrow sea did not afford sufficient space for tlie evolu- 
tions of so large a number, the advantage, when night 
terminated the coiiflict, was on the side of Constantine. 
Next day, Amandus sailed over from the coast of Asia, the 
wind blowing strongly from the north; but, finding the 
enemy, who lay at Elx-iis, reenforced by thirty ships, he 
hesitated to attack. About noon, the wind changed, and 
blew so violently from the south that it drove on the rocks 
or the shore a hundred and thirty ships of the fleet of 
Licinius, and caused a loss of .3,000 men. Amandus fled 
with only four ships; and, the Hellespont being now open, 
provisions and supplies of all kinds flowed into the camp of 
ConstaiitinC before Byzantium, and Licinius, deeming that 
city no longer tenable, passed over with his friends and 
his treasures to Chalcedon. He there conferred the fatal 
dignity of CfBsar on Mariianus, the principal officer of his 
palace, and sent him to Lampsacus, to guard the passage of 
the Hellespont. He himself speedily assembled another ar- 
my, to oppose the landing of Constantine. That able prince, 
however, conveyed over a sufficient force in boats, and landed 
abo"ut two hundred stades (twenty-five miles) above Chalce- 
don. Licinius recalled Martianus with his troops, and an 
engagement was fought (Sept. 18) on the heights of Chry- 
soj)olis, (Srufnri,^ which ended in the total defeat of Licinius, 
with a loss of 25,000 men. He fled to Nicomedia ; nego- 
tiations were entered into; and Constantine, having given 
the assurance of his solemn oath to his sister for the security 
of her husband's life, Licinius laid his purple down at his 
feet, styling him his king and master. He was admitted to 
the royal table, and was then sent to Thessalonica, which 
was fixed on as the place of his residence ; Martiaiius was 
put to death, and two years after, on the charge of a con- 
spiracy, Licinius was strangled, in violation of the emperor'a 
most solemn engagement. 



Constantine. 

A. u. 1076—1090. A. D. 323—337. 

The Roman empire was thus, after thirty-four years of 
divided dominion, reunited under one head. Two most im- 
portant changes immediately succeeded, namely, the founda- 



FOUNDATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 309 

tion of a new capital, and the public establishment of 
Christianity as the "religion of the slate; the form of govern- 
ment commenced by Diocletian was also completed. Of 
these we shall now proceed to treat. 

Rome, as we have seen, had long ceased to be an imperial 
residence. It lay too remote from the banks of the Dan- 
ube and Euphrates, where the presence of the emperor was 
most frequently required : Diocletian had therefore fixed his 
abode in Nicomedia ; but the ambition of being the founder 
of a capital which should bear his own name, and the supe- 
rior advantages of the site of Byzantium, determined Con- 
stantine to raise an imperial city on the peninsula occupied 
by that town ; and in the year following that of the over- 
throw of Licinius, (324,) he laid the foundation of Con- 
stantinople, as he named it from himself — a city which still 
exists, and in magnitude and population yields to few in 
Europe, while in beauty and advantage of situation it is 
rivalled by none. 

It is not necessary that we should describe the situation 
of this celebrated city, which, like Rome, built on seven 
hills, grew up from the condition of a colony, and became 
the capital of empire. In the space of ten years, the nu- 
merous workmen employed, by the wealth of the imperial 
treasury, covered the ground marked out by the founder 
with all the edifices, sacred, profane, and military, required 
by a magnificent capital ; and the new city was speedily 
filled with a numerous population. In imitation of Rome, 
it was divided into fourteen regions or wards, and the corn 
of Egypt was distributed among its poorer citizens; its Hip- 
podrome emulated the Circus, and statues of marble and 
bronze vvere brought from all parts to adorn it. The supe- 
rior rank of the ancient capital, however, was still acknowl- 
edged, and the new city was styled its colony. 

The; civil and military administration of the empire had, 
as may have been observed, been gradually undergoing a 
change, and approximating to that of the East. That 
cliange vvas further accelerated by the removal of the seat 
of government to the new capital, and by the establishment 
of the prevalent corrupted form of Christianity as the religion 
of the state. The aspect of the empire under Constantine 
and his successors may be sketched as follows: * 

* We here sHall follow Gibbon, who derived his materials from the 
Theodosian Code and the Kotitia Imperii. 



310 CONSTANTINE. 

The court and palace were filled witli officers, among 
whom the eunuchs were conspicuous ; they were arranged 
in orders, the whole forming a sacred hierarchy, as it was 
often styled. All the various ranks were regulated with 
the most accurate minuteness, and the numerous titles and 
modes of address which have been the models of those of 
modem Europe, were then devised : such were, Your Emi- 
nence, Yuur Excellency , Your illustrious and magnijicent 
Higlniess. The great officers had various badijes and em- 
blems of their dignities, and were known by their jjeculiar 
habits. The whole body of the higher officers and magis- 
trates were divided into three classes; the first, which con- 
tained the very highest, being named the Illustrious, the 
second the Notable, (Spcctabilcs,) and the third the Most 
Distinguished, (Clcirissimi.)* 

The title of Patrician, which had long been out of use, 
was revived by Constantino, but merely a.> a mark of per- 
sonal distinction. The dignity was not hereditary, and 
these new nobles bore no more resemblance to the patricians 
of ancient Rome tiian tiie actual peers of France do to the 
old noblesse. The patricians yielded in dignity to the con- 
.suls alone ; they were superior lo all the great officers of 
state, and had constant access to the person of the sovereign, 
whose favorites or ministers they had in general been ori- 
ginally. 

The consulate, now an empty dignity, was conferred by 
the emperor. On new year's day, the appointed consuls 
assumed the ensigns of their dignity at the place which was 
then the imperial residence. They moved in procession, 
attended by the principal officers of llie state and army, from 
the palace to the Forum, or market-place: they there took 
their seat on the curnle chairs, and manumitted a slave, 
according to ancient usage. Games were celebrated by 
them, or in their name, in the principal cities of the empire; 
their names were inscribed in the Fasti, and their names 
and portraits were engraved on tablets of ivory, adorned 
with gold, and sent as presents to magistrates and persons 
of rank. They then retired int( private life, for they had 
no public duties to discharge. Yet the vain and emp- 
ty honor still continued to be the object of highest am- 
bition. 

• An Italian, at the present day, will commence a letter witli Ckuf 
rissijno Siirnore. 



OFFICERS OF STATE. 311 

The office of praetorian prefect had, as we have seen, 

gradually risen in importance. The prefect, unitintr civil | | 

and militarj' power, had been, in fact, what the mayor } [■ 

of the palace afterwards became in France. The sappres- \ f 

sion or' the guards having left him witliout military command^ j | 

his office now became purely civil. As, by the regulation of > ^ 

Diocletian, each prince had his prefect, the number of these f f 

officers was four, which number was retained by Constanliiie. | I 

The prefects were named of the East, of Illyricum, of Gaul, • ' 

and of Italy, each of which districts comprised the provinces i 

contamed under its title when ruled by the Augusti ai;d the j '. 

(Jtesars. They were at the head of the administration of If 

justice and the finances; they had authority over the pro- il 

vincial governors; there lay an appeal from all inferior tri- H 

bunals to that of the prjetorian prefect ; but his decision was 1 1 

final. The city of Rome, and afterwards that of Constanti- <! | 

nople, had its prefect, who was independent of the praetorian i\ 

prefect. This officer, who was first appointed by Augustus, || 

had gradually enlarged his power, and he now exercised the :^ 

ordinary authority and functions of the consuls and praetors . | 

in the city, and a circuit of one hundred miles, and all-mu- \^ 

nicipal authority was derived from him. 1 1 

Beside these great prefectures, the empire, with respect to 1 1 

its civil crovernment, was divided into thirteen great dio- t. i' 

ceses,* of which the first was administered by the Count Al 

(Comes) of the E;:st; the governor of that of Egypt was still | !; 

called the Augustal Prefect; those of the remaining eleven || 

were styled Vicars, or Vice-prefects. The rulers of the || 

inferior provinces were in some Proconsuls, in others Con- |;| 

sulars or Correctors, or Presidents. Like their superiors, j I 

they possessed the administration of justice and of the ^ | 

finances. j^ | 

The first separation of the civil and military authority of i | 

which we read, was that made by Augustus in the procon- 1 1 

sular provinces. The history of the last two centuries had || 

shown the ill effects of their union in the rebellion of so fl 
many governors against the imperial authority, and Constan- 
tine was resolved to obviate these evils. For this purpose, 
the command of the troops was pertnanently separated from 
the government of the provinces. Two Masters-general 
{31agistn militnm) were mstituted ; one for the cavalry, the 
other for the infantry of the imperial army. Subordinate 

J.nxi'nui:. The word is now only used in an ecclesiastical sense ji ! 



312 CONSTANTINE. 



commanders, styled Counts {Comites) and Dukes, (Duces*) 
i I were placed at the head of the troops in the different prov- 

u I inces. A gold belt was the mark of their dignity borne by 

j I these officers. The natural consequence of this division 

'■; i of the civil and military power was, that, while mutual jeal- 

\, I ousy prevented the general and the governor from uniting in 

1 1 rebellion, it operated to leave the province exposed to the 

! I ravages of the barbarians ; so that, while it secured the 

enjperor, it injured the empire. 

The advantages which had been originally accorded to 
the praetorian guards, were very unwisely extended by Con- 
stantine to a large portion of the army. The troops were 
now distinguished into Palatines and Borderers, {Limitanri ;) 
\\ the former had higher pay ajul peculiar privileges, and were 

jj I quartered in the cities and towns of the interior, being only 

l\ required to take the field on occasions of emergency; while 

j! \ the latter, with inferior pay, had the task of guarding the 

I \ frontiers. The legions were increfised in number, but con- 

tracted in their dimensions; and they now bore more resem- 
blance to modern regiments than to the legions of ancient 
Rome.t The ditliculty of procuring recruits in the prov- 
inces was nearly insuperable; though a severe conscription, as 
it may perhaps be termed, was established. Barbarians were 
therefore constantly taken into the service, and even enrolled 
among the Palatines; and they sj)eedily attained the highest 
military and civil dignities of the empire. 

In the palace, there were seven principal officers, to whom 
tlio rank of Illustrious was conceded. 1. The Chamberlain, 
l\ {Prerpositiis nibiru/i ;) this was always a favorite eunuch, 

t ^ who, beside his care of the imperial apartments, attended 

^1 the emperor on all occasions of state. Ilis influence, it may 

readily be supposed, was considerable. The Counts of the 
wardrobe and of the table were under the jurisdiction of this 
officer. 2. The Master of the Offices was the supreme 
magistrate of the palace. All its officers, civil and military, 
in all parts of the empire, were subject to his jurisdiction, 
and to it alone. He had four Scrinife or secretaries' offices, 
f each with its master or chief, and a number of subordinate 

[ I clerks for carrying on the correspondence of the state. Like 

our master-general of the ordnance, he had the charge of all 

I . * The Comes or comp.-mion of the emperor was the higher in rank ; 

the Dii.x or Dake was merely a military commander. 

! Gibbon, following Pancirolus, estimates the legion at from 1000 
to l.'SOO men. 



OFFICERS OF STATE. 313 I 

the arsenals, and control over the workmen employed in the j f 

manufacture of arms. 3. The (iuiEStor had the task of i I 

composing orations in the name of the emperor, which hav- ! | 

ing the force of edicts, he gradually came to be regarded as j | 

the original source of jurisprudence. He answered in some ! f 

sort to the modern chancellor. 4. The Count of the Lar- j | 

gesses (Largitionum) was at the head of the revenue depart- » \ 

ment, with, of course, a numerous corps of various officers ( I 

under him. 5. The Count of the Private Estate (r^ipm^a- \l 

tee) had the management of the crown-lands, and the other i [ 

sources of private income to the emperors. 6. 7. The two '! | 

Counts of the Domestics, i. e. household troops, command- 1 1 

ed the cavalry and infantry of the body-guards, which con- L| 

sisted of three thousand five hundred men, divided into seven !• I 

schools or companies of five hundred men each. Two of j 

these, the one of horse, the other of foot, were named Pro- ,; 

tectors. They mounted guard in the inner apartments, and | 

they were employed to bear the imperial mandates to the I 

provinces. > 

While the civil and military departments of the state were i 

thus modelled and regulated, a still more important change ) 

was effected by making the Christian religion that of the l 

court and empire. We shall, however, defer our account { 

of the condition and organization of the church under Con- ^" 

stantine and his successors, and only at present notice the { 

conversion of that emperor, and the motives in which it \ 
originated. , t 

Constantius, without being a Christian, had, from motives | 

of justice and humanity, treated his subjects of that faith | 

with indulgence. His example was followed by his son ; l 

and the Christians, comparing his moderation with the per- ] 

secuting spirit of Galerius and his colleagues, were naturally 1 1 

disposed to favor him. Constantine, however, was still a |j 

polytheist ; and his principal object of worship was the sun- f 

god, Apollo. At the same time with the compliant spirit of | 

polytheism, he held the God of the Christians and the author | 

of their faith in respect and reverence. After the defeat | 

and death of Maxentius, (313,) Constantine and Licinius is- 'j 

sued at Milan an edict of general toleration ; restoring, at '\ 

the same time, to the Christians the lands and churches of I 

which they had been deprived. To the terms of this edict \ 
Constantine firmly adhered ; and he was probably becoming 
daily more convinced of the superiority of the Christian 
religion, and of the advantage that might result from his 
CONTIN. 27 N N 



314 CONSTANTINE. 

embracing it; while Liciiiius speedily violated it, and par* 

tially renewed the persecution. In the second war between 

these emperors, (324,) the cross appeared on the banner of 

Constantine; and his victory was followed by the issue of 

circular letters annpuncing his own conversion, and inviting 

I Ins subjects to follow his example. The call of a powerful 

i monarch was not likely to be unheeded; the Christian faith 

I rapidly spread ; offices of trust, profit, and honor, were be- 

■ stowed almost exclusively on Christians; bishops thronged 

.| the court; paganism was in every way discouraged, and 

I Christianity finally triumphed over its ancient eijemy. 

' I The conversion of Constantine may have been, and prob- 

i ably was, sincere. But in ;dl such cases, motives of policy 

'.;j are apt to concur with higher ones, and often to exercise a 

superior influence. Constantine must have seen tliat the 

Christians, if not the most numerous, were the best united 

and organized, and consequently the most powerful body in 

i ;] the empire. lie could not be blind to the great superiority 

f l of the Christian morality over that of heathenism, and, as a 

11 wise sovereign, he must have seen that it was his interest to 

J promote its diffusion. The doctrine of passive obedience, 

i held by the Christians of that time, must have proved most 

■j grateful to the ears of a monarch ; and tlie zeal in his cause 

and the loyalty shown by the Christians cannot have been 
wholly without effect on his mind. These various motives 
may, then, have given force to the reasonings of the Christian 
, divines ; but we are assured that the efficient cause of the 

conversion of the emperor was a miracle. 

According to the biographer of this emperor, the learned 
Bishoj) Eusebius, as Constantine was on his march against 
Maxentius, there appeared one day, in the sight of himself 
and hi.s whole army, a luminous cross above the sun in the 
noon-d ly sky, bearing inscribed on it the words, "By this 
i conquer," (//ac i'//jfr ;) and, in the following night, Christ 

j himself stood in a dream before the emperor, bearing a simi- 

j I lar cross, and directed him to frame a standard of that form, 

which would assure him of victory against Maxentius. The 
standard was accordingly framed, and, under the name of 
Labarum, a word of unknown origin, it became the future 
banner of the empire. Its form was that of a long pike, with 
a transverse bar, from which hung a piece of silk adorneu 
with the images of the monarch and his children. On the 
lop of the pike was a wreath of gold, enclosing the mono- 
gram of the name of Christ, and the sign of the cross. The 



i 



U 



k.j). 326.] cRispus. 315 

care of the Labaruiu was always coinmitted to fifty soldiers 
of approved valor and fidelity. 

This legend is related by Eusebius, on the authority of 
Constantine himself; but his narrative did not appear till 
after the death of the emperor; and, in his earlier work, the 
Eccle^astical History, he is silent respecting it. Another 
contemporary mentions only a dream, in which Constantine 
was directed, on the night before the battle with Maxentius, 
to inscribe the sacred monogram on the shields of his sol- 
diers ; and adds, that his obedience was rewarded with vic- 
tory.* We take not on us to decide how much of fiction 
or of error there may be in the legend ; but that no actual 
miracle was wrought, we venture to affirm without hesitation, I \ 

in accordance with our fixed opinions on the subject. 

We now return to the course of our historic narrative. A 
dark transaction, which has fixed an indelible stain on the 
memory of Constantine, is the first that meets our view. We 
have already seen that, before his marriage with the daugh- 
ter of Maximian, he had had a son by his first wife. This | i 
youth, named Crispus, was reared under the charge of the h 
pious, learned, and eloquent Lactantius. Christian writers 
and historians are unanimous in the testimony which they 
bear to the virtues of the heir-apparent to the empire. It is 
oossible that, as is asserted, Crispus may have been jealous 
of the partiality shown by the emperor to the children of his 
second marriage, one of whom, Constantius, had been sent, 
with the title of Caesar, to administer the government of 
Gaul, while he himself was detained in inactivity at court. 
He may also, as is said, have given vent to his feelings in 
imprudent language ; and any one at all acquainted with the 
texture of courts in general, can easily suppose that, in the 
palace of a despotic prince, there was no lack of wretches 
who would seek to advance their own interest by exciting 
enmity between the father and the son. An edict of Con- 
stantine's, issued toward the end of the year 325, shows that he 
believed or feigned that a secret conspiracy had been formed 
against him, and in favor of Crispus. Whatever his suspi- 
cions of his son, or his designs against him, may have been, 
they were closely concealed ; and Crispus, in the following 
year, (326,) accompanied his father to Rome, when he pro- j 
ceeded thither to celebrate the twentieth year of his reign. f 
\n the midst of the festival, the prince was arrested; after a 
ohort private examination, or possibly no examination at all, 

* Thp author of the treatise De Mortibus Persecutorurn, 



316 CONSTANTINE. [a. D. 326 

he was sent, unJer a strong guard, to Pola in Istria, where, 
shortly after, he was put to death by poison, or by the liand 
of the executioner. His fate was shared by the son of tlie 
late emperor Licinius. 

When a biographer passes in silence over any important 
action of his hero, we may be certain tliat a minute and 
exact inquiry, and a sifting of aJl the circumstances, has 
convinced him that it is incapable of bearing exposure to 
the light, and that no ingenuity can avail to extenuate, much 
less excuse it. On this principle, we hold the profound 
silence of Eusebius on this mysterious transaction to be 
conclusive of the guilt of Constantine and the innocence of 
Crispus ; and, at the same time, destructive of that prelate's 
claim to truth and integrity as an historian. 

The later Greeks, however, have fabled that Constantine 
discovered his error, mourned and repented it, and erected 
a golden statue bearing the inscription, Tu my son, iclwm I 
unjustly condemned. A more ancient account said, that the 
story of Pha,'dra and Hippolytus was renewed in the imperial 
palace, and that the death of Crispus was caused by the dis- 
appointed lust of Fausta. It is added, that the emperor's 
mother, Helena, enraged at the fate of her innocent grand- 
son, caused Fausta to be closely watched ; and, it being 
discovered that she carried on an adulterous intercourse 
with a slave belonging to the stables, she was sudbcated, 
by order of her husband, in a bath, made more than usually 
hot for the purpose.* The deaths of Crispus, Licinius, and 
Fausta, were followed by those of many of the emperor's 
friends, on various charges. 

By Fausta the emperor had had three sons, named Con- 
stantine, Constantius, and Constans ; his elder brother, Ju- 
lius Constantius, had, beside other children, two sons, named 
Gallus and Julian ; and Dalmatius, another brother, was the 
father of two princes, Dalmatius and Hannibalianus. From 
some motive whicli has not been assigned, Con.stantine re- 
solved to associate the two last-named nephews with his own 
sons in the empire, placing the former, as a Ciesar, on an 
equality with them, and giving the latter the new title of 
Nobilissimns, and even, as it would appear, that of King, 
which we find used of him alone. 

A war between the Goths and Sarmatians drew the atten- 

* Zosimiis, Philostorg-ius, and others, assert that Fnusta was put to 
death. Yt-t, ns Gihboii dhsrrvis, in a .Moundy on licr son, the younger 
Constantine, she is said to have lived to deplore his.f&Ve. ,. i 



A. D. 331—337.] DEATH OF CONSTANTINE. 317 

tion of Constantine, in the latter years of his reign. Policy 
causing him to take the part of the latter, the former crossed 
the Danube, and laid Moesia waste, (331.) The emperor 
took the field in person ; but his troops fled from before them, 
and he was obliged to retire. In the following year, (332,) 
however, the imperial troops, led by the Caesar Constantius, 
retrieved their fame. The Goths were forced to recross 
the Danube, and to sue for peace. The Sarmatians having 
shown the usual levity and ingratitude of barbarians, Con- 
stantine left them to their fate. Vanquished in battle by the 
Goths, they armed their slaves, and, by their aid, expelled 
the invaders from their territory ; but the slaves turned their 
arms against their masters, .drove them out of the country, 
and held it under the name of Limigantes. 

Nothing occurred to disturb the tranquillity of the empire 
during the remaining years of the reign of Constantine. He 
bref^thed his last on the 22d of May, 337, in the palace of 
Aquirion, at Nicomedia, in the 65th year of his age, after a 
prosperous reign of thirty years and ten months. His corpse 
was removed to Constantinople, where it was placed on a 
golden bed, in an illuminated apartment of the palace; and 
each day, the principal officers of state approached it and 
offered their homage, as if to the living emperor. It was at 
length committed to the tomb, with all fitting ceremony and 
magnificence. 

The merits and virtues of the emperor Constantine were 
so numerous and conspicuous, that, were it not for the deaths 
of his son, and nephew, and friends, his name would be 
without any considerable blemish. It is, however, objected 
to him, that, in his latter years, he adopted a style of dress 
and manners which e.vhibited more of Asiatic effeminacy 
than of Roman dignity. He is also charged with lavishing 
on needless and expensive buildings the money wrung from 
his subjects by oppressive taxation, and of overlooking, if 
not encouraging, the rapacity of his friends and favorites. 
Like so many of those who have attained to empire by their 
own merits and talents, Constantine is more to be esteemed 
in the early than in the later years of his reign. 

It is remarkable, that Constantine (though he openly pro- 
fessed the Christian religion, convened and presided at a 
generc^l council of the church, and enjoyed nearly all the 
privileges of the initiated order of the faithful) remained all 
through his reign in the humble rank of a catechumen, and 
deferred receiving the sacrament of baptism till he discerned 
27* 



318 CONSTANTINE II., ETC. [a. D. 337 

the cerlain symptoms of tlie approach of his dissolution. 
The superstition in which this practice originated, has 
already been explained ; and it derogates from the \visd6m or 
knowledge of the Nicene Fathers, to know that they tacitly, 
at least, sanctioned a usage so detrimental to true religion. 



CHAPTER III.* 

CONSTAiNTlNE II., CONSTANTIUS, CONSTANS 
A. u. 1090—1114. A.D. 337— 3G1. 

SLAUGHTER OF TUE IMPEUIAL FAMILY. PERSIAN WAR. 

DEATHS OF CONSTANTINE AND CONSTANS. MAGNENTIUS. 

GALLUS. JULIAN. SILVANUS. COURT OF CONSTAN- 
TIUS. WAR WITH THE LI.MIOANTES. PERSIAN WAR. 

JULIAN IN OAUL. BATTLE OF STRASBURG. JULIAN 

PROCLAIMED EMPKROR. HIS MARCH FROM GAUL. 

DEATH OF CONSTANTIUS. 

Constantine II., Constantius , Cunstons. 
A. u. 1090—1103. A.D. 337—350. 

The tomb had not received the mortal remains of the 
great Constantine, when a plot was laid to destroy some of 
the objects of his regard. The troops were induced — we are 
not informed by whom or by what means — to declare that 
none but the sons of the late monarch should rule over his 
empire ; and Dalmatius and Hannibalianus were seized and 
placed under cu.'^tody, till Constantius, to whom the charge 
of the funeral had been committed, should arrive in the caf>- 
ital. When this prince came, he pledged his oath to his 
kinsmen for their safety ; but ere long a false charge was 
made against them, and the soldiers became clamorous for 
their death. A general massacre of the imperial family en- 
sued, in which two uncles and seven cousins of Constaniius. 
and with them Optatus, the husband of his aunt, perished. 

* Authorities : Zosimus, Ammianus, Marcellinus, the Epitomators, 
and the Ecclesiastical Historians. 



1. D. 337-340.] CONSTANTINE II., ETC. 319 

Their fate was shared by the prefect Ablavius, the minister 
and favorite of the late emperor. Of the whole imperial 
family, there only remained Gallus and Julian, the sons of 
Julius Coiistantius. 

In the following month of September, the three brothers 
had a personal interview, in which a new arrangement of the 
empire was concluded; by which Constantine, as the eldest, 
was conceded a superiority in rank, and the possession of the 
eastern capital. 

The eastern frontier gave Constantius occupation for some 
years. Sapor II., king of Persia, a prince of great energy 
and enterprise, burned to recover the provinces which had 
been ceded to Galerius ; but dread of the power and genius 
of Constantine had held him in check. As soon, however, 
as the empire fell into the hands of inexperienced young 
princes, he poured his troops into Mesopotamia, and for some 
years the Roman annals had only to tell of armies defeated, 
and towns besieged or taken by the Persian monarch. In 
the battle of Singara, (34S,) the Roman legions routed the 
troops of Persia, and drove them to their camp ; as the night 
was at hand, Constantius, who commanded in person, sought 
to restrain his men, and defer the attack till the light of 
morn. But, heedless of the commands of their prince, the 
soldiers, eager for prey, pressed on, and, forcing the camp, 
spread themselves all over it in search of plunder. In the 
dead of the night. Sapor, who had posted his troops on the 
adjacent hills, led them to the attack of the scattered and un- 
prepared enemies ; and the Romans were routed with im- 
mense slaughter. The survivors escaped with the utmost 
difficulty, and endured intolerable hardships in their retreat. 
This is said to have been the ninth victory over the troops of 
Rome achieved by the arms of Sapor. But, though thus suc- 
cessful in the field, he was unable to carry the important city 
of Nisibis. Thrice did he lead his forces under its wails, 
and thrice did he employ in vain the valor of his soldiers 
and the arts of his engineers ; the gallant city still remained 
unsubdued. 

While Constantius was thus occupied in the East, Con- 
stans had become sole ruler in the West ; for Constantine, 
having required that Constans should resign Africa to him, 
and being irritated by the insincerity displayed by that prince 
in the negotiation, made a sudden irruption into his domin- 
ions, (340.) But in the neighborhood of Aquileia he came 
to an engagement with the generals of Constans, and, being 



320 CONSTANTIUS. [a. d. 36o 

drawn into an ambush, himself and all those about him were 
slain. Constans then took possession of the whole of his do- 
minions, refusing to give any share to his remaining brother, 
who does not, however, appear to have claimed it. 

For about ten years Constans exercised every kind of op- 
pression over his subjects. His hours were devoted to the 
chase, and to other pleasures of a less innocent nature. At 
length (350) a conspiracy was formed against him by Mag- 
nentius, a Frank, but born in Gaul, who commanded the 
Jovian and Herculian guards. Marcellinus, the treasurer, 
shared in the conspiracy; and when the court was at Autun, 
and the emperor was taking the pleasures of the chase in the 
adjoining forest, Magnentius gave, under the pretext of cele- 
brating his son's birthday, a magnificent entertainment, to 
which were invited tlie principal ofiicers of tlie army. The 
festival was prolonged till after midnight, when Magnentius 
withdrew for a little tiuie, and then rea,ppeared clad in tlic 
imperial habit. Those in the secret instantly saluted hini 
emperor, and the remainder, taken by surprise, were induced 
to join in the acclamation. Prouuses and money were liber- 
ally scattered, and both the soldiery and the people declared 
for Magnentius. It was hoped that they might be able to 
surprise Constans on his return from the chase ; but he got 
timely information, and fled for Spain. He was, however, 
overtaken by those despatched in pursuit of him, at a town 
named Helena, (Elnc,) at the foot of the Pyrenees, dragged 
from a church to which he had fled for refuge, and put to 
death. 



Constantius. 

A.u. 1103—1114. A. D. 350—361. 

The whole of the West, with the exception of Illyricum, 
yielded obedience to Magnentius. The troops of that country 
were commanded by Vetranio, an aged general of simple 
and upright manners, but so illiterate as to be ignorant of 
even reading and writing. At first he professed allegiance to 
the remaining son of Constantine; but at length he yielded 
to the desires of his legions and those of tlie princess Con- 
etantina, the daughter of Constantine, and widow of Hanni- 
balianus, who thus, perhaps, sought to obtain vengeance for 
her husband, and to recover her own power. He cor.sented 



!i 



A. D. 350.] VETRANIO. 321 

to accept of empju; and C6nstantiha with her own hand 
placed the diadetn c i his head. Vetranio soon found it ex- 
pedient to accept of the proffered alliance of Magnentius. 

An opportune incursion of the Massagetans into the 
northern part of his dominions having just at this time 
called Sapor away from the third siege of Nisibis, Constan- 
tius foun'l himself at leisure to attend to the affairs of the 
West. Leaving a sufficient force with his generals, he set 
out, for Europe, to avenge the murder of his brother. At 
Heraclea in Thrace, he was met by an embassy from the 
two emperors of the West, headed by Marcellinus. It was 
proposed that he sh juld acknowledge them, marry the 
daughter of Magnentius, and give Constantina in marriage 
to that prince Next day he gave his reply : the shade of the 
great Constantine, embracing the corpse of his murdered 
brother, had, he said, appeared to him in the night, bidden 
him not to despair of the republic, and assured him of vic- 
tory. He dismissed one of the ambassadors, put the others 
in irons as traitors, and then pursued his march. 

His conduct toward Vetranio was artful and politic. 
While he menaced Magnentius with vengeance as a traitor, 
he acknowledged the Illyrian Augustus as a colleaj^'ie, and 
finally induced him to unite with him against thi Uivjrper. 
It was agreed that the two emperors and their armies should 
meet at the town of Sardica. The troops of Vetrann were 
far superior both in number and strength to those of the em- 
peror of the East ; but the reliance of Constantius was on 
the promises that he had lavished on them, by which most of 
both officers and men had been secretly gained to his side. 
The united armies were assembled (Dec. 2-5) in a large 
plain near the city, and the two emperors ascended the tri- 
bunal to address them. Constantius spoke the first. He 
inveighed against Magnentius; he spoke of the glories of 
Cons<antine, and of their oaths of fidelity to him. Those 
who were prepared for the purpose, and stood about the tri- 
bunal, then cried out that they would have no spurious em- 
perors, and would only serve under the son of Constantine ; 
and the cry was repeated through all the ranks. Vetranio, 
thus abandoned by his own troops, took off his diadem, and 
fell at the feet of his imperial colleague. Constantius raised 
him, and promised him safety. The city of Prusa in Bithynia, 
with an ample revenue, w-^ assigned for the place of his 
abode; and he there passed the remaining six years of hia 
life in ease and tranquilli* - 

DO 



3-2'2 coNSTANTics. [a. d. 351-351.' 

Early in the spring, (351,) Magnentius took the field witl 
a large army. The advantages were on his side throughou 
the summer, and Constantius, who shunned to meet him ir 
the field, found it necessary to offer him terms of peace. 
But he haughtiness of the usurper, who required him to re- 
sign his purple, promising him life on that humiliating condi- 
tion, put ail end to ail hopes of accommodation; and Con- 
stantius resolved to trust to Heaven, and conquer or fall with 
honor. Magnentius then advanced, and made an attempt on 
the town of Mursa, [Essck,) situated on the River Drave. 
Constantius led his troops to its defence, and tlie two armies 
encountered (Sept. 28) on the plain in which the city stands. 
Leaving the command with his generals, Constantius retired 
to an adjoining church, where he passed the day in prayer. 
The engagement lasted till night, and the victory of the im- 
perial troops, chiefly owing to the heavy cataphract cavalry, 
was complete. The number of men slain in the battle is said 
to have been 54,000, of whoni more than one half fell on the 
side of the victors. Magnentius escaped with difficulty from 
the emperor's light horse, who chased him to the foot of the 
Julian Alps. 

The winter passed away in inaction, and when spring came 
(352) Magnentius fixed his abode at Aquileia, in order to 
oppose the farther advance of the imperial troops; [)Ut he 
soon found it necessary, in consequence of the defection of 
the troops and |)eople of Italy, to abandon that position, and 
retire into Gaul. The cause of this defection was the cruelty 
used by his ministers, on the occasion of the suppression of 
an insurrection at Rome, where a youth named Nepotianus, 
the son of Kutropia, the sister of Constantine, had armed a 
band of slaves and gladiators, and assumed the purple. Him- 
self, his njother. and all connected with the family of Con 
stantinc, were put to death ; all parts of the city were fillet 
with blood, and terror every where prevailed. Communice 
tions were, therefore, opened with Constantius after the bac 
tie of Mursa, and all Italy finally declared in his favor. I 
was now, therefore, the turn of Magnentius to sue. He sent 
some bishops to Constantius, offering to resign the purple, 
and to serve him faithfully ; but the emperor would listen to 
no proposals on the part of the assassin, though he ofTereo 
pardon to all who would abandon him. The imperial fleet 
had, meantime, acquired the possession of Africa and Spain 
and landed an army in the latter country, which entered Gaui 
and advanced toward Lyons, where Magnentius was residing 



A. D. 3.51— 354.] DEFEAT OF MAGNENTIUS. ,^23 

The oppressions exercised by this tyrant in order to obtain 
money and supplies from the cities of Gaul, at length drove 
the people to desperation ; and a revolt commenced at Treves, 
where the gates were shut against his brother Decentius, 
whom he had made an Augustus. The Germans, with whom 
Constantius had formed an alliance, passed the Rhine, and 
besieged Decentius in Sens. The imperial troops at length 
forced the passage of the Cottian Alps, and a battle was 
fought at a place named Mount Seleucus, in which the usur- 
per was totally defeated. He fled to Lyons, where, finding 
that his soldiers were preparing to seize and surrender him, 
he anticipated their design by falling on his sword. Decen- 
tius strangled himself when he heard of his brother's death, 
and Constantius now remained sole master of the Roman 
world. 

Of the male line of Constantine there were now only the 
emperor himself and his cousins, Gallus and Julian, remaining. 
These youths, after the massacre of their family, had been 
placed in different cities of Asia, where they were surrounded 
and guarded by persons devoted to the emperor; but they 
were treated with care and respect, and their education was 
diligently attended to. At length, (351,) when the emperor 
was preparing to avenge the murder of his last remaining 
brother, he conferred on Gallus, then in his twenty-fifth year, 
the dignity of Caesar, committed to him the government of 
the East, and gave him in marriage the princess Constantina. 
The new Ca;sar fixed his abode at Antioch. 

Gallus was in every way unfit to rule. He had no experi- 
ence of the world, and his natural temper was violent and ty- 
rannic. Had he been united to a woman of mild and amiable 
manners, his innate ferocity might perhaps have been mit- 
igated; but Constantina was one who actually delighted in 
blood; and, instead of restraining, she stimulated her husband 
to deeds of cruelty. The apartments of the palace were filled 
with the implements of death and torture; all places, both 
public and private, were beset with informers; no man's life 
was secure ; and a general gloom pervaded the city. 

While Constantius was engaged in the contest for his em- 
pire, he had not leisure to attend to U^e proceedings of his 
Ca3sar : at length, however, (354,) he came to the resolution 
of depriving him of his rank, or of removing him to Gaul; 
and, on the occasion of the massacre of a nobleman named 
Theophilus, by the populace of Antioch, in a time of scarci- 
ty, with the connivance of Gallus, he sent the prefect Domi- 



324 CONSTANTIUS. [a. D. 354- 

tian, with directions to prevail, by gentle meani, if possible, 
on Galius to proceed to Italy ; for he feared to attack him 
openly, lest he should assert his independence. But Domi- 
tiaii, on arriving at Antioch Mistead of waiting on Galius, as 
he should have done, passed oy the palace gate, and, on the 
pretext of illness, remained at his own house for some days. 
When, at last, he condescended to visit the Caesar, he roughly 
ordered him to set out for Italy at once, threatening, in case 
of his refusal, to stop the supply of provisions to the palace. 
He then rose and went away, and woidd not appear any more 
before the Caesar, though often summoned, 'i'his conduct 
would have provoked a much meeker temper than that of 
Galius, who immediately set a guard on the house of the pre- 
fect. The qufestor, Montius, then called together the prin- 
cipal officers of the guards, and, dilating on what had occurred, 
hinted that Gnllus was about to rebel. When this reached 
the enrs of the Caesar, he assembled the soldiers, and called 
on them to protect him. They instantly seized Montius, 
who was an infirm old man, and, tying his logs with ropes, 
dragged him to the abwle of Domitian, whom they likewise 
bound, and then dragged them both through the streets till 
they were dead, and, after insulting their bodies in a bar- 
barous manner, flung them into the river. The cruelty of 
Galius now redoubled, and guilty and innocent suffered 
alike. 

Constantius and his council were perplexed how to act ; 
but they finally resolved to proceed with artifice, and dra\v 
th6 Cjcsar into their toils gently. The emperor wrote to him 
in most affectionate terms, entreating him to come and assist 
him in managing the arduous aff^airs of the West: in like 
manner, he wrote to his sister, expressing a most anxious de- 
sire to see her. Constantina accordingly set out for Europe; 
but on the way she fell sick, and died at a town in Bithynia. 
As it was chiefly on her infltience with her brother that Gal- 
ius relied for bis safetv, her death threw him into the utmost 
perplexity. While he was hesitating, Scudilo, a tribune of the 
guards, arrived, a man who under the guise of martial rough- 
■less and frankness concealed a most artful and insinuating 
character ; and by his representations he was induced to set 
out for Europe. At Constantinople he imprudently took on 
him to bestow a crown on the victor in a chariot race, which 
assumption of imperial power, as it was deemed, greatly con- 
tributed to exasperate the erriperor against him. The soldiers 
were removed from all the tawns through which he was to 



A. D. 355.] GAI>LUS. 325 

pass_ lest they should declare for him — a needful precaution, 
as it would appear ; for, when he reached Hadrianople, the 
Theba3an legions which lay in that neighborhood sent to 
offer him their services; but their deputies were unable to 
obtain access to him, for he was surrounded by persons de- 
voted to the court, who had been sent to occupy all the places 
in his establishment. Letters now reached him requiring his 
immediate presence at court ; and he was obliged to set out 
with only a few attendants, and to travel post with the utmost 
speed. On reaching the town of Petobio {Pcttau) on the 
Drave, he was lodged in a palace without the walls; and 
toward evening it was surrounded with soldiers, and their 
commander, Barbatio, entered and stripped the Caesar of his 
royal dress, putting common raiment upon him, and then, 
with oaths assuring him of safety, made him arise and enter a 
common carriage, in which he was conveyed to a place near 
Pola in Istria, which had been the scene of the last sufferings 
of the unhappy Crispus. After being kept a short time in 
suspense, and having undergone an examination respecting 
his conduct in the East, in which he confessed his criminal 
acts, but cast the entire blame of them on tws wife, he was 
secretly beheaded in prison. 

The imperi.il family was thus reduced to the emperor him- 
self and his cousin Julian. The eunuchs, who were all-power- 
ful in the palace, labored hard for the destruction of this 
prince, who had been brought to the court of Milan, and 
charges of treason were devised against him ; but though he 
easily refuted all that his enemies could allege, his innocence 
would probably have availed him little against the arts and 
the influence of those who dreaded him as his brother's aven- 
ger, had he not found a powerful protectress in the empress 
Eusebia, a woman of considerable beauty and merit, who ex- 
ercised great power over the mind of her husband. Julian 
was at length (355) permitted to retire to Athens, to pursue 
the literary studies in which he delighted. His abode in that 
seat of learning was, however, but of brief duration ; for Con- 
stantius, finding himself totally unequal to the sole direction 
of the multitudinous affairs of the empire, menaced on all its 
frontiers by restless and powerful enemies, yielded to the ar- 
guments and entreaties of the empress, who represented to 
him that Gallus and Julian had differed in character as much 
as the sons of Vespasian, and that from the mild, gentle tem- 
per of the latter he might expect to meet with nothing but 
gratitude and obedience. She thus induced him to consent 

CONTIIV. 28 



t326 CONSTA.NTIUS. [a. d. 355 

to associate Ju ian in the empire ; and an order was despatched 
for that prince to return immediately to court. Julian quitted 
Athens with deep and unfeigned regret. He was kindly re- 
ceived at Milan; the only condition exacted from him was a 
marriage with the emperor's sister Helena, a princess some 
years his senior; and on the day in which he entered his 
twenty-lifth year, (Nov. 6,) Constantius, in the presence and 
amid the acclamations of the army, hestowed on him the 
dignity of Caesar. He was immediately after sent to take 
the command in Gaul. 

This country had lately been the scene of rebellion, and 
this circumstance had probably contributed to the elevation 
of Julian. Silvanus, one of those German oflicers who were 
now so nunierous in the Roman service, had, by hi? opportune 
desertion just before the battle of Alursa, contributed not a 
little to the victory of Constantius. The command of the 
imperial infantry was his reward, and he enjoyed the favor 
of his sovereign, which, however, only exposed him the more 
to the hostility of the favorites, one of whom, Arbctio, as the 
surest means of destroying him, induced the emperor to give 
him the charge of delivering Gaul from the depredations of 
the Germans. Silvanus was not long in that province, when 
an agent, selected for the purpose, applied to him for letters 
of recommendation to his friends at court. These he unsus- 
pectingly gave, and they were conveyed to his enemies, who, 
erasing all but the signature, filled tlicin with language calling 
on his friends to aid his designs on the empire. The matter 
was then laid before the emperor in coui>cil, and orders were 
given to arrest the persons to whom the letters were addressed. 
Malaric, however, the commander of the foreign guards, and 
Silvanus's countryman, aided by his brother olHcers, warndy 
asserted the innocence of the absent general; and at his in- 
stance a new inquiry was instituted, in which the forgery was 
detected. The discovery however, came too late; Silvanus, 
indignant at the treatment he had received, and seeing no 
other prospect of security, had assumed the purple at Cologne. 
Treachery was then employed against him, and Urcisinus, a 
general who had lately distinguished himself so much in the 
defence of the East, that fear of his doing what Silvanus had 
now done had caused his recal., sullied his fnne by becoming 
the instrument. He set out for Gaul, with a few of his friends, 
under the pretence of avenging the injuries which he had re- 
ceived at court, and joined the usurper. He was received with 
kindness and confidence, which he repaid by seducing some o/ 



A. D. 357.] COURT OF CONSTANTIUS. 327 

the foreign troops, and causing Silvanus to be murdered after 
a brief reign of twenty-eight days. The troops then returned 
to tlieir allegiance. 

The court of Constantius was one in which all the vices 
which distinguished those of the East flourished in luxuriance. 
There was ni it no place for virtue and integrity ; the vile 
race of eunuchs (for such the history of all ages proves them 
to be) were so powerful, that, as the historian sarcastically 
observes, Constantius had a good deal of influence with the 
chief of them, the chamberlain Eusebius. Their rapacity 
knew no bounds ; justice and the honors of the state were 
set up to sale, the complaints of the injured were intercept- 
ed, the honorable and the independent were secretly under- 
mined or openly assailed. But the eunuchs were not the 
sole authors of evil ; we find among the pests of the court 
the general Barbatio, and Paulus the notary, a crafty Span- 
iard surnamed Catena, from his skill in entangling destined 
victims in the meshes of dangerous subtleties. There were 
many others whose names it boots not to record. The char- 
acter of the emperor, jealous of his dignity, and barbarously j \ 
cruel to all who were even suspected of encroaching on it, ij 5 
gave eflfect to the arts of these men, and few were safe from j, s 
their machinations. f | 

While Constantius remained in Italy, he paid a visit to the ^| 

ancient capital, (Apr. 38, 357.) He entered it in a triumphal || 

procession, visited and admired all its venerable monuments, | sj 

and gave orders for the transportation thither of an obelisk f I 

from Egypt, to commemorate his abode at Rome. After a 1 1 

stay of only thirty days, he quitted it, never again to return. 1 1 

The cause of his so speedy departure was the invasion of f l 

the Illyrian provinces by their ancient devastators, the Q,ua- { | 

dans and their allies. He took the field in person against | f 

them, cut their armies to pieces, ravaged their country far 1 1 

and wide, and compelled them to sue for peace. At this 1 1 

time also he listened to the entreaties of the Sarraatians, and i § 

consented to turn his arms against their rebellious slaves. | v 

On his approach, the Limigantes offered to pay an annual 1 1 

tribute, and to furnish recruits for the army; but they ex- [| 

pressed their determination not to quit their country. When, 
however, thev found themselves attacked on diiFerent sides 
by the Roman legions, their former masters, and the Gotiiic 
Taifalans, their dwellings fired, and their country ravagf^d m 
all directions, their spirit abated, and they came, with their 
wives and children, to the Roman camp, and consented to re- 



328 CONSTANTIUS. • [a. d. 359 

move whithersoever it should please the emperor to appoint 
their abode. Lands were accordingly assigned them at some 
distance from the river ; and, the war being thus to all .ap- 
pearance terminated, Constantius retired to Sirmium foe the 
winter. Early, however, in the following year, (359,) intel- 
ligence that the Liinigantes had returned, and were about to 
cross the Danube and ravage the provinces, obliged him 
again to take the field. When he reached the banks of the 
river, the Limigantes were quite submissive, craved permis- 
sion to be allowed to pass over and state their grievances, 
! ' and to have lands assigned them within the Roman frontiers, 

where they might dwell as peaceful subjects. Constantius 
gave a cheerful consent; his tribunal was erected on a mound 
near the river; the Limigantes surrounded it; he stood up, 
t, and was preparing to address them, when one of them flung 

^ his shoe at the tribunal, and raised their war-cry, Mnrka 

i marha. Instantly a rush to the tribunal was made by tlie 

|. multitude ; the emperor had only time to mount a lleet liorse, 

fl and fly to the camp; iiis guards were cut to pieces, and the 

» tribunal was destroyed. IJut when the Roman troops le;irned 

fl the danger to which their eniperor had been exposed, they 

I hastened to lake vengeance on the traitors; and they speedily 

\ massacred the entire multitude of the Lin)igaiites, For his 

I successes against this people, Constantius took the title of 

\ Sarmaticus. 

I The war on the Illyrian frontier being thus terminated, the 

I emperor found it necessary to proceed . to the East, where 

I Sapor had once more crossed the Tigris, and poured his 

I troops over the plains of Mesopotamia. The director of the 

\ campaign was a Roman subject named Antoninus, who had 

\ been forced to seek at the court of Persia a refuge from op- 

B pression. His plan was to neglect the fortresses, push on 

f for the Euphrates, and think only of the conquest and pliin- 

f der of Antioch; but the country was destroyed by the Ro- 

I mans, and the river, happening to swell at this time, could not 

I be passed at the usual places. The march of the Persian 

\ army was therefore directed toward the head of the stream ; 

! but, as it was passing under the walls of the strong city of 

Amida, Sapor halted and summoned it to surrender. A dart 
' flung from the walls chanced to graze his tiara ; and the 

haughty despot, heedless of the remonstrances of his minis- 
ters, resolved to avenge the insult by the destruction of the 
citv. His army, which counted one hundred thousand men, 
invested it after a g-jneral assault had been tried and failed. 



L. D. 360.] PERSIAN WAR. 329 

The works of the besiegers were carried on under the direc- ] \ 

lion of the Roman deserters, and, after a gallant defence of ! | 

seventy-three days, the city was taken by storm, and all but ' | 

those who had contrived to escape by the gate most remote | | 

from the point of attack were ruthlessly massacred. But the | J 

Persians purchased their conquest with the loss of nearly the | f 

third part of their host. l l 

The capture of Amida terminated the campaign. In the ' J 

following spring, (360,) Sapor again crossed the Tigris. He ] | 

besieged anti took the cities of Singara and Bezabde ; the j I 

former of which he dismantled, as it lay in a sandy plain; but i i 

in the latter, which occupied a peninsula on the Tigris, he i \ 

placed a strong garrison. Having failed in an attempt on 1 1 

Virtha, a strong fortress of the independent Arabs, he led his !;! \ 

troops back to Persia. In the autumn, Constantius, who had j 1 

at length arrived in the East, passed the Euphrates, and, hav- j | 

ing assembled his troops at Edessa, and wept over the ruins of 1 1 

Amida, advanced to attempt the recavery of Bezabde ; but | i 

all his efforts to take it having failed, and the weather be- 3 1 

coming tempestuous, he abandoned the siege, and returned | i 

to Antioch for the winter. 1 1 

It is now time that we should direct our attention to the | ^ 

conduct of the Caesar Julian in his administration of the 1 1 

Gallic provinces. The Franks and Alemans had been of late 1 1 

almost the undisputed masters of the country to an extent far 1 1 

westward of the Rhine ; forty-five cities, among which were 1 1 

tlxose bearing the modern names of Tongres, Treves, Worms, 1 1 

Spire, and Strasburg, beside numerous towns and villages, had 1 1 

been pillaged or burnt by them; and the Caesar received at || 

Turin, on his road, the intelligence of the capture of the i j 

flourishing colony of Cologne. He passed the winter at Vienne, ^ I 

and early in the summer (356) he proceeded to Autun, which \ | 

had lately gallantly repelled an attack of the barbarians. He || 

thence made his way through a country occupied by the en- I f 

emy to Rheims, where he had ordered his troops to assemble. 1 1 

After two encounters with the Alemans, in one of which he \ i 

was successful, he penetrated to the Rhine, and, having sur- 1 1 

veyed the ruins of Cologne, and formed a just conception of | [ 
the difficulties he would have to encounter, he led his troops 
back to their winter quarters in Gaul. He fixed his own 
abode in the city of Sens, where for thirty days he was be- 
sieged by the Alemans ; but he defended the town with skiJi 
and courage, and the barbarians were forced to retire. 

Julian himself, in his e.xtant writings, speaks slightingly ol 
28* pp 



330 con;;tantius. [a. d. 357. 

his first campaign. It was the initiation of a retired student 
in the affairs of actual life ; and the love of honest fame, and 
the lessons of solid wisdom which he had derived from the 
works of those men of mighty intellect who had flourished in 
ancient Greece, combined with his natural talent, soon en- 
abled him to acquire the character of an able general. His 
next campaign therefore proved a glorious one. A principal 
cause of his success was the removal of the impediments 
which the eunuchs had prepared for him in his own army, 
where they had caused the command of the cavalry to be 
given to Marcellus, a man who seemed to think his only duty 
to be that of thwarting the Caesar. As, however, though 
near at hand, he had not come to his aid when he ran such 
i risk at Sens, he was, on Julian's complaint, supported prob- 

; ably by the empress, removed from his conunand, and an 

I officer named Severus, of a very different character, sent in 

I his stead. Marcellus proceeded to the court, and was com- 

\ meiicing a course of insinuations against the loyalty of Julian, 

\ when the prince's chamberlain Eutherius, who had been de- 

ti spatclied for the purpose, arrived. This noble-minded eu- 

I nuch* demanded an audience of tlie emperor, and, when ad- 

{ mitted, he boldly asserted the innocence of his master, and 

I proved the culpable conduct of Marcellus, who was obliged 

i to retire in disgrace to his native country, Pannonia. 

i Julian, now master of his actions, prepared to commence 

I operations, (JJ.>7.) The plan of the campaign was, that, while 

I he should advance from Rheims on the one side with the 

I troops of Gaul, Barbatio, tlie general of the imperial infantry, 

5 5-hould lead an army of thirty thousand men from Iialy, and 

, cross the Rhine near Basil, (Kouruci,) so that the Alemans, 

ji attacked on both sides, .sliould be forced to abandon the left 

( bank of the river. Julian's first care was to restore the 

I fortifications of the city of Saverne, in the heart of the 

J country occupied by the enemy ; but, while he was tlms en- 

j gaged, a large body of the Alemans passed unobserved be- 

I tween the two Roman armies, and made an attempt on the 

city of Lyons, which having failed, they fell to plundering 
the surrounding country. Julian immediately sent bodies 

* Amtnianus (xvi. 7) is justly lavish in his praise of this I'xcellent 
man. He coiuiuencea by obsorviiig, that what hi* said would hardly 
be credited, " ea re quod si Nunia Pompilius vel Socrates bona quae- 
dain dicerent de spadone, dictisque religionum adderent fidem, a veri- 
tate de.icivisse arguerentur. Sed inter vepres rostE nascunlur, et inter 
feras nounuUaa mitescunt." 



A. D. 357.] JULIAN IN GAUL. 331 

of horse to occupy the roads by which they must return, and 
the booty was thus recovered, and all the plunderers cut to 
pieces, except those who were permitted to pass unmolested 
under tlie very ramparts of Barbatio's camp. When Julian, 
soon after, being anxious to drive the barbarians out of the 
islands which they occupied in the Rhine, applied to Bar- 
batio for seven of the boats which he had collected to form a 
bridge over the Rhine, the latter forthwith burned the whole 
of them, sooner than aid his operations. Julian, however, by 
means of the shallows in the river, caused by the summer 
heat, passed over a body of troops, and destroyed or expelled 
the barbarians. He then set his troops to restore the fortifi- 
cations of the town of Zabern, (TaberncB ;) and while they 
were thus engaged, Barbatio, as a further means of injuring 
Julian, seized the corn provided for them, consumed a part 
of it, and burned the remainder. Shortly after, he was sud- 
denly fallen on by the barbarians, defeated, and driven to 
Basil. Then, as if he had gained a victory, he put his troops 
into winter quarters, and returned to court, to follow his usual 
course of maligning the Caesar. 

Chnodomar, the Alemannic king, supported by six other 
kings and ten princes of royal lineage, now prepared to at- 
tack the Cnesar, whose forces, as he learned from a desert- 
er, were, by the departure of Barbatio, reduced to thirteen 
thousand men. The Germans occupied three days and nights 
in passing the Rhine ; and an army of thirty-five thousand 
of their warriors was thus assembled at Strasburg, (Argen' 
toratum.) Julian, who was encamped at a distance of twen- 
ty-one miles from that place, advanced to attack them; his 
troops being arranged in two divisions, the one of horse, the 
other of foot. It was so late in the day when they came in 
view of the enemy, that he wished to defer the attack till the 
morning; but the impatience of his troops was not to be 
restrained. Placing himself, therefore, at the head of his 
guards, he went round encouraging the men to fight valiantly. 
The battle then began ; the Roman cavalry which was on the 
right fought at first in a manner worthy of its fame; but, 
as the Germans had mingled footmen through their cavalry, 
the heavy cuirassiers were thrown into confusion, and re- 
treated. Julian immediately rode up and rallied them, and 
the combat of cavalry was renewed. The Roman infimtry, 
led by Severus, though vigorously opposed, was at length 
completely successful ; and the barbarians quitted the field 
with a loss of six thousand men, and many more were 



3'3)i CONSTANTIUS. [a. D. 35S-359. 

drowned in the Rhine, or slain by the darts of their pursuers 
as they were swimming across. Chnodomar himself was ta- 
ken'while attempting to escape, and conducted to the C<Bsar, 
by whom he was treated with kindness. He was afterwards 
sent to tiie emperor, who assigned him a residence at Rome, 
where he ended his days. In this glorious and important 
victory, the loss of the Romans had been only four tribunes 
and two hundred and forty-three men. 

Julian resolved to follow up his success, passed the Rhine 
near Mentz, and advanced for a space of ten miles into the 
hostile territory, wasting the lands and burning the houses. 
The impediment of a deep, dark forest, occupied by the con- 
cealed bands of the Germans, and the appearance of the 
snow, which now began to cover the ground, it being past the 
time of the autumnal equinox, warning him of the imprudence 
of any farther advance, he decided to repass the river. Be- 
fore, however, he quitted the soil of Germany, he repaired 
and garrisoned a fortress which Trajan had erected ; and, 
having granted the Alemans a truce for ten months, he 
departed. 

The following summer, (368,) Julian turned his arms 
against the Fraidis. By the celerity of his movements, he 
anticipated all resistance, and their tribes submitted to such 
terms as he thought fit to dictate. Then, as the truce with 
the Alemans had expired, he crossed the Rhine for the sec- 
ond time. Suomar, one of the most potent of the Alemanic 
princes, submitted at his approach. The territories of an- 
other, named Hortorius, were wasted with fire and sword, 
and he was forced to sue for mercy. Both princes were 
obliged to restore all the captives in their hands, and to sup- 
ply materials for the restoration of the towns which they 
had destroyed. 

As the princes who dwelt beyond the territories of Suomar 
and Hortorius had likewise shared in the war, Julian pre- 
pared to cross the Rhine a third time, in order to chastise 
them, (;359.) As he was about to construct a bridge at Mentz, 
the German princes marched with all their forces, and. oc- 
cupied the farther bank of the river. Their vigilance was 
such that there seemed but little prospect of the Romans 
being able to construct a bridge ; but Julian caused three 
hundred men to drop down the .stream one night in small 
boats, who very nearly succeeded in capturing the German 
princes, as they were returning late from a banquet given by 
Hortorius, and their troops immediately dispersed to secure 



A. D. 360.] JULIAN IN GAL I. 333 

their families and property. The Romans then crossed the 
river unopposed, and wasted the lands in the usual manner ; 
and the Alemannic kings, six in number, were ghid to obtain 
peace on the conqueror's own terms. The number of Ro- 
man subjects delivered from captivity by this and the pre- 
ceding treaties was not less than twenty thousand. 

Julian's civil administration rivalled his military exploits. 
The ruined cities were restored, and, as the agriculture of 
Gaul had suffered severely from the events of late years, a 
fleet of six hundred large vessels was built for the regular 
importation of corn from the better cultivated isle of Britain, 
in order to supply the towns and fortresses along the Rhine, 
the free navigation of which stream to the sea Julian had 
forced the Franks to concede. Julian also attended strictly 
to the administration of justice ; and he alleviated, as far as 
was in his power, the burden of excessive taxation under 
which the people groaned. The usual residence of the 
Ca3sar during the winter was Lutetia or Paris, (Parisii,) a 
town built on an island in the Seine, and approached by two 
wooden bridges; while a suburb, in which stood the imperial 
palace, spread over the left bank of the river. For this city 
Julian had an extreme partiality; and we find him amid the 
luxury and profligacy of Antioch dwelling on its memory 
with tender affection.* 

At the court of Constantius, Julian and his exploits were 
at first merely subjects of merriment to the eunuchs and the 
other favorites. His personal appearance and his manners 
were ridiculed in the presence of the emperor. He was 
called a she-goat, and no man, (in allusion to the philosophic 
beard which he cherished,) a chattering mole, an ape in pur- 
ple, and so forth ; nay, so fiir did courtly adulation and im- 
perial folly proceed, that, in the laurelled letters sent to the 
provinces to announce the victory at Strasburg, Constantius 
was actually declared to have gained it in person ! But the 
fame of Julian was not to be obscured by p4Rty arts like 
these ; and the plan was adopted of alarming the jealousy of 
the emperor by dwelling on the talents and virtues of the 
Cajsar, and hinting at the probability of his casting off his 
allegiance. As this was the subject on which Constantius 
was most susceptible of alarm, their stratagem easily suc- 
ceeded ; and a scheme for depriving him of the power to 
rebel was devised. In the spring of 360, a tribune and a 

Misopogon, p. 340. 



334 coNSTANTros. [a. d. 360. 

notary arrived at Paris with orders for four entire divisions 
of the auxiliaries, and drafts of three hundred men eacli from 
the other corps, to proceed without delav to join the imperial 
standard in the East. Julian represented in vain that the 
Germans had entered the Roman service on the express con- 
dition of not being sent beyond the Alps, and that a breach 
of faith like this might put a total end to further enlistments: 
he also urged the unprotected condition in which Gaul would 
he left by the withdrawal of so large a portion of the troops 
belonging to it ; the imperial envoys would hear of nothing 
but obedience, and Julian was obliged to issue his orders for 
the march of the troops. His judicious advice that thoy 
should not march through Paris was also despised, and ere 
long they approached that city. Julian went forth to meet 
them; he addressed them, extolling their former exploits, and 
urgintT them to yield a cheerful obedience to the imperial 
commands. He then invited the principal officers to an en- 
tertainment, from which they departed sad and dejected at 
the idea of quitting their lenient prince, and their natal soil. 
At the approach of night, the discontent of the troops broke 
out into action ; they seized their arms, and, surrounding 
the palace, with loud shouts proclaimed Julian Augustus. 
During the night, the entrances of the palace were secured 
against them; but at dawn Julian was obliged to come forth. 
His resistance, his menaces, his entreaties, his arguments, 
were of no avail : he was forced to yield to their violence, 
and accept the proffered dignity. They raised him triumph 
antly on a shield, they proclaimed him Augustus, and then 
desired him to produce a diadem. On his saying that he 
did not possess one, they called for his wife's collar or brace- 
let; but Julian deemed a female ornament inauspicious, and 
refused to use it; for a similar reason he rejected a horse- 
trapping. At length, a standard-bearer took a collar from 
his own neck, and placed it on the head of the Caesar, who, 
having promiifed a donative of five gold pieces and a pound 
of silver to each man, was at length permitted to retire into 
the palace. 

In the manifesto which Julian some time after addressed to 
the Athenians, he declared in the most solemn manner that he 
was totally ignorant of the designs of the army; and he was 
a man of so much probity, and had such a veneration for truth, 
that it is difficult to refuse him our belief That judicious 
and honest historian Ammianus, who was a contemporary 
hints not a suspicion on the subject; yet, when we conside. 



A. D. 361.] JULIAN IN GAUL. 335 

the ordinary conduct of men in such circumstances, and rec- 
ollect that Julian must have been aware that the assumption 
of empire was almost the only security against his sharing 
the fate of his brother, we find it impossible not to feel some- 
what incredulous. The question is, therefore, one of the 
many which must remain forever uncertain. That Julian 
was determined to retain the empire which he had accepted 
is beyond doubt; but he was most anxious to shun the guilt 
of the effusion of blood in civil war. On the day following 
that of his elevation, he assembled the troops, and, addressing 
them with his usual eloquence, obtained from them an as- 
surance, that, if the emperor of the East would acknowledge 
him, they would remain quietly in Gaul : he at the same 
time pledged himself, that promotion, both civil and military, 
should henceforth go by merit, and not by favor. Those 
officers who were known to be attached to Constantius were 
deposed and secured, but no blood was shed. Julian wrote 
to that emperor, excusing what had occurred, and requiring 
the confirmation of his dignity, but offering to acknowledge 
the supremacy of the elder emperor, and to supply him an- 
nually with Spanish horses and with barbarian recruits. 

Wliile Julian was waiting the return of his ambassadors 
from the East, he increased his army by proclaiming a gene- 
ral pardon to the bands of outlaws which had arisen in conse- 
quence of the persecution of the adherents of Magnentius, 
and they cheerfully accepted it, and crowded to his standard. 
He then crossed the Rhine for the fourth time, to chastise the 
perfidy of the Attuarians, a Frankish tribe; and, this object 
being effected, he marched southwards, and took up his win- 
ter quarters at Vienne. As this city was full of Christians, 
and a great part of his army followed the Christian creed, 
Julian, who, as we shall presently show, had long since adopt- 
ed a different faith, condescended to play the hypocrite for 
probably the last time, and went publicly to the church on 
Christmas day. 

Early in the spring, (361,) Julian learned that Vadomar, an 
Alemannic prince, had committed ravages to the south of the 
Danube; and there appeared reason for believing that the 
German was acting in obedience to secret instructions from 
Constantius, who wished to find occupation for his rival in 
Gaul. Julian resolved to employ artifice; and he ^sent the 
notary Philagrius, furnished with secret instructions to entrap 
the German prince. When Philagrius came to the Rhine 
Vadomar, thinking his proceedings unknown, passed over to 



:^ 



336 CONSTANTIUS. [a. D. 361. 

visit him, and readily accepted an invitation to a dinner. 
When he came, Philagrius retired to read his instructions, 
and, in obedience to them, he seized Vadomar, and foi warded 
him to the camp of Julian, w here, being convicted by his own 
letter to Constantius, which had been intercepted, he was sent 
a prisoner into Spain. Julian, then putting himself at the 
head of some light troops, crossed the Rhine in the dead of 
the night, and so terrified the Germans, that they sought most 
humbly for pardon and peace. 

The ambassadors of Julian had met with so many obstacles 
and delays, that they did not overtake Constantius till he had 
reached Caesarea in Cappadocia, on his way for the Persian 
war. The empress Eusebia and the princess Helena, whose 
influence might have prevented a rupture, were both dead; 
and Constantius, left to his own passions and the suggestions 
of his flatterers, returned a haughty answer, requiring Julian 
to renounce his usurped title, and accept a pardon on certain 
conditions. Julian caused the letter to be read out in pres- 
ence of the army, with whose consent he declared himself 
ready to resign his dignity; but the loud shouts of Julian Au- 
gustus, which rose on all sides, inspired him with resolution, 
and he dismissed the imperial envoy with a letter of defance. 
These transactions, it may be observed, had taken place at 
Paris in the preceding year, just before Julian's expedition 
against the Attuarians. 

Aware of the importance of bold and decisive measures in 
civil contests, and fearful of the arts of Constantius among the 
Germans, Julian resolved to advance at once into Illyricum. 
His soldiers readily agreed to follow him; and at Basil he di- 
vided his army into three divisions, of which one, under two 
officers named Jovius and Jovinus, was to go through the Alps 
and northern Italy ; another, under Nevilta, the commander of 
the cavalry, was to proceed through Noricum ; while, at the 
liead of the third, Julian himself, entering the Black Forest, 
should make for the Danube, and go down that river in boats. 
This daring and judicious plan proved perfectly successful. 
Julian landed unexpectedly at Bononi;i, within nineteen miles 
of Sirmium, and seized Lucilian, the general of the cavalry, 
who was preparing to oppose him. At Sirmium he was joy- 
fully received, and, being immediately joined by his rOmain- 
ing divisions, he advanced and secured the pass of Succi in 
Mount Hoemus. When Constantius heard of the advance of 
Julian, he gave up all thoughts of the Persian war for the pres- 
ent, and prepared to return and combat for his empire. Bui 






CO 




AD. 361.] JTJLIAN. 337 

on his way he was attacked by a fever, caused, probably, by 
the agitation of his spirits, and he breathed his last at a little 
town near Tarsus, named MopsucrentE, in the forty-fifth y(!ar 
of his age, naming, it is said, Julian for his successor. 



CHAPTER IV* 

JULIAN, JOVIAN. 

A. u. 1114—1117. A. D. 361—364. 

REFORMATIONS OF JULIAN. HIS RELIGION. HIS TOLER- 
ANCE. JULIAN AT ANTIOCH. ATTEMPT TO REBUILD 

THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM. THE PERSIAN WAR. 

DEATH OF JULIAN. ELECTION OF JOVIAN, SURRENDER 

OF TERRITORY TO THE PERSIANS. RETREAT OF THE 

ROMAN ARMY. DEATH OF JOVIAN. 

Julian. 
A. u. 1114—1116. A. D. 361—363. 

Julian was at Nai'ssus when two officers of rank arrived, 
sent to inform him of the death of Constantius, and of his 
nomination to the empire. He therefore passed Mount 
Hsemus without delay, marched by Philippopolis to Perin- 
thus, and, on the 11th of December, he entered the capital 
amid the loud and joyful acclamations of the people. 

The imperial palace, like the abode of an Eastern monarch, 
swarmed with eunuchs and other ministers of luxury. The 
emoluments of these men were enormous, and their salaries 
and allowances formed an article of no trifling magnitude in 
the accounts of the treasury. We are told that, one day when 
Julian called for a barber to trim his hair, he saw a man most 
splendidly dressed enter the apartment. The emperor, in af- 
fected amazement, exclaimed, "It was a barber, and not a 
receiver-general of the finances, that I sent for." He then 
inipiired of him respecting his salary and perquisites, and 

* Authorities : Zosimus, Ammianus, Julian, Libanius, the Epitoin- 
atori), and the Ecclesiastical Historians. 

CONTIN. 29 Q Q 



338 JULIAN. [a. d. 361 

found that, independently of a large salary and considerable 
perquisites, he had an allowance of twenty loavocJ a day, and 
fodder for an equal number of horses. Julian, regardless 
of justice, and of the claims of long, and, in some cases, 
faithful service, resolved on making a general clearance of 
the palace; and barbers, cooks, cupbearers, and others, to 
the number of some thousands, got leave to go whither they 
would, many probably to starve. The emperor was also 
resolved that those who had been the instigators or instru- 
ments of the cruelties and oppressions exercised under the 
late reign, should not escape with impunity. A commission 
composed of two civilians, Sallust, the upright prefect of the 
East, and Mamcrtinus, the consul elect, and of four generals, 
Nevitta, Agilo, Joviiius, and Arbetio,-was appointed to sit 
at Chidcedon, to hear charges and pass sentences. As the 
number of the military men, some flf whom were barbarians 
by birth, predominated in the tribunal, the decisions were as 
often the result of prejudice and faction as of ju.stice. No 
one can condemn the execution of the chamberlhin Euse- 
bius, or of Apodemius, one of the chief agents in the de- 
struction of Silvnnus and Gallus, or of Paulus Catc.ia, which 
last was burnt alive ; but Justice herself seemed lO Ammia- 
nus to have bewept the death of Ursulus, the treasurer, and 
to have convicted the emperor of ingratitude ; for, when he 
was .«eiit into Gaul, in want of almost every thing, Ursulus had 
directed the treasurer there to supply him witi all that he 
should require. Julian made a futile effort to ^ei rid of the 
charge, by averring that Ursulus was put to death without 
his knowledge. As little can the banishment of Taurus, 
the ex-pr;ctorian prefect, be justified, whose only offence 
was loyalty to the prince whom he served. On the whole, 
however, the number of those who suffered death or ban- 
ishment was not considerable, and most of them deserved 
their fite. 

The love of justice, and the correct sense of the duties of 
a ruler, which Julian had displayed when a Ca;sar in Gaul, 
did not desert him on the imperial throne in Constantinople; 
and, had it not been for one fatal circumstance, he might 
have been the object of general applause and admiration. 
But Julian had renounced the religion of the empire, and 
adopted that of ancient Greece, which he entertained the 
chimerical idea of restoring to its primitive importance; 
and, in the pursuit of this object, he did not attend suf- 
ficiently to the principles of justice and equity. From his 



A. D. 361.] RELIGION OF JULIAN. 339 

change of faith he has been styled the Apostate, unjustly, as 
appears to us, for of his sincerity there can be no doubt; 
and, however we may himent for, pity, or even despise those 
who cliange from conviction, we are not justihed in con- 
demning or reviling them. 

Gallus and .Julian, after the massacre of their relatives, 
had been committed to the charge of Eusebius, the bisliop 
of JXicomedia. They were instructed in tlie articles of f litli 
and practice then prevalent, with all of which they complied 
without any hesitation ; and Julian, it was remembered, had 
publicly read the Holy Scriptures in the church of that city. 
But, while the rude, sullen Gallus became a steady and big- 
oted believer, the milder and more philosophic and studious 
Julian took a distaste to the religion in which he was in- 
structed. He had been made familiar with the great writers 
of ancient Hellas by his tutor, the eunuch Mardonius; and 
the admiration he felt for the works of Homer and other 
eminent poets, the veneration for antiquity, and the brilliant 
colors with which the ancient poetic Olympus stood invested, 
as contrasted with the grovelling superstition with which he 
was surrounded ; and the. noble spirit and glorious deeds of 
the believers in the ancient creed, compared with the base 
arts and paltry actions of the men of his own time, — all 
combined to operate on the mind of the young prince, and 
he became a believer in the theology of Homer and Hesiod. 
But it was not the charming poetic creed of the early and 
best days of Hellas that Julian adopted ; it was the absurd, 
contemptible mysticism of the New Platonists; and as, in 
his Christianity, he neglected the beautiful simplicity of 
the gospel, confounding it with the intricate metaphysics 
and abject superstition which then prevailed in the church, 
so, in his paganism, he lost the poetic creed of the old times 
in the tasteless, unsubstantial vagaries and allegories of the 
school of Alexandria. In fact, he had not that original 
vigor of intellect which would have emancipated him from 
the spirit of the age. Superstition was the prevailing senti- 
ment, and the philosophic emperor was in his way as deeply 
immersed in it as the most grovelling ascetic. 

According to the em.peror's own account, he was a Chris- 
tian till he reached his twentieth year. He then, after being 
instructed by various sophists, was, by the archimage Maxi- 
mus, secretly initiated at Ephesus with all those ceremonies 
which imposture and superstition had imported from Asia, 
and incorporated with the mythic faith of Hellas. During 



340 JULIAN. [a. D. 361 

his short abode, some years after, at Athens, Julian was sol- 
emnly initiated in the mysteries of Eleusis. Stiil he was to 
outward appearance a Christian, and the empress Eusebia 
had not probably a shade of doubt respecting the faith of 
her distinguished protege. In Gaul he appears to have still 
dissembled, and to have openly assisted at the Christian wor- 
ship, while in his closet he oifered his homage to the Sun 
and llerines. When he assumed the imperial dignity, he 
disdained all further concealment of his sentiments, and 
boldly proclaimed himself a votary of the ancient gods. 

It may be, perhaps, laid down as an axiom in history, that 
when once a religious or political system has gone out of 
use among any j)eoj)le, its permanent restoration is an im- 
possibility. The power of a monarch or of a political party 
may reestabli^?!) it for a time, but when the hand that sus- 
tained it is gone, it sinks back into its previous state of 
neglect and impotence. The efforts of Julian to ro&tore 
paganism, must, therefore, even had his life been prolonged, 
liave proved utterly abortive. The system had long been 
crumbling to pieces from internal feebleness and decay ; the 
theism on which it was founded, and of whose various forms 
its beautiful mythes were merely the expositions,* had long 
been unknown; and the mystic views of th(i New Platonists, 
which Julian had adopted, were totally o|)posite to its spirit. 
To this should be added, that Christianity, corrupt as it then 
was, had, by its noble spirit of benevolence and charity, by 
the sublimity of its original principles, and by the organiza- 
tion of its hierarchy, a moral power such as the old religion 
had not possessed at any period of its prevalence. When 
we view the attempt of Julian in this light, we may feel 
disposed to pity, while we deride the folly of the imperial 
fanatic. 

Julian was by nature just and humane; he was also a 
philosopher and statesman enough to know that persecu- 
tion, if it does not go the full length of extermination, adds 
strength, and numbers, and energy, to the persecuted and 
irritated party. He, therefore, instead of imitating Diocle- 
tian, proclaimed a general toleration. The pagans were 
directed to open their temples, and offer victims as hereto- 
fore ; the contending sects of Christians were commanded 
to abstain from harassing and tormenting each other. The 
cat "olic prelates and clergy, whom the Arian Constantiaa 

" See tiie author's Mythology of ancient Greece and Italy. 



\ D. 361.] REF0R31 IN PAGANISM. 341 

liad banished, were accordingly restored to their sees and 
churches.* The real object of all this moderation, we are 
assured by Amniianus, was to increase the mutual animosity 
of" the Christian sects, by giving free course to their contro- 
versial spirit while depriving them of the power of extermi- 
nating each other, and thus to prevent their uniting in op- 
position to his ulterior projects. 

We can hardly blame Julian for giving a preference to 
his fellow-believers in civil and military employments. This 
mild form of persecution is the fate of religious and political 
parties in all ages. But even his most partial admirers can- 
not (Ammianus does not) ju.stify the edict which prohibited 
the Galileans, as he affected to style the Christians, from 
teaching the arts of grammar or rhetoric, i. e. from being 
schoolmasters. By means of this, he expected that the 
Christian youth would either frequent the schools of the 
pagan teachers, and thus probably be converted, or they 
would abstain from them, and thus grow up in ignorance, 
and the church, losing the advantages of learning and cul- 
tivation, sink into contempt. A far more legitimate and 
laudable mode of warfare was his effort to reform paganism 
on the model of Christianity, by introducing into it those 
rules and practices to whicli the latter seemed to him in- 
debted for its success. He thus desired that the priesthood 
in every city should be composed of persons, without dis- 
tinction of birth or wealth, eminent for the love of gods and 
men ; that the priest should be undetiled in mind and body, 
his reading be solely of a serious and instructive nature, and 
the theatre and the tavern be alike unvisited by him. He 
required that hospitals should be erected in each town ; " for 
it is shameful to us," said he, "that no beggar should be 
found among the Jews, and that the impious Galilseans 
should support not only their own poor, but ours also, while 
these last appear destitute of all assistance from ourselves." 
These were his advice and exhortations to the sacerdotal 
bodies of the temples of Asia Minor, in which country alone 
such were to be found. It can be only these, we may ob- 
serve, that are meant, when the hostility of the priests of 
the heathen to the Christian religion is noticed. 

While Julian abode at Constantinople, ambassadors ar- 
rived from distant countries, even from India and the isle of 
Serendib or Ceylon, with which the subjects of the empire 

* See below. Chapter VI. 
29* 



342 JULIAN. [a. d. 362. 

had )io\v commercial relations. All was tranquil on the 
banks of the Rhine and the Danube, and the Persian mon- 
arch had made proposals of peace. It niight therefore have 
been expected that a philosopher in principle and a devotee 
in religion, such as the emperor was, would have been satis- 
fied to apply his whole time and thoughts to the promotion 
of the welfare of his subjects and the extension of his re- 
ligious creed. But Julian, when in Gaul, had been smit- 
ten with the passion for military glory ; and the example 
of Alexander the Great, which had fascinated even Julius. 
Caesar, urged him to aspire to the conquest of the East 
He therefore returned a haughty reply to the envoys of 
Sapor, and, in the end of the spring, (:JG'2,) he passed 
over to Asia at the head of a formidable army. He made 
little delay on the road ; his piety, however, induced him 
to turn aside and offer his devotions to the Mother of the 
Gods at Pessinus, the ancient seat of her worship. He 
arrived, toward the end of the month of June, at Antioch, 
where he resolved to remain till the following spring, when 
he should be prepared to open the campaign with vigor in 
Mesopotamia. 

The people of Antioch received the emperor with loud 
demonstrations of joy. Julian now divided his thoughts be- 
tween preparations for war, the administration of justice, 
and what he regarded as his religious duties. Each day 
numerous victims were sacrificed to the gods, for which 
purpose birds of white plumage were brought even from 
considerable distances; for, in the creed v,f Julian, the gods 
derived pleasure, if not nourishment, from the holy steam 
which ascended from the altars on which the flesh of victims 
was consumed. He himself frequently slaughtered the sa- 
cred beasts with his own hands, and he sought, in their reek- 
ing entrails, to discover future events. Faithful in the dis- 
charge of all his religious duties, the pious emperor might 
be seen gravely moving along in religious procession amid a 
crowd of those per.sons of both sexes who led lives of infamy 
in the service of the licentious religions of the East. 

The grove of Daphne, about five miles from Antioch, in 
which stood a stately temple of Apollo, raised by the kings 
of Syria, had long been celebrated as the scene of acts of 
licentiousness n)ost alien from the character of Phoebus 
Apollo, the purest object of Grecian worship, and Daphnic 
manners had long been proverbial. But since the triumph 
of Christianity, the sanctity of the temple of Daphne had 



A. p. 362.] JULIAN AT ANTIOCH. 343 

greatly declined ; and on the day of the festival of the god. 
Julian, who seemed to estimate piety by the number of vic- 
tims, was mortified to find that the only animal that bled on 
the altar of the lord of light was a solitary goose, provided 
at the cost of the sole remaining priest, whose means proba- 
bly did not reach to the purchase of a swan. The glory of 
Daphne had indeed departed ; the emperor's own brother, 
Gallus, had caused the bones of the bishop Babylas, who had 
died in prison in the time of Decius, to be transported into 
the sacred precincts, and a stately church to be erected over 
them ; and the grove of Daphne thus, in accordance with 
the superstition then prevalent, became a favorite burial- 
place for the Christian inhabitants of Antioch. But Julian 
resolved to remove the profanation, and restore the temple to 
its pristine sanctity and magnificence. The church of St. 
Babylas was demolished, and the Christian bodies were re- 
moved. On this occasion, the body of the saint was con- 
veyed to Antioch in a lofty car, amid the loud singing of 
psalms by an immense multitude; and that very night the 
temple of Daphne was consumed by lightning sent from 
Heaven at the prayer of the offended saint, according to the 
Christians of Antioch ; by fire applied to it by themselves in 
the opinion of the emperor, wlio in return shut up their prin- 
cipal church, and seized its wealth. Several of the Christians 
were tortured, and a presbyter, named Theodoret, was be- 
headed ; but no persecution, properly speaking, took place. 
It was diflferent, however, elsewhere; and in Gaza, Ccesarea, 
and other towns, the now triumphant pagans exercised the 
most atrocious cruelties on the devoted Christians; and the 
emperor only gently condemned their excesses. 

The great majority of the people of Antioch were Chris- 
tians in rites and doctrines; but in practice they we- very 
remote from the standard of gospel perfection, and Antioch 
had long been noted as the most luxurious and dissipated 
city of the East. The strict and austere morals of the em- 
peror were therefore fully as distasteful to the Antiochians 
as his pagan superstition ; and, as they were a witty and in- 
genious people, they assailed him with the darts of ridicule. 
They mocked at his sacerdotal exercises ; they derided hia 
short stature and his efforts to make his shoulders appear 
broad, and his long strides in walking. But the grand butt 
of their shafts was his bushy, populous beard, which, in his 
character of philosopher, he sedulously nourished. He took 
his revenge by writing a satire on the Antiochians, which 



S44 JULIAN. [a. d. 362 

he named the Beardhater, {Misopogon ;) hut he never for- 
gave them, and he publicly declared his intention not to re- 
visit their city. 

At the same time, in order to win the favor of the common 
people, Julian adopted a very questionable policy. The har- 
vest having bef deficient, the natural consequences had 
followed ; corn was at a monopoly-price, and capitalists 
made it a matter of speculation. To remedy tlys evil, the 
emperor, by an edict, tixed a maximum, or highest price, at 
wincli corn might be sold; and he poured into the market 
422,000 measures of corn drawn from the granaries of other 
towns, and even from I'^gypt. This corn, as miglit easily 
have been foreseen, was all bought up l)y the capitalists; the 
supply was kept back as before, and the small quantities 
that Were brought into the market were sold underhand at 
a price beyond the maiimum. Julian was perplexed ; he 
would not or could not be made to see the policy of leaving 
trade to regulate itself; he was persuaded that the scarcity 
was entirely artificial, and produced by the conduct of the 
wealthy land-owners ; and on one occasion he arrested and 
sent to prison the whole senate of Antioch, consisting of 
two hundred meml)ers. They were, however, released in the 
evening, but cordiality was never restored between them and 
the emperor ; and, as we have seen, they lampooned and rid- 
iculed him, and he satirized then) in return. 

Julian, while at Antioch, as a means of morlitying the 
Christians, whom he hated, resolved on restoring the Jews 
to their country, and rebuilding the temple of Jehovah, whom 
he regarded with respect as a national god. lie connnitted 
the task to Alypius, an able and learned Antiochian, who 
had been governor of Britain; and this olBcer, being second- 
ed by the governor of the province, set at once about clear- 
ing away the ruins on Mount Moriah ; but a tenipest and 
eartlujuake, and flames which burst from the ground and 
scorched and Ijurned the workmen, prevented the progress 
of the work, and the death of the emperor put an end to 
all thoughts of resuming it. 

The Christians of the time viewed in this event the direct 
interference of Heaven; and many modern, even Protestant, 
writers take the same view. By so doing, no concession cer- 
tainly is made to the false miracles of the church of Rome, 
and we are very far from holding, that Providence might not 
Fp.e fit to interpose in a case of extraordinary importance 
But we deny such to have been the case in the present in-« 



\. D. 363.] TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM. 345 

Stance ; the futility of Julian's efforts against Christianity, 
and the fate which so soon awaited him, could not be un- 
known to Omniscience, and a miracle seems therefore to 
have been superfluous. The present one is, moreover, ex- 
plicable perhaps by natural causes. We know how prone the 
ecclesiastical writers were to convert, partly from ignorance, 
partly from design, natural events into miracles, and also 
how a tale gains in its progress. Rejecting therefore the 
storm and earthquake,* and confining ourselves to the fiery 
explosions to which we have the testimony of Ammianus, it 
has been supposed, with some degree of probability, that the 
phenomenon may come under the head of choke-damp, with 
the cause and effects of which we are now so familiar, and 
that the workmen may have been injured by the air, which 
had now been confined for three centuries in the vaults and 
cavities beneath the site of the temple. Still this explana- 
tion is not without its difficulties; and, though we ourselves 
cannot regard the event as supernatural, we leave the reader 
to form his own judgment, and return to the plain path of 
history. 

In the spring of the year 363, Julian departed from Anti- 
och, and proceeded to Bercea, {Aleppo,) and thence marched 
to Hierapolis, not far from the banks of the Euphrates, at 
which town the troops had been ordered to rendezvous. The 
river was passed without delay; and, as it seems to have been 
the emperor's design to enter the enemy's country by Nisibis 
and Armenia, the army advanced to Carrhae. But, circum- 
stances having caused him to alter his views, he detached 
his relative, Procopius, with Sebastian, ex-duke of Egypt, 
and thirty thousand select troops, directing them to join 
Arsaces, king of Armenia, and, having ravaged the adjacent 
parts of Media, to be prepared to cooperate with him on the 
Tigris when he should have reached that river. He him- 
self, having directed his march, as it were, for that river, 
suddenly turned to the right, and reached Callinicum on 
the Euphrates, along which he proceeded till he came *t 
Circesium, the southern limit of the Roman dominion je- 
yond the river, built at the confluence of the Aboras and 
the Euphrates. 

The imperial army, the largest ever led by a Roman 
emperor against Persia, counted sixty-five thousand men. 

* Yet, according to Ammianus, (xxiii. 1,) a shock of an earthquake 
was felt at Constantinople at this very time. 



346 JULIAN. [a. D. 363 

It was composed of the veteran troops of the East and the 
West, of Scythian {i. e. Sarinatian) auxiliaries, and of bodies 
of the Saracens or Bedoween light horse, who had joined 
the emperor since his passage of the Euphrates. Parallel to 
the mdrch of the army, a fleet moved along the river, com- 
posed of fifty war-galleys, an equal nuuiber adapted for the 
foruiation of bridges, and one thousand vessels of various 
kinds, carrying provisions, arms, and warlike n)achines. On 
leaving Circesium, the army entered the hostile territory, and 
moved southwards along the Euphrates. It marched in 
three parallel columns : the infantry, which formed the 
strength of the army, led by the emperor in person, occu- 
pied the centre ; Nevitta, at the head of some legions, moved 
along the bank of the river on the right ; while the cavalry, 
u[ider an officer of high rank in the East, named Arinthaeus, 
and the Persian prince Hormisdas, {JIuunnuz,)* was placed 
on the left, where the assaults of the enemy were most to be 
apprehended ; and the charge of the rear-guard was com- 
mitted to Dagalaiphus, Victor, and Secundums, duke of 
Osrhoene. The whole line of march extended nearly ten 
miles in breadth. The country over which the army passed 
was a level, sandy plain, in which were only to be seen the 
wild ass and antelope, the ostrich and the bustard. It was 
destitute of trees, and its oidy plants were wormwood and 
aromatic reeds and shrubs. On the evening of the sixth day, 
the army reached Anatha, (Aimah,) a town situated on an 
island of the Euphrates, the people of which at first prepared 
to resist ; but they yielded to the instances of Prince Hor- 
misdas, and opened their gates. The next town to which 
the army came stood also in an island : it was named Thilu- 
tha, and was so strong that the emperor judged it prudent to 
be content with the promise of the inhabitants to surrender 
when he should have conquered the interior country. The 
people of the next town made a similar promise ; the re- 
maining towns on the route were found deserted, and were 
pillaged and burnt; and at length the army, in about fifteen 
days after its departure from Circesium, arrived at Mace- 
practa, the frontier town of the ancient Assyria. During 
the latter days of the march, the Person Surena, and Rho- 

* Hormisdas was a member of the royal family ol Persia, who made 
his escape from prison in the troubles which occurred during the minor- 
ity of Sapor. He sought refuge at the court of Constanli^us, and roso 
to high rank in the Roman army. He was a Christian. 



^. D. 363] PERSIAN WAR. 347 

dosaces, the einir of the tribe of Gassan, {AssanitceuTn,) had 
been hovering about the army with their light cavalry; and 
on one occasion Hormisdas narrowly escaped becoming 
their captive. 

The army now entered Assyria, and, having surmounted 
the impediments caused by the numerous canals with which 
that province was intersected, arrived at a strong city named 
Perisabor, (Anbar,) situated close to the Euphrates. The 
garrison having despised the summons to surrender, the 
town was invested. A breach was soon effected in a tower 
at one of the angles of the wall, and the garrison, abandon- 
ing the tovvn, retired into the citadel which overhung the 
river. The Romans entered and burned the town, and then 
erected their machines against the citadel. The garrison 
madfe a gallant defence till they saw a Helcpolis, or moving 
tower, advancing against the walls. They then demanded a 
conference with Hormisdas, and, the governor being let down 
from the walls for the purpose, the terms of surrender were 
arranged. The inhabitants, two thousand five hundred in 
number, (for the greater part had made their escape over the 
river,) were allowed to retire, and the fort was then reduced 
to ashes. 

Quitting the banks of the Euphrates, the emperor now 
directed his course toward those of the Tigris. When the 
army had marched about fourteen miles, they found the land 
covered with water, the natives having opened the sluices by 
which they were used to turn the waters over their fields. 
The canals were also full, and it was found necessary to halt 
a day in order to construct bridges of skin-bags, and leathern 
boats, and of the palm-trees which grew so abundantly in 
that region. The difficulties of the route being thus sur- 
mounted, the army reached a large town named Maogamal- 
ca, distant only eleven miles from the suburbs of Ctesiphon. 
As this strong fortress could not be safely left in their rear, 
an immediate siege was resolved on. The emperor himself 
advanced on foot with a iew of his guards to reconnoitre the 
site of the town, when suddenly they were fallen on by ten 
Persians who had stolen out by a postern gate, and had crept 
round through the adjacent hillocks. Two of them singled 
out the emperor, and attacked him sword in hand ; but he 
received their strokes on his shield, and ran one of them 
through, and the other was slain by the guards who came to 
his relief. The next day, the canal which lay between the 
army and the tovvn was passed by means of bridges, and a 



348 JULIAN. [a. d. 363. 

camp was formed, secured by a double anlpart, against the 
attacks of the Surena, and his numerous cavalry. At the 
same time, the Roman horse, under the command of Victor, 
was directed to scour the country as far as the suburbs of 
Ctesiphon. The siege was then commenced in form. The 
garrison defended themselves gallantly, but they were not 
aware of their walls, while openly assailed bv rams and other 
engines, being secretly undermined ; and, while they were 
exerting all their power against the enemy, whom they s<iw, 
fifteen hundred Roman soldiers emerged from the floor of 
one of the temples, and, slaughtering all whom they met, 
opened the gates to their companions. A general massacre 
ensued; rage and lust burst all restraints; neither age nor 
sex was spared, and the governor* and eighty of his guards,- 
and some of the women, seem alone to have been spared. 
The town was razed, and, it being ascertained that a party 
of the enemy had concealed themselves in the artificial cav- 
erns, which were numerous in those parts, with the intention 
of falling on the rear of the army as it was departing, fires 
of straw and wood were made at the mouths of the caverns, 
and they were thus either smothered, or forced to come out 
and be slain. 

The march being resumed, the army came to a parafliar, 
or royal park walled in, and abundantly stocked with lions, 
bears, and other kinds of Oriental game. The walls were 
instantly broken down, and the soldiers amused themselves 
with slaughtering the savage denizens. 

At length the Roman army beheld the walls and towers 
of Ctesiphon crowning the opposite bank of the Tigris, 
while its suburb of Cochet lay not far from their camp. To 
form the siege of the latter while it could be so easily suc- 
cored from the citv on the opposite side of the river, seemed 
a needless and a tedious task ; and to pass the army over for 
the attack on the capital, the fleet from the Euphrates would 
be requisite. The Nahar-malca, or royal canal, which poured 
the waters of that river into the Tigris, was at hand, but it 
discharged itself below Coche, while the army was encamped 
above that city. Julinn, however, was aware that Trajan and 
Severus had opened a new course for that canal, which had 
been afterwards dammed up, and effaced by the Persians; 
and among the prisoners there chanced to be an old man 

* His name was Nabd;it('3 ; ho was burnt alive a few days after foi 
having used insaltinsj language to Prince Horuiisdas. 
i Formerly called Seleucia. 



&. D. 363. J PERSIAN WAR. 349 

who recollected and pointed out its situation. The army 
was immediately set to work, and the Roman fleet speedily 
rode on the Tigris. The broad Nahar-malca was passed 
by a bridge of boats, and the army, approaching Coche, en- 
camped at a stately palace adorned with paintings of the royal 
hunts, and surrounded with rich and well-planted fields. 

It was at this spot that Julian resolved to attempt the pas- 
sage of the Tigris. The difficulties he knew to be great; 
the stream is rapid, the banks are high ; they were occupied 
by a strong force of cavalry, infantry, and elephants, and the 
city of Ctesiphon, with its numerous population and garri- 
son, was at hand. But Julian relied on fortune, who so long 
had stood his friend; and, having previously caused some of 
the strongest of the vessels that carried the provisions and 
machines to be unladen, and eighty soldiers to embark in 
each of them, he summoned his generals to council, and in- 
formed them of his intention of attempting the passage that 
very night. They all remonstrated against it, but in vain; 
and Victor, to whom the task was committed, prepared to 
obey. As soon as the word was given, five of the vessels 
started, and, running down with the current, made for the 
opposite shore. When they reached it, the enemy attacked 
them, and set them on fire. Julian, on beholding the flame, 
though aware of the truth, cried out that it was the appoint- 
ed signal, and that the landing had been eflfected. Instantly 
every vessel pushed off" and swept down the stream with such 
speed, that they arrived in time to save both the men and 
the vessels. Many soldiers, in their ardor, trusted themselves 
on their broad shield to the current ; the banks were speed- 
ily won, and the troops formed. They were joined by the 
emperor, and, after a contest of about twelve hours' duration, 
the Persians fled to Ctesiphon, which the Romans might 
have entered pell-mell with them but for the caution of Vic- 
tor, who feared that they might be overwhelmed by the mul- 
titude of the people. The loss of the Persians was said to 
be two thousand five hundred, that of the Romans, only 
seventy men. The emperor distributed civic, naval, and 
castrensic crowns to those who had most distinguished them- 
selves; and he prepared to offer numerous victims to Mars 
the Avenger.* But of ten oxen of eminent beauty selected 
for this purpose, nine fell to the ground in melancholy mood 

* Perhaps becaust^ Augustus had built a temple to this god after tlie 
recovery of the stc; lards from the Parthiaris. See above, p. 10, 

CONTIN. 30 



350 JULIAN. [a. d. 363. 

before they approached the altars, and the tt; th burst hia 
bonds and escaped; and when he was caught and slain, the 
signs in his entrails were of ill omen. At the sight, Julian, 
in indignation, look Jove to witness that he would never 
again sacrifice to Mars.* 

It might have been expected that the siege of Ctesiphon, 
a city which had thrice surrendered to the Roman arms, 
would now be commenced without delay. But in the coun- 
cil which was held in the presence of the emperor, to delib- 
erate on the question, it was unanimously agreed that it 
would be highly imprudent to undertake it ; and Julian him- 
self fully concurred in the opinion of the council. Intelli- 
gence also arrived, that, on account of the treacherous con- 
duct of the king of Armenia, and the dissension of the Ro- 
man generals, there was now no chance of his being joined 
by the troops sent from Carrhai. To retreat might be dis- 
graceful ; but prudence counselled that a minister, whom 
Sapor had secretly sent to Prince Hormisdas, to propose 
terms of peace, should be admitted to an audience. Unhap- 
pily, Julian recollected that his Macedonian model had 
alway.s rejected the propositions of Darius; and Hormisdas 
was ordered to dismiss the envoy before the soldiers should 
know of his arrival. Julian also resolved, like Ale.vander, 
to advance and pursue his rival ; and he was encouraged in 
this design by the arrival of a Persian nobleman, who, with 
a train of his followers, came, pretending to seek refuge and 
j)rotection from the cruelty of Sapor ; and describing the 
discontent of the people, and the weakness of the govern- 
ment, offered to be the guide of the Romans. As it would 
be necessary to quit the banks of the Tigris, and the ships 
and stores, if left behind, must inevitably fall into the hands 
of the enemy, Julian issued orders for the whole to be burnt, 
except twelve of the smaller ones, which should be conveyed 
with the army, for the construction of bridges. The discon- 
tent and fears of the troops, however, caused an attempt to 
be made, when too late, to extinguish the flames ; and men, 
judging by the event, have condemned the conduct of the 
emperor, whose real error was of a very different kind. 

Quitting, therefore, the banks of the Tigris, the Roman 
army entered on the fertile country to the east of that river. 
At first, supplies were had in plenty; but, as they advanced, 
they found the villages deserted, and the grass and standing 

• Prol»ably in imitation of Augustus. See History of Rome, p. 467 



A. D. 363.] PERSIAN WAR. ' 351 

corn in flames. They were frequently obliged to encamp till 
the flames had subsided on the ground over which they were 
to march : the Persian cavalry now began to show itself 
more boldly ; and the treacherous guide, having obtained his 
object, disappeared. Any farther advance was now hope- 
less; the only question was, what line of retreat should be 
adopted. The soldiers were clamorous for returning by the 
route by which they had come; but the emperor and their 
officers proved to them that the wasted state of the country, 
the inundation of the river, (now swollen by the melting of 
the snows in the mountains,) and the quantity of mosquitoes 
and other insects, from which they had already suffered most 
severely, would render a retreat by that route nearly imprac- 
ticable. It was therefore resolved to turn northwards, and 
endeavor to gain the trans-Tigrian Roman province of Cor- 
duene. As soon as the retreat commenced, the Persians, 
who had hitherto only shown themselves in small parties, 
appeared in greater force, and the Romans had to win their 
way by force of hand. The country still was burnt, and the 
towns were every where deserted. In the district named 
Maranga, a general attack was made by the Persian army ; 
but they were finally repelled with loss, after the action had 
lasted from daybreak to sunset. A truce was then made 
for three days, in order that the wounded on both sides 
might be tended ; but on the part of the Romans there was 
hardly any food for man or beast, and the superior officers 
had to share their own private stores with the common men. 
On this, as on all occasions, the emperor set a noble exam- 
ple. He used only such food as a common soldier would 
have actually disdained, and he caused the provisions of his 
household to be distributed among the troops. The uneasi- 
ness of his mind caused his sleep to be broken, and he used 
to read and write in his tent when thus awaked. As he was 
thus engaged one night, he beheld the Genius of the State, 
who had appeared to him in Gaul, the night before he was 
declared emperor, retreating from the tent with a dejected 
air, his head and cornucopiae shrouded in a vei/. He rose 
from his humble conch, and made deprecatory offerings to 
the gods, committing all to their will : as he looked out, he 
beheld a meteor flaming across the sky, and he shuddered 
when he thought it might be the menacing star of Mars. 
Before daylight, he summoned the Tuscan haruspices to his 
tent, to explain the meaning of the sign. They counselled 



.35:2 JULIAN. [a. D. 36.3. 

liirn not (o give battle that day, or, at all events, -not to move 
from where he was for at least some hours ; but he took no 
heed of their warnirigrs, and at daybreak (June 26) the army 
Bet forward. 

The Persians hovered around, as usual. Julian was ri- 
ding unarmed out before his troops to reconnoitre, when he 
heard that the rear was attacked. Snatching up a shield, he 
was hastening to its support; but he was recalled by intelli- 
gence that the troops in advance, whom he had just quitted, 
were also attacked : he was riding back, when a furious charge 
was made by the Persians on the centre of the left, which 
was yielding to the pressure of their heavy-armed cavalry 
and elephants. He flew to their aid ; at that very moment, 
the Roman light troops drove off" the enemy; and, stretching 
out his hands, he was urging on his men to follow up their 
success, and was giving them an example himself, when a 
spear grazed his arm, and, entering his side, pierced the 
lower part of his liver. He attempted to pull it out ; but the 
sharp steel cut his fingers deeply, and he fell from his horse. 
He was taken up by those about him, and conveyed away, 
and committed to the care of the surgeons. When the pain 
was a little assuaged, he called for his horse and arms, that 
he might return to the aid of his troops ; but he soon per- 
ceived that his strength did not correspond with his will. 
Meantime, the action was maintained vigorously on both 
sides; and the Persians were finally repulsed, with a loss of 
fiftv men of rank, and a great number of the common sol- 
diers. The Romans had to lament the death of Anatolius, 
the master of the offices ; and the aged prefect Sallust nar- 
rowly escaped the same fate. 

Julian, aware that he was dying, addressed those who were 
mourning around him. He expressed his satisfaction that it 
had pleased the gods, who had often given an early death as 
their best boon, to withdraw him from the danger of corrup- 
tion ; he reflected with pleasure on the innocence of his past 
life, and declared that he had always endeavored to promote 
the welfare of the people, which he regarded as the true end 
of government. He had, therefore, sought to maintain peace, 
and repress license; and, though it was foretold to him that 
he would perish by steel, he did not shrink from expositig 
himself to danger. He was grateful, he said, to the Supreine 
Being that he had not fallen by a conspiracy, or been takeh 
off" by a lingering disease, but was thus removed in the mids< 



A. D. 363.] DEATH OF JULIAN. 353 

of ills glorious career. He would say nothing on the choice 
of his successor, lest he might chance to pass over a worthy 
person, or, by naming some one of whom the army might 
not approve, expose him to danger. When he had conclu- 
ded, he distributed his private property among his friends. 
He rebidied those present for their tears, saying it was a 
mean thing to mourn for a prince who was about to be uni- 
ted to the stars. When they had ceased, he conversed with 
the philosophers, Maximus and Priscus, on the nature of the 
soul, till his wound beginning to bleed afresh, he called for 
a draught of cold water; and, when he had drunk it, he 
breathed his last, about midnight, in the thirty-second year 
of his age. 

We have devoted so much space to the actions of this 
emperor, that any remarks on his character may appear su- 
perfluous. Yet there is in it so much to interest, that we 
cannot refrain from keeping it in view a little longer, and 
pointing out his virtues as well as his faults, — vices he had 
none, — more especially as he has been so hardly treated by 
those injudicious writers, who think themselves bound to 
portray the enemy of their faith as a perfect monster. The 
time, however, is arrived in which a better knowledge of the 
gospel has removed such narrow prejudice; and the virtues 
of Julian and the crimes of Constantine may be recognized 
without Christianity being supposed to sustain an injury. 

In person, Julian was of middle heiglit, broad-shouldered, 
and well-built. His nose was straight, his eyes bright ; his 
shaggy beard was peaked, his hair was soft and fine. He was 
able to endure great bodily fatigue, and he never shrank from 
toil or danger. He practised, without effort, the four cardi- 
nal virtues, and their attendant moral qualities. His chastity 
was conspicuous ; he had never, known a woman when he 
married, and after the death of his wife he thought no more 
of the sex. In his German and his Persian wars, he dis- 
played the talents of an able general, and he was both loved 
and feared by his soldiers. Julian was learned, and at the 
same time himself an elegant writer. His principal faults 
were vanity and superstition. He was too fond of talking, 
and took too much pleasure in light conversation and buf- 
foonery ; he was negligent of his person and dress to a de- 
gree that indicated an originally feeble mind. It is mel- 
ancholy to read of his superstitious regard to portents : his 
fancied intercourse with the fabled gods of Greece, and his 
extreme love for pouring forth the blood of victims in their 

30* 8 8 



354 JOVIAN. [a. d. 363 

hon >r.* His enmity to the Christians was unjust and little 
niin led , but their revenge has been ample. Julian was not 
a great man, but he was better qualified to rule than most 
princes; and, though we may not admire, we must esteem 
his character. 



Jovian. 
A. u. 1 1 16—1 1 17. A. D. 363—364. 

The morning after the death of Julian, a general assem- 
bly of the officers of the army was held for the purpose of 
choosing an emperor; for, as the house of Constantine was 
now extinct, no one could justly put forth any other claim 
than that of merit. They were split into two parties; Arin- 
thaeiis, Victor, and the remaining courtiers of Constantius, 
looked out for one of their own party whom they might pro- 
pose ; while Nevitta, Dagalaiphus, and the Gallic officers, 
soiiglit a candidate of their own side. Both, however, agreed 
in the person of the prefect Sallust ; but he declined the 
honor, pleading his age and his infirmities. An officer of 
rank then proposed that they should, for the present, only 
think of extricating the army from the instant perils, and 
that, when they reached Mesopotamia, they might choose an 
emperor at their leisure. But, while they were deliberating, 
some persons saluted as emperor Joviatius, the conmiander 
of the Domestics, or body-guard. He was immediately in- 
vested with the royal robes, and he rode through the troops, 
who readily acknowledged his authority. 

Jovianus, whom the caprice of fortune thus elevated to the 
purple, was distinguished more by his fither's merit than his 
own. He was the son of Count Varronianus, who, after hav- 
ing long served with reputation, was now living in dignified 
retirement. Jovian was tall and comely in person, of a gay 
and cheerful temper, a lover of wine and women, fond of 
literature, at the same time a good soldier, and even a zeal- 
ous Christian. 

As soon as Jovian was proclaimed, victims were slain, and 

* " Superstitiosns magis quam sacrorum Jegitimus obaervator, innu- 
irH-ras sine parsimonia pecudes mactans, ut aestimaretur si revertisset 
(ie I'urthis boves jam defuturos : Marci illius similis Cssaris in quein 
1(1 accepimus dictum ui ktixol ^ufg J\]u(>xo} tw Kuiauiii. 'Liv av 
yiaijai,;, i,ntii u7iok<ofit^a." Ammianus, XXV. 4. 



A. D. 363.] PERSIAN WAR. 355 

their entrails inspected. The augurs having pronounced 
that it would be the utter ruin of the army to remain where 
it was, the march was instantly resumed. The Persians, 
imboldened by the intelligence of the death of Julian, con- 
veyed to them by deserters, pressed on with redoubled vigor ; 
but, in spite of their incessant attacks, the Romans succeed- 
ed in reaching Sumere, [Samara,) on the Tigris, about one 
hundred miles above Ctesiphon. Marching up the stream, 
they encamped next night in a valley, at a place named 
Carche, and on the first of July, they arrived at the town of 
Dura, where they were detained for four days, by the perse- 
vering energy of the enemy. The impatient soldiers insisted 
on passing the river at that place ; and, Jovian and his officers 
having remonstrated with them to no purpose, a body of five 
hundred Gauls and Sarmatians were directed to try if they 
could swim across the stream. They made the attempt at 
night, and easily succeeded, and the impatience of the sol- 
diers could only be restrained by the promise of the engineer* 
that they would construct bridges of inflated skins. 

Should the Romans succeed in passing the river, or in 
reaching the frontiers of Corduene, which were only a hun- 
dred miles distant, they would be out of danger, and might 
continue the war with advantage. Sapor, therefore, re- 
solved not to let slip the occasion of concluding a treaty, 
while they were in his power. He accordingly despatched 
the Surena and another nobleman to the Roman camp, to 
signify that, on certain conditions, their sovereign, out of 
his clemency, would permit the emperor and the remnant of 
his army to depart in safety. Sallust and Arinthaeus were 
sent to the Persian monarch, by whom they were artfullj 
detained for four entire days, during which the army suflTered 
severely from the want of food. The terms which Sapor in- 
sisted on, were the absolute cession of the five provinces be- 
yond the Tigris, and the surrender of the cities of Nisibis, 
Singara, and the Moors' Camp, [Castra Maurorum.) He 
also required that no aid should be given to the king of Ar- 
menia, at any future time, against the Persians. To these 
severe and humiliating conditions Jovian acceded, only 
stipulating that the inhabitants of Nisibis and Singara should 
be permitted to depart with their movable property. A 
peace was then concluded for thirty years, and hostages of 
rank were exchanged on both sides. 

This was the most inglorious treaty ever concluded by 
Rome, for it was the first by which she had abandoned terri- 



356 JOVIAN. [a. .y. 363. 

tory. The conquests of Trajan had, it is true, been aban- 
doned by Hadrian and Aurelian, but these were voluntary 
cessions, dictated by political wisdom ; tlie treaty of Dura 
was a plain confession of inferiority, a barter of territory for 
life and liberty. Amniianus, who was present, speaks of it 
with the grief and indignation of a gallant soldier ; and he 
maintains that, in the four days that were spent in negotia- 
tion, the army might have reached Corduene, though it was 
a hundred miles distant. But he seems to have Ibrgotteii 
that the incessant attacks of the Persians had already Ibrced 
the army to halt at Dura; and he does not explain how an 
army of 60,000 men could have marched one hundred miles 
ill four days, without provisions, and continually assailed by 
an active and persevering foe. Eutropius, who was also 
present, is, perhaps, more correct in saying that the peace, 
though inglorious, was necessary. But the original error 
may be charged on Julian, who slioiild have repassed the Ti- 
gris when he found himself unable to undertake the siege of 
Clesij)hou ; and perhaps it was death alone that saved him 
from the disgrace of concluding the treaty of Dura. 

The Roman soldiers hastened to pass to the farther bank 
of the river. Some crossed on inflated skins, leading their 
horses by the bridle: others got over in the boats which had 
been brought with the army. Some of the more impatient, 
who had not wailed for the signal for the passage, were 
drowned, in their attempts to swim across; or, if they reached 
the other side, were slain or carried away for slaves, by the 
Saracens. When the whole army had effected its passage, 
the march was directed for the lioman territory. The ruins 
of the once impregnable Atra were passed, and, after a 
march of seventy miles, which occupied six days, over an 
arid plain, which only produced bitter plants and brackish 
water, the army reached the castle of Ur, where it was met 
by a small convoy of provisions, sent from the army of Pro- 
copius and Sebastian. The troops made a halt there for a 
tew days, of which the emperor took the advantage for send- 
ing appointments to offices of trust and importance to those 
whom he thought best calculated to support his interests in 
the West. When the supply of provisions was exhausted, 
the army renewed its march ; and the famine which it expe- 
rienced was so great, that a modhis (201bs.) of meal, when- 
ever it chanced to be found, was sold for ten pieces of gold. 
At the town of Thilsaphata, the emperor was n>et by Sebas- 
lian and Procopius, and their principal officers; and tho 



A. D. 363.] CHRISTIANITY REESTABLISHED. 35T 

army finally encamped under the walls of Nisibis, which 
city shame prevented Jovian from entering, though earnestly 
entreated by the people. 

The following day, Bineses, a Persian nobleman, who was 
one of the hostages sent with the army, called on the empe- 
ror to fulfil his promise^ and surrender the town. Jovian 
having acceded to his demand, he entered, and displayed the 
banner of Persia from the citadel. Nothing could exceed 
the grief and indignation of the Nisibenes. They implored 
the emperor not to force them to migrate, affirming that, even 
unaided, they were able to maintain their town against all 
the power of Persia. But Jovian, alleging a regard for his 
oath, was deaf to their entreaties; and at length, exasperated 
at an advocate named Silvaaus, who cried out, when he saw 
a crown presented to him by the citizens, " May you bethds 
crowned, O emperor, by the remaining cities!" he issued 
orders for those to depart within three days who were not 
willing to be subjects of the king of Persia. The grief and 
lamentation were naturally great, and the loss of property 
WHS considerable, owing to the want of beasts of burden to 
convey it away. A new quarter was built at Amida for the 
reception of the exiles, which city, in consequence, resumed 
its former importance. Singara and the Moors' Camp were 
surrendered in like manner, and Jovian then led his troops 
to Antioch. The remains of the late emperor were com- 
mitted to the charge of Procopius, to be conveyed to Tarsus. 

The attachment of Jovian to the Christian faith was well 
known. On the march to Antioch, the Labarum was again 
displayed. By a circular epistle, addressed to the governors 
of the provinces, he declared the Christian faith to be the 
religion of the empire ; all the edicts of Julian against it 
were abolished, and the church was restored to its posses- 
sions and immunities. The prelates thronged to the court 
of the Christian emperor ; and the venerable Athanasius, 
although seventy years of age, undertook, at that advanced 
season of the year, a journey from Alexandria to Antioch, 
in order to confirm him in the path of orthodoxy. By a 
vvise and humane edict, Jovian calmed the fears of his pagan 
subjects, proclaiming universal toleration, except for the 
practisers of magic arts. 

Impatient to reach the capital, Jovian remained only 
six weeks at Antioch. He first marched to Tarsus, where 
he inade a brief halt, and gave directions relating to the 
tomb of Julian. At Tyana in Cappadocia, he was met by 



358 VALENTINIAN, VALEN" [a. D. Si)H, 

deputies, sent to assure him of the obedience of the armies 
and people of the West. On the 1st of January, 304, he 
assumed the consuhiie at Ancyra, witli his infant son for his 
colleague, whose crying, and reluctance to be carried in the 
curule chair, were regarded as ominous. lie thence pro- 
ceeded toward the capital ; but, having supped heartily one 
night, (Feb. 17,) when he halted at Dadastana, a little town 
on the frontiers of Bithynia, he was found dead in his bed 
the following morning. Various causes were assigned for 
his death ; but the most probable oiie was his having lain in a 
recently plastered room, in which there was a large fire o' 
charcoal. He was in the 33d year of his age, and he had 
not reigned quite eight months. 



CHAPTER v.* 

VALENTINIAN, VALENS, GRATIAN, VALER 
TlNIAiN II., AND THEODOSIUS. 

A. u. 1 117—1 14S. A. D. 364—395. 

ELEVATION OF VALENTINIAN AND OF VALF.NS. PROCOPIUS. 

GERMAN WARS. RECOVERY OF BRITAIN. REBELLION 

IN AFRICA. QIIAUAN WAR. DEATH OF VALENTINIAN. 

1II8 CHARACTER. GRATIAN. THE GOTHS THE HUNS. 

THE GOTHIC WAR. BATTLE OF lI.\DRIANOPLE, AND 

DEATH OF VALENS. RAVA<;ES OF THE GOTHS. THEO- 
DOSIUS. SETTLEMENTS OF THE GOTHS. M.\XIMUS. 

DEATH OF GRATIAN. DEFEAT OF MAXIMUS. MASSACRE 

AT THES8ALONICA. CLEMENCY OF THEODOSIUS. DEATH 

OF VALENTINIAN II. DEFEAT AND DEATH OF EUGENIUS. 

DEATH AND CHARACTER OF THEODOSIUS. STATE OF THE 

EMPIRE. 

Valr.nthiian and Valens. 

A. u. 1117—1128. A. D. 3G4— 375. 

The death of the emperor Jovian did not prevent the 
advance of the army; and while it was on its march for 
Nicsea, the generals and civil officers met in frequent delib- 

* Authorities: Amnr anus, Zosimus, the Epitomato'-s, and Erclesi 
lutical Historians. 



A. D. 364.] CHARACTER OF VALENTINIAN. 359 

eration on the choice of an emperor. All the suffrages were 
united in favor of the prefect Sallust; but he again refused 
the imperial dignity, both for himself or for his son, alleg- 
ing the age of the one and the inexperience of the other. 
Various persons were named and rejected : at length all 
united in approbation of Valentinian, who was then at An- 
cyra, in command of the second school of the Scutarians; 
and an invitation was sent to him to repair to Nica;a, where 
the solemn election was to be held. 

Valentinian was a Pannonian by birth, son of Count Gra- 
tian, a distinguished officer. He had himself served with 
great credit, and was now in the forty-third year of his age. 
In person he was tall and handsome. He was chaste and 
temperate in his habits; his mind had been little cultivated, 
and he was unacquainted with the Greek language, and with 
literature in general. He was a Christian in religion, and 
he had offended the emperor Julian by the public expression 
of his contempt for the rites of paganism. 

Every prudent measure was adopted by the friends of 
Valentinian to prevent the appearance of a competitor for the 
empire. No time, it might therefore be supposed, would have 
been lost in causing him to be acknowledged ; yet it was not 
till the second day after his arrival at Nicaea that he let him- 
self be seen ; the first happening to be the Bissextile, a day 
noted as unlucky in the annals of Rome. On the evening 
of that day, at the suggestion of Sallust, it was forbidden, on 
pain of death, for any man of high rank to appear the next 
morning in public. At daybreak, the impatient troops all 
assembled without the city ; Valentinian advanced, and, 
having ascended a lofty tribunal, was unanimously saluted 
emperor. He was then arrayed in the imperial habit, and 
was proceeding to address the assembled troops, when a 
general cry arose for him to name a colleague ; for late events 
had made even the meanest perceive the danger of an un- 
settled succession. The tumult increased, and menaced to 
become serious, when the emperor, by his authority, stilled 
the clamor, and, addressing them, declared that he felt as well 
as they the necessity of an associate in the toils of govern 
ment, but that the choice required time and deliberation. 
He assured them that he would make the choice vvith all con- 
venient speed, and in conclusion promised them the usual 
donative. Their clamors were converted into acclamations, 
and the emperor was conducted to the palace, surrounded by 
eagles and banners, and guarded by all the troops. 



360 VALENTINIAN, VALENS. '^A. D. 365 

The word was given to march for Nicomedia. Meantimo 
Valeritiniaii called a council of his principal officers to delib- 
erate on the choice of a colleague, though he had prol)ably 
already, in his own mind, fixed on the person. All were 
silent but the free-spoken Dagaiaiphus, who said, " If you 
love your own family, most excellent emperor, you have a 
brother; if the state, seek whom you may invest with the 
purple." Vilentinian was offended, but he concealed his 
feelings. The army marched for the Bosporus, and, soon 
after their arrival at Constantinople, (Mar. 28,) the emperor 
assembled them in a plain near the city, and presented to 
them his brother Valens, as his colleague in the empire. In 
this choice, he proved that natural affection was stronger in 
his breast than regard for the public happiness ; for Valens, 
though in his thirty-sixth year, had never borne any employ- 
ment, or showed any distinguished talent. As none, however, 
ventured to dissent, the choice seemed to be made with the 
general approbation. 
i; A general reformation of the administration of the empire 

was effected in the course of the year. Most of the ollicers 
of the palace and governors of provinces appointed by Julian, 
were dismissed ; but the whole proceeding was regulated by 
equity. In the spring of the following year, (3<Jo,) the two 
emperors quitted the capital of the East, and at the palace 
of Mcdiana, three miles from Naissus, they made a formal 
division of the empire, and parted — never agiiin to meet. 
Valentinian, reserving to himself the West, committed the 
East, including Greece and the country south of the Lower 
Darmbe, to the rule of his brother. The able generals and 
great officers were also divided between them; to the inex- 
perienced Valens were assigned the services of Sallust, Vic- 
tor, Arinthajus, and Lupicinus; among those whom Valen- 
tinian retained for himself, was the intrepid Dagaiaiphus. 

Valens had soon to contend for his empire. Procopius, 
after the funeral of the emperor Julian, had retired to his 
estates in Cappadocia, where he lived in peace, till an officer 
and soldiers appeared, sent by the new emperors to arrest 
him. lie made his escape to the sea-coast, and sought refuge 
among the barbarians of the country of Bosporjs; but, after 
some time, weary of the hardships and privations lieei dured, 
he came secretly to Bithynia, and sheltered himself there in 
various retreats. He at length ventured into the capital, 
where two of his friends, a senator and a eunuch, afforded 
him concealment. He there observed the discontent of the 



A. D. 365.] PROcopius. 361 

people, who despised Valetis, and detested his father-in-law, 
Petronius, a cruel, hardhearted man, who seemed to have 
no other desire than that of stripping every man of his prop- 
erty, claiming with this view the payment of debts due to the 
state, even so far back as the reign of Aurelian. Imbold- 
ened by this aspect of affairs, Procopius resolved to acquire 
the empire, or perish in the attempt. The conjuncture was j | 

favorable ; for, Sapor having resumed hostilities, Valens had ) | 

passed over to Asia to take the field against him. While he 'i t 

was in Bithynia, he learned that the Goths were preparing to ] I 

invade Thrace, which was now unguarded. He therefore | 

sent back some of his troops; and, as they had to pass through < I 

Constantinople, Procopius seized the occasion of attempting | I 

to gain over two Gallic cohorts, which had halted in that | j 

city. His promises and the memory of Julian prevailed with !| 

them. At the dawn of day, Procopius appeared in their J | 

quarters, like one risen from the dead, and, having renewed ^ | 

his promises, was saluted emperor. They escorted him i | 

thence to the tribunal. The people at first were silent and I | 

indifferent; but, a few hired voices having set the exam- || 

pie, they joined in the acclamation of emperor. Procopius | | 

then took possession of the palace ; he displaced the officers 1 1 

of Valens, and secured the gates of the city and the entrance || I 

of the port. Numbers flocked to his standard ; the troops, as 1 1 

they arrived from Asia, were seduced; those on the northern | ?, 

frontier were induced to declare for him, and the Gothic | | 

princes to promise a large body of auxiliaries. Faustina, the 
widow of Constantius, joined his party, and he carried about s' 

with him her daughter Constantia, a child only five years old. '1 

He thus endeavored to make his cause appear to be that of | 

the house of Constantine against the upstart Pannonians. " \ 

When Valens heard of the events at Constantinople, he 
gave way to the most abject despair, and even meditated re- 
signing the purple, till he was brought back to nobler thoughts 
by the remonstrances of his officers. He then sent the \ \ 

Jovian and Herculian legions against the usurper, who was \ \ 

now at Nicaea. Procopius met them on the banks of the 
Sangarius; and, when the troops were on the point of enga- 
ging, he advanced alone into the midst, and, addressing the 
opposite legions, induced them to declare for him. Valens, 
nevertheless, advanced to Nicomedia, having sent one of his 
generals to invest Nicaea ; and he himself soon after laid siege 
to Chalcedon. But the besiegers were beaten off at Nicaea, 
and Valens, whose army was in want of provisions, and who 

CONTIN. 31 T T 



i 



3t>2 VALENTINIAN, VAL.ENS. A. D. 366 

feared to be attacked in the rear by the garrison of Nicaja, 
retired with ail speed to Ancyra, leaving Procopius master 
of Bithynia. At Ancyra, he was joined by Lupicinus, with a 
strong body of troops from Syria. He then gave the com- 
mand to Arinthaius, who advanced against the rebels that 
were at Dadastana, under the command of one Hyperectri- 
ses, a man of low rank, whom Procopius had raised out of 
friendship. Arinthsus, vvheti he beheld him, called out to 
the soldiers to bind iheir commander and deliver him up; and 
such was his ascendency over their minds that they obeyed 
his mandate. Procopius, however, made himself master of 
Cyzicus on the Hellespont. He then unwisely suffered his 
soldiers to plunder the house of Arbetio,* who was living in 
retirement; and, instead of advancing at once into Asia, 
where the people would probably have declared for him, he 
thought only of collecting money for currying on the war. 

In the spring, ('300,) Valens advaticed intoGalatia, and, aa 
Procopius carried the infant daughter of Constantius with 
him to the field, he invited the offended Arbetio to repair to 
his camp; and this aged general of Constantine's, taking off 
his helmet, and displaying his hoary locks, advanced toward 
the troops of Procopius, and, addressing the soldiers as his 
children and the sharers of his former toils, implored them to 
follow himself, who was, as it were, their parent, rather than 
that profligate adventurer and common robber. Many were 
thus induced to desert; and, when Procopius gave battle to 
the imperial troops at Nacolia in Phrygia, Agilo, an officer 
of rank, and several of his men, went over to the emperor 
in the heat of the action. Procopius, seeing all lost, fled on 
foot to the mountains, with two companions, by whom he 
was treacherously seized next day, and delivered bound to 
the emperor. His head was instantly struck off; the two 
traitors shared his fate. Judicial inquiries ensued; the rack 
was in constant use ; the executioner was incessantly em- 
ployed : neither age, sex, nor rank, was spared, and the re- 
sults of the victory of Nacolia were more direful than the 
most terrible civil war. 

As nothing of very great importance, in a political sense, 
occurred for some years in the East, we will devote our pages 
henceforth to the actions of Valenlinian. 

The absence of the Roman armies and the intelligence 
of the death of Julian having inspirited the Alemans, they 

• See above, p. 326. 



\. D. 366—368.] ALEMANNIC WAR. 36»^ 

passed the Rhine in the beginning of January, 366, and 
proceeded to ravage Gaul in their usual manner. The 
Counts Charietto and Severian were defeated and slain by 
them. But Jovinus, the master of the cavalry, having taken 
the command of the army destined to act against them, 
surprised and cut to pieces two of their divisions,, and, en- 
gaging the third in the vicinity of Chalons, (Catalauni,) de- 
feated them after a well-contested action, with a loss of 
6,000 slain and 4,000 wounded, that of the Romans being 
only twelve hundred men. For this victory, Jovinus was, 
on his return to Paris, justly honored with the consulate. 

Some time after, (368,) an Aleraannic chief, named Ran- 
do, surprised the city of Mentz, {Moguntiacum,) on the diiy of 
one of the Christian festivals, and carried away a great num- 
ber of the inhabitants. Valentinian, resolved to take ven- 
geance on the whole nation, ordered Count Sebastian to 
invade t'leir country from the south, with the armies of Italy 
and Illyricum, while he himself and his son Gratianus should 
cross the Rhine at the head of the troops of Gaul. They 
passed the river without opposition ; as they advanced, no 
enemy appeared ; the deserted villages were burnt, and the 
cultivated lands laid waste. At length they learned that the 
enemy had occupied a lofty mountain, the north side of 
which alone was of easy ascent. Valentinian, having posted 
Count Sebastian at that side to intercept the fugitives, gave 
the signal to advance; and the Roman soldiers, in spite of 
all impediments, won their way up the steep sides of the 
mountain. When they had attained the summit, they 
charged the enemies vigorously, and drove them down the 
northern side, where they were intercepted and slaughtered 
by Count Sebastian. Valentinian and his son then returned 
to Treves for the winter, and celebrated their victory by 
magnificent triumphal games. Instead of again invading 
Germany, the prudent emperor resolved to provide for the 
defence of Gaul ; and he caused a chain of forts and castles 
to be constructed, chiefly along the left bank of the Rhine, 
from its source to the ocean. The Germans made various 
attempts to interrupt the works, especially those on the right 
bank of the river, and sometimes with success; but the em- 
peror completed his design, and secured the tranquillity of 
Gaul for the remainder of his reign. 

The coasts of Gaul and Britain were now infested by the 
invasions of the pirates of the North, who, united under the 
name of Saxons, (that of the people of the neck of the Cim- 



364 VAI.ENTINIAN, VALENS. [a. D. 37 1 

brie peninsula,) had long since commenced that series of 
plundering excursions which afterwards led to such iiii' 
portant consequences. A large body of these freebooters 
having penetrated into Gaul, (371,) Severus, the master of 
the infantry, was sent with a considerable force to oppose 
them. The Saxons, when they beheld the number and the 
arms of the Romans, declined the combat, and offered to 
supply a select number of their youth for the Roman service, 
as (lie condition of a safe retreat. The treaty was con- 
cluded, the condition fulfilled, and the Saxons set out for 
the coast. But, in a wooded valley on the way, a chosen 
body of Roman infantry was posted in ambush to attack 
them as they passed. Some, however, of the soldiers rising 
before their time, the freebooters became aware of the 
treachery that was meditated, and stood on their defence.* 
The Romans were on the point of destruction, when a body 
of cuirassiers, who had been posted with the same design 
on another part of the road, hearing the din of combat, 
hastened to the spot, and the unfortunate Saxons, assailed in 
front and rear, were cut to pieces; all who escaped the 
sword were reserved for the sports of the amphitheatre. It 
is not necessary to express our disgust at this piece of 
treachery ; but even in her best days Rome did not shrink 
from breach of faith and contempt of engagements. 

The coasts of Britain suffered equally with those of Gaul 
from the inroads of the northern pirates, and this now 
wealthy and civilized island was, in addition, subject to the 
ravages of a domestic enemy ; for, the avarice of the military 
commanders causing them to defraud their soldiers of their 
pay, and to sell discharges or e.xemptions from service, the 
discipline of the troops was at an end, and the highways 
were filled with robbers. The Picts and Scots, as the un- 
subdued natives of the northern part of the island were 
called, poured their savage hordes down into the now de- 
fenceless province, and ravaged it far and wide. The em- 
peror, when intelligence of their devastations reached him, 
selected first Severus, and then Jovinus, for the command in 
Britain ; but he finally committed it to Count Theodosius, a 
Spaniard by birth, and an officer of approved merit and 
capacity. 

Theodosius landed at Sandwich, {Rutupice,) whence he 

* "Ac licet," says Aniniianus, "Justus quidam arbiter reruin factum 
incMsabit perfidmn et dcforine, pensato tamen negotio non fecit indigne 
mail :m latronum exitialem tarvdem, copia data, captam." 



A. D. 369.] KECOVERY OF BRITAIN. 365 

advanced to London : he then led his troops against the 
barbarians, and attacked and routed their scattered bands, 
recovering a large quantity of booty and captives. By pub- 
lishing an amnesty, he induced the soldiers who had deserted 
to return to their standards, and he speedily cleared the Ro- 
man part of the island of its northern invaders. He restored 
all the cities and fortresses that had suffered injury or decay. 
The province which he recovered from the enemy he named 
Valentia, from the emperor.* On his return to court, (369,) 
Theodosius was promoted to the dignity of master of the 
horse, and given the command on the Upper Danube, where 
he acted with his usual success against the Alemans. He 
was then chosen to suppress a revolt in Africa. 

The .military commandant in that province, Count Roma- 
nus, was one of those officers, so common under all despotic 
governments, who, heedless of justice and of the welfare of 
tiie people, think only of gratifying their pride and avarice. 
Relying on the influence of his kinsman Remigius, the mas- 
ter of the offices, he set at nought the prayers and complaints 
0^ the provincials, and he suffered them to become the prey 
of the barbarians if they did not come up to his demands. 
The people of Tripolis, who had thus been abandoned to 
ihe Gaetulians, ventured to send deputies with their com- 
plaints to the emperor ; and the charge of examining into 
the state of the province was committed to the notary Palla- 
dius. But this man had been selected by the influence of 
Remigius, and consequently his report asserted the inno- 
cence of Romanus, and the falsehood of the charges made 
by the Tripolitans. The deaths and mutilations of some 
of their most distinguished citizens, under a barbarous de- 
cree of the deceived emperor, ensued; and Romanus contin- 
ued his career of tyranny and extortion till his excesses forced 
the people to declare for a Moorish prince, who had been 
driven into insurrection. 

The name of this prince was Firmus, the son of Nabal. 
In a domestic quarrel, after the death of his father, he hap- 
pened to kill one of his brothers; and Romarius, prompted 

* '' Recuperatamque provinciam, quEB in ditionem concesserat hoB- 
tium, ita reddiderat statui pristine, ut eodem referenle et rectorem ha- 
beret legitimum. et Valentia deinde vocaretur arbitrio Principis velut 
ovantis." Am. Mar. xxviii. 3. This does not justify the language of 
Gibbon, that Theodosius " with a strong hand confined the trembling 
Caledonians to the northern angle of the island ; and perpetuated, by 
the name and settlement of the new province of Valentia, the glories 
of the reign of Valontinian." 
31* 



366 VALENTINIAN, VALENS. [a.D. 373-376 

by hatred or avarice, or it may be by a regard for justice, 
showed such a determination to punisii him, that Firmus 
saw that he must submit to be executed or appeal to his 
sword. He chose the latter alternative; thousands flocked 
to his standard : Romanus proved unable to resist him, and 
the charrre of reducing him was committed to the able Theo- 
dosius, (37."}.) The contest between this officer and Firmus 
resembled that between Metellus and Jugurtha, in the same 
country. The arts of the African were encountered with cor- 
responding dissimulation ; the Roman general, at the head of 
an expedite force of less than 4,(H)0 men, traversed the coun- 
try in all directions, and a Moorish prince, with whom Fir- 
mus li;i(l sought refuge, resolved to imitate the conduct of 
Bocchus, and obtain the favor of the victor by the surrender 
of the fugitive. Firmus, however, anticipated his treachery 
by a voluntary death. 

The fate of Theodosius himself may here be told. He 
had committed Ronianus to safe custody on his landing in 
Africa, and abundant evidence of that officer's guilt had 
been procured. But court favor availed to procure delay ; 
bribery brought forward friendly witnesses, and forgery pro- 
duced favorable documents; and the final result was, that the 
guilty Romanus escaped with impunity, while the innocent 
Theodosius, after death had removed Valentinian, who kne^v 
his worth, was, through court intrigue, seized and beheaded 
at Carthawe, on a vague suspicion that he was grown too 
powerful for a subject! (;37().) 

While Theodosius was engaged in the reduction of Af- 
rica, a war with the once formidable Quadans engaged the 
arms of Valentinian in person. In pursuance of his plan 
of securing the banks of the frontier rivers by fortresses, the 
ground for one of them was marked out on what the Qua- 
dans claimed as their territory. On their complaint, Equi- 
tius, who commanded in Illyricum, suspended the works till he 
should have received further instructions from the emperor. 
His enemy Maximin, the tyrannic prefect of Gaul, seized thi.s 
occasion for injuring him in the mind of Valentinian, and of 
procurini{ the command of the province of Valeria (the scene 
of the dispute) for his own son Marcellinus. The passion- 
ate and credulous emperor was easily induced to comply 
with his desire, and that important command was intrusted 
to an inexperienced and insolent youth. On his arrival in 
the provitjce, Marcellinus caused the works which Ecpiitiua 
had suspended to be resumed; and when Gabinius, the Qua 



A.D. 375. J Q.UADAN WAR. 367 

dan king, mod(;stly remonstrated, he invited him to a ban« 
quet, affecting a willingness to comply with his wishes, and 
caused him, as he was departing from it, to be assassinated. 
The murder of their king exasperated the Q,aadans; and, 
having procured the aid of a body of horse from their usual 
allies, the Sarmatians, they crossed the Danube, and invaded 
Pannonia. It was now the harvest-time, and the population 
were all engaged in their rural toils. The slaughter of the 
defenceless peasantry was therefore immense, and huge 
quantities of booty were carried over the Danube. The 
ravages of the invaders extended to the very walls of Sirmi- 
um. The two only legions which Equitius could brnig into 
the field were cut to pieces. The Sarmatians, following the 
example of their allies, invaded Mojsia; but the young Theo- 
dosius, who, though only a youth, held the post of duke of 
that frontier, routed them in several encounters, and forced 
them to retire, and sue for peace. 

In the following spring, (375,) the emperor Valentinian 
quitted Treves, his ordinary residence, and, at the head of 
the greater part of the troops of Gaul, appeared on the 
banks of the Danube. He crossed that river, and, having 
devastated the Quadan country far and wide, repassed it 
without having lost a single man of his army. As he in- 
tended to return and complete the destruction of the Qua- 
dans in the following year, he fixed his winter quarters at a 
place named Bregilio, on the banks of the Danube, near the 
site of the modern city of Presburg. While he abode there, 
he was waited on by ambassadors from that people, suing 
for peace in the humblest ternls. In his reply, he gave a 
loose to his violent passions, reproaching the envoys and 
those who sent them, in the most opprobrious terms. The 
violence of his exertions caused him to burst a blood-vessel, 
and he fell back speechless into the arms of his attendants. 
He expired within a few hours, (Nov. 17,) in the fifty-fifth 
year of his age, and after a reign of twelve years wanting 
one hundred days. 

Valentinian is praised as a brave soldier, a lover of justice, 
a man frugal, temperate, and chaste, in private life. He alle- 
viated, when he could, the burdens of his subjects; he was a 
rigid maintainer of discipline in the army. Above all, he 
was tolerant in religion, and did not seek to impose his own 
faith on his subjects by force or by disqualifications. On the 
other hand, he was choleric and cruel ; the slightest offences 
were punished by a cruel death, and the sentence at times 



36c VALENS, GRATIAN, ETC. [a. D. 375. 

was passed in a tone of barbarous jocularity. He had two 
she-bears, which he named Gold-grain {Mica aurca) and In- 
nocence. Tliese animals, who were accustomed to tear 
human victims, were such favorites with him tiiat he caused 
their dens to be constructed near his own bed-chamber, and 
assigned them keepers, whose task was to foster their natural 
ferocity. We are not informed of the fate of Gold-grain, 
but Innocence, after a long course of service, was let loose 
in the woods. 



Valens, Gratian, Valtntlnian II. 
A. u. 1128— 1131. A. D. 375— 378. 

The late emperor had, iu the fifth year of his reign, asso- 
ciated in the empire with himself and his brother, his son 
Gratian, then a boy in his ninth year. This prince, who 
\v;is now in his seventeenth year, was residing at Treves 
when the death of his father occurred. His abt^ence im- 
boldened two officers of rank, Merobaudes and Equitius, to 
make an attempt to advance their own interest by adding to 
the number of the emperors ; and, having contrived to re- 
move the Gallic troops, from whom they apprehended oppo- 
sition, they brought to the camp Valentinian, the half-brother 
of Gratian, a child only four years old, who was residing 
with his mother, the empress Justina, at a country-seat one 
hundred miles distant from Brcgilio, and invested him with 
the purple. Gratian, a prudent and moderate prince, did 
not show any resentment at this act of assumption. He ac- 
cepted his infant colleague, to whom he acted as a kind and 
attentive ggardian. The portion of the empire assigned to 
the young emperor was Illyricum, Italy, and Africa; and he 
and his mother fixed their residence at JMilan. 

Since the fall of Procopius, the emperor Valens had 
reigned in security. The settlement of the thrones of Ibe- 
ria and Armenia had caused some hostile demonstrations 
between him and the great Sapor; but the Roman was 
timid, and age had softened the energy of the Persian, and 
their differences were settled by negotiation. After the death 
of his brother, Valens found himself obliged to take the field 
in person against a formidable enemy; and the fall of the 
Roman empire is, with some appearance of reason, dated 
from this inauspicious period. 



A. D. 375.] THE GOTHS. 369 

The great Gothic nation, whose steps we have traced 
from the North to the Euxine, consisted of two mail stems, 
tlie Ostrogoths, or East-goths, and the Visigoths, c West- 
goths. The monarch of the former, named Hermarric, had, 
according to the chroniclers of his nation, at the advanced 
age of eighty years, the period when most men have ceased 
from their labors, commenced a career of conquest whicl: 
extended his dominion back to the shores of the Baltic. 
The kings of the Visigoths were obliged to renounce the 
royal title, and be content with the humbler rank of Judges; 
and Hermanric was the acknowledged monarch of Scythia. 
The aid given to Procopius having caused hostilities between 
him and the emperor Valens, the Gothic sovereign committed 
the conduct of the war to Atiianaric, one of the Judges of 
the Visigoths; it was terminated by a treaty in the year 369, 
and the Goths remained tranquil till the year of the death 
of Valentinian, when the appearance of an enemy from the 
remote regions of the East precipitated them on the Roman 
empire. 

The extensive plains of northern Asia, from the confines 
of Europe, or rather from those of the territory of the great 
Slavonian portion of the human family, to the shores of the 
eastern ocean, have from time immemorial been the abode 
of two races of men. The one, known to the ancients by 
the name of Scythians, to the moderns by that of Turks, 
has always occupied the western portion of these plains; and 
it is of this people that historians speak when they narrate 
the wars and conquests of the Scythians. They are tall, 
well- formed, and fair, and belong to what is termed the 
Caucasian or Indo-German portion of mankind. The other 
race, long unknown to the ancients, are termed Mongols or 
Tatars; their original seats are to the east of those of the 
Turks; and their physical qualities, such as their extreme 
ugliness, their thin beards, the great breadth between their 
eyes, and other marks, indicate them to belong to a different 
portion of the human race. 

To the south of the seats of the Mongols lies the exten- 
sive empire of China, the inhabitants of which appear to 
belong to the Mongol family. The annals of this people 
tell of numerous wars between them and their barbarous 
kinsmen of the north. Some time before the period of 
which we write, the arms of China had prevailed; the power 
of the Mongols had been broken, and a large portion of 

u u 



370 VALENS, GRA.TIAN, ETC. [a. D. 375-376. 

tlteir warriors had, with their flocks and herds, moved west- 
ward in quest of new settlements. The Huns, as that por- 
tion of the Mongols of whom we treat were named, ad- 
vanced till they encountered the Alans, who dwelt between 
the Volga and the Don, or Tanais, on the banks of which 
latter stream the forces of the two nations engaged. The 
king of the Alans was slain, and victory crowned the arms 
of the Huns. A portion of the vanquished people migrated; 
the rest submitted, and weie incorporated with the conquer- 
ors, who then entered the territories of the Gothic monarch, 
(;}?;>,) whose tyranny had made him odious to the greater 
part of his subjects, and caused them to view the progress 
of the Huns with indifference. Some time before, on the 
occ ision of the desertion of a chief of the Roxolans, Her- 
manric had caused his innocent wife to be torn to pieces by 
wild horses, and her brothers now seized the occasion for 
vengeance. Hermanric perished by their daggers, and his 
son and successor, Withimer, fell in battle against the Huns. 
The greater part of the nation of the Ostrogoths forthwith 
submitted ; but the more generous portion, with their infant 
sovereign Witheric, and led by two brave chiefs named 
Suphrax and Aletheus, penetrated to the banks of the Nies- 
ter, which Athanaric occupied at the head of the warriors 
of the Visigoths. The Hunnish hordes soon appeared, and 
by causing a large body of their cavalry to ford the river by 
mr)onlight and surround the Goths, they forced them to retire 
and seek the shelter of the hills. Athanaric had arranged 
a new plan of defence; but his people had lost courage, and, 
jnder the guidance of their two other Judges, Fritigern and 
Alavivus, they approached the banks of the Danube, seeking 
the protection of the Roman emperor, (•.^76.) 

The Gothic envoys proceeded to Antioch, where Valens 
was then residing. Their request was taken into consider- 
ation by the emperor and his council ; and it was decided to 
give them a settlement within the boimds of the empire, on 
the condition of their delivering up their arms before they 
passed the river, and suffering their children to be separated 
from them, and dispersed through the cities of Asia, to serve 
.as hostages, and be brought up in Roman manners. Under 
the pressure of necessity, the Goths consented to these terms ; 
and orders for their transportation were then issued to the 
imperial officers. As the stream of the Danube was rapid, 
swollen, and a mile in breadth, many perished in the pas- 
sage ; but we are assured that at the least two hundred thou- 



A. D. 376.] THE GOTHS. 371 

sand Gothic warriors, with their wives, children, and slaves, 
were safely landed on the southern bank of the river. The 
hostages were delivered according to agreement ; but to retain 
their arms they consented to prostitute their wives and chil- 
dren, and to sacrifice their most precious possessions; anc 
the lust and avarice of the imperial officers caused them to 
endanger the peace of the empire for their gratification. A 
powerful Gothic army thus occupied the hills and plains of 
Lower Moesia. Soon after, Saphrax and Aletheus, with their 
Ostrogoths, appeared on the banks of the Danube imploring 
a passage; but Valens, now become alarmed, dismissed their 
envoys with a refusal. 

Prudence and policy equally counselled that so formidable 
a host as that of the Visigoths should have been managed 
delicately, and the utmost care been taken to avoid giving 
them any cause of irritation. But Lupicinus and Maximus, 
the governors of the province, thought only of indulging 
their avarice. The vilest food, such as the flesh of dogs, was 
supplied to them ; to obtain a pound of bread they had to 
give a slave, and to pay ten pounds of silver for a small 
quantity of flesh meat ; and when all their property had thus 
been expended, want impelled them to the sale of their sons 
and daugiiters. Tiieir patience was at length exhausted, and 
their menaces alarmed Lupicinus and Maximus, who there- 
fore resolved to disperse them along the frontiers without 
delay. With tliis view they drew around them all the troops 
they could assemble ; and, as they in consequence removed 
those that were watching the Ostrogoths, that people seized 
the opportunity of crossing the river on rafts and in boats, 
and encamped, unshackled by conditions, on the Roman 
territory. The Visigoths, conducted by Fritigern, in com- 
pliance with the orders of the Roman general, advanced to 
Marcianopolis, seventy miles inland from the Danube. Here, 
however, they were refused a market; and a quarrel in con- 
sequence arose between them and the Roman soldiers, in 
which some blood was spilt. Lupicinus, who was at tho 
time entertaining the Gothic chiefs, when informed of this 
event, gave orders for their guards to be slain. Fritigern, 
hearing the noise, drew his sword, and, calling on his com- 
panions to follow him, forced his way through the crowd, 
and rejoined his countrymen without the walls. Their 
banners were instantly raised, and their horns sounded, 
according to their custom, for war. Lupicinus, at the head 
of what troops he could collect, marched out against them. 



372 VALENS, GRATIAN, ETC. [a. D. 377-373 

The engagement took place about nine miles from Marcian- 
opolis : atid it terminated in the total defeat of the Romans. 
The nnprotected country soon felt the effects of the Gothic 
victory; the husbandmen were massacred or enslaved, the 
villages were plundered and burnt. A body of Goths in 
the Roman service, who were t]uartered at Hadrianople, 
were driven into insurrection by the imprudent violence 
of the governor of that town. 'I'hey joined their victorious 
countrymen, and their united forces laid siege to the city. 
But the Goths knew nothing of sieges, and Fritigern drew 
them off, declaring that " he was at peace with stone walls." 
The slaves who wrought in the gold-mines of Thrace fled to 
the invaders, and revealed to them all the recesses in the 
mountains in which the inhabitants had concealed themselves 
with their cattle and properly. Enormities of every kind 
were perpetrated on the unhappy people of the country, 
(377.) 

To check the excesses of the barbarians, Valens sent the 
troops of the East, under his generals Trajan and Profnturus, 
with whom Richomer, count of the domestics in the Western 
empire, united his forces, and it was resolved to seek out 
and attack the enemy. The Goths, who had repassed 
Mount Flacmus, were now encamped in the plain adjacent 
to the most southern of the mouths of the Danube. When 
the approach of the Roman army was" discerned, Fritigern 
summoned all the scattered warriors to his standard, and an 
action was fought, which, after lasting from dawn till dusk, 
terminated in the decisive advantage of neither party. F'or 
the seven following days, the Goths remained within their 
camp, which was secured, according to the custom of their 
race, by a strong circuit of wagons. The plan of the Ro- 
man generals was to confine them to the angle which they 
occupied, till famine, by its sure operation, should have re- 
duced them. But while, with this view, they were fortifying 
their lines, they learned that Fritigern had formed a league 
with the Ostrogoths, and liad even induced a large number 
of the Huns and Alans to join his standard. The Romans, 
fearful of being surrounded, abandoned the siege of the 
Gothic camp, and retired; and the liberated Goths rapidly 
spread their devastations as far as the Hellespont, (37!^.) 

Valens had early sought the aid of his nephew and col- 
'eague Gratian ; and that gallant young emi>oror was pre- 
paring to lead the forces of the West to the deliverance of 
the East, when the Alemans, learning his design, and perhaps 



A. D. 378.] GOTHIC WAR. 373 

acting in concert with the Goths, passed the Rhine to the 
number of forty thousand. The troops which had been sent 
on to Pannonia were recalled, and Gratian, guided by the 
military experience and wisdom of his general Nanienus, and 
of Mellobaudes, king of the Franks, and count of the do- 
mestics, gave the barbarians battle at Colniar (Argentaria) 
in Alsace. The victory of the Romans was decisive; the 
king of the Alemans was slain ; and of their entire host not 
more than five thousand men escaped from the field of battle. 
Gratian then invaded their country, and forced them to sue 
for peace. 

While Gratian was thus inspiring his subjects with ad- 
miration and respect for their youthful emperor, Valens had 
reached Constantinople, where, urged by the clamors of the 
populace, and inspirited by the recent successes of some of 
his generals, he resolved to assume in person the conduct of 
the war against the barbarians ; and he set out at the head 
of a large army. The Goths had proposed to occupy the 
defiles on the road from that city to Hadrianople ; but the 
march of the imperial troops was conducted with so much 
skill and celerity, that they reached the latter place unim- 
peded, and secured themselves in a strong camp beneath its 
walls. A council was held to decide on future operations. 
Count Richomer, whom Gratian had despatched with intel- 
ligence of his victories, and with assurances of his speedy 
approach, urged strongly the prudence of waiting for the 
arrival of the Gallic legions; his advice was seconded by 
Victor, the master of the horse, a Sarmatian by birth, but a 
cautious and prudent man. On the other hand. Count Se- 
bastian and the court flatterers advised against sharing with 
a colleague the glory of a certain victory. Their counsels, 
aided by the jealousy of Valens, prevailed. While prepara- 
tions were being made for battle, a Christian presbyter ar- 
rived as the envoy of Fritigern. The public letters of which 
he was the bearer, craved that Thrace, with all its cattle and 
corn, should be given to his people as the condition of a 
perpetual peace; but he was also commissioned to deliver a 
private letter, in which Fritigern, writing as a friend, said that 
he should never be able to bring his countrymen to agree to 
any terms unless the imperial army were close at hand to 
daunt them by its presence. The object of the wily Goth 
was to bring on a speedy engagement. 

At dawn the following day, (Aug. 9,) the legions of the East 
were in motion, the imperial treasure and iinsignia being left 

CONTIN. 3-2 



3*54 VALENS, GRATIAN, ETC. [a. D. 378 

within the walls of Hadrianople. Toward noon the wag- 
on-fence of the enemy, twelve miles from the city, was 
discerned. The Romans began to form their line of battle; 
the Goths, as the troops of Aletheus and Saphrax were not 
yet come up, sent again illusive proposals of peace, and, 
while time was thus gained, the effects of the heal of the 
burning sun were augmented by the Goths seiting tire to the 
grass and wood of the surrounding country. The Romans 
also suffered from want of food ; and at length the arrival of 
Saphrax and Aletheus put an end to all negotiation, and the 
battle commenced. The horse of the Roman left wing pen- 
etrated to the enemy's line ofwagons, but, being unsupported, 
was overthrown and scattered ; and the foot, being thus left 
without protection, and crowded into too narrow a space to 
be able to use their arms to advantage, were crushed by the 
masses of the enemy. After a long but fruitless resistance, 
they fled in all directions. The emperor sought refuge 
among the troops named Lancearians and Mattiarians, from 
their weapons, who still stood their ground. Count Trajan 
crying out that all was lost if the emperor were not saved. 
Count Victor hastened to the spot with the reserve of Bata- 
vians; but the emperor was nowhere to be found, and the 
furious onset of the Goths soon forced all to provide for tneir 
own safety. A moonless night terminated the rout, and 
aided the escape of the van(|uislied Romans. Since the day 
of Cannnfe. no such calamity had bcfillen the Roman arms. 
Scarcely a third part of the army (\uitted the field. Among 
the slain were the Counts Trajan, Sebastian, Valerian, and 
Equitius, and six-and-thirty other officers of rank. 

The fate of Vnlens himself was never exactly known. 
Some said that at nightfall he fell mortally wounded by an 
arrow, and that his body, confounded among those of the 
common soldiers, could never be recognized. Others as- 
serted that, when he was wounded, some of his guards and 
eunuchs conveyed him to a neighboring cottage, and, vvliiie 
they were engaged in trying to dress his wound, the enemy 
surrounded the house, and, being unable to force the doors, 
lieaped straw and wood against them, and, setting fire to 
these materials, burned the house and all within it. One of 
(lie guards, who escaped out of a window, survived to tel 
the story. 

Such was the fate of the emperor Valens, in the fiftieth 
year of his age, and th i fourteenth of his reign. lie is said 
to have been a firm ft end, a rigid maintainer of both civil 



A.D. 378.] GOTHIC WAR. 375 

and military order, a mild ruler of the provinces. He was 
also moderately liberal. On the other hand, he is charged 
wi*h avarice, indolence, severity bordering on cruelty ; and 
it is added, that, though affecting a great regard to justice, 
he would never allow the judges to give any sentence but 
such as he wished. In religion, he was an Arian ; and the 
Catholics underwent some persecution during his reign. 

On the morning after the battle, the Goths, eager to pos- 
sess the wealth of which they knew it to be the depot, sur- 
rounded the walls of Hadrianople. The soldiers and camp 
followers, who had been shut out of the town, fought with 
desperate resolution, and kept them at bay for the space of 
five hours; and the imprudent slaughter of three hundred 
men who went over to them, showed that safety only lay in 
valor and constancy. A violent tempest at last forced the 
Goths to return to their wagon-camp. They again had re- 
course to negotiation, and then tried the way of treachery. 
Some of the guards had deserted to them, and they induced 
these men to return to the city as if they had made their 
escape, and, if admitted, they were to set fire to a part of 
the town, in order that, while the besieged were engaged in 
quenching the flames, the Goths might seize the opportunity 
of breaking in at some unguarded place. The traitors were 
admitted ; but the discrepancy in their account of the designs 
of the enemy caused them to be put to the torture, and the 
truth was thus discovered. The Goths, in the morning, re- 
newed the assault ; but the defence was resolute as ever, and 
they retired in the evening, accusing one another of madness 
in not attending to the counsel of Fritigern, and avoiding all 
dealings with- stone walls. They departed the next day, i:' I 

and directed their course for the capital. They plundered 
and wa'^ted all the circumjacent country ; but they ieared the 
strength of the walls and the magnitude of the population of 
the city. While they were insulting its strength, a squadron 
of Saracenic light horse, which had lately arrived, issued 
from one of the gates and attacked them. The conflict was 
well maintained and dubious; but when the Goths beheld 
an Arab warrior, half naked, with his long hair hanging 
about him, raise a hoarse and dismal chant, and, drawing 
his dagger, rush into the midst of their ranks, and, putting 
his mouth to the throat of one whom he had slain, suck his 
blood, they were filled with horror and disgust. They short- 
ly after withdrew with their booty to the northern provinces, 
and spread their ravages as far as the Adriatic. 



376 GRATIAN, ETC. [a. d. 379. 

Meantime, an act of barbarous, and therefoie questiona- 
ble, policy was put in practice by Julius, who commanded 
beyond Mount Taurus. Apprehending danger from the 
Gothic youth who were dispersed in the various towns and 
cities, he, with the corisenl of the senate of Constantinople, 
issued orders to their commanders, who happened to be all 
Romans, (a thing, as Ammianus observes, very rare in those 
days,) to assemble them all on a certain day, as if to receive 
their promised pay, and then to slaughter them. The orders 
were executed; the Goths were collected, unarmed, in the 
s(|uares of the towns, the avenues were gtiarded, and, from 
the tops of the adjacent buildings, the soldiers overwhelmed 
them with their weapons.* 



Qratian, Valmtinian IT., and Theodosius. 
A. u. 1131— 113G. A. D. 378— 3S3. 

Grattan had been on his march to aid his uncle, when he 
heard of the defeat and death of that ill-fated prince. He 
foithwith halted, and, taking into serious consideration the 
state of the empire, and knowing that the West would de- 
mand his own undividcul attention, he saw clearly the neces- 
sity of selecting some one, in whose character the general 
and the statesman should be united, to take the charge of the 
East. Acting on the wisdom which experience had taught, 
he resolved that the person selected should be his colleague 
in the empire, and not a subordinate officer; and the choice 
which he made was alike honorable to himself Tind its object. 

The person selected by Gralian for the high dignity of 
emperor of the East was the • son of that Theodosius, 
who, only three years before, had been put to death by his 
own authority. The younger Theodosius had, on that oc- 
casion, craved leave to resign his command; and, having 
obtained it, he had retired to his native country, Spain, and 
fixed his residence on his paternal estate at Coco, between 
Valladolid and Segovia. He there divided his time between 
the town and the country ; and the care and the improvement 
of his property formed his chief occupation. While thus 

* Zosimus (who is followed by Gibbon) says tliat they were the 
Gothic youths who had been delivered up to Valens. Amrnianuj 
Beeiiis to speak of them as Goths in the Roman service. This writer f 
valuable history ends at this point. 



A. D. 379-3S2.] THEODOsius. 377 

engaged, he was summoned to receive the purple, with which 
he was invested by Gratian in the city of Sirmium, (Jan. 19, 
379,) amid the favoring acclamations of the soldiers and the 
people. Theodosius was now in the thirty-third year of his 
age; his person and countenance displayed manly vigor and 
dignity; and time proved that the qualities of his heart corre- 
sponded to those outward charms which captivated the vulgar 
No man ever attained to empire in a more honorable man- 
ner ; the slightest vestige of intrigue or manoeuvre is not to 
be discerned; his country was in danger, and a noble-minded 
prince summoned to its aid the man deemed most capable 
of delivering it from its enemies; for we must not refuse the 
meed of praise to Gratian, who could intrust such power to 
a man whose father had been murdered in his name. 

Theodosius did not venture to lead the dispirited troops 
of the East into the field against the Goths. He fixed his 
own residence at Thessalonica, and caused the fortifications 
of the other towns to be strengthened. By frequent sallies; 
the soldiers were taught to encounter the barbarians ; grad- 
ually, small armies were formed, and, by well-concerted ope- 
rations, victories were gained. This Fabian policy was 
aided by the dissensions which naturally broke out among 
the various bodies of the barbarians when the able Fritigern 
was removed by death. A Gothic chief, of royal blood, 
named Modar, entered the service of Theodosius, who gave 
him a high military command ; and he surprised and cut to 
pieces a large body of his countrymen. Athanaric, who had 
emerged from his retirement after the death of Fritigern, 
and prevailed on the greater part of the Visigoths to submit 
to his rule, was now advanced in years, and disposed to 
peace. He therefore listened to the proposals of Theodo- 
sius, and concluded a treaty. The emperor advanced to 
meet him at some distance from Constantinople, and Atha- 
naric accompanied him' to that city. The Gothic prince 
was amazed at its strength and magnificence ; but the change 
in his mode of life probably proved fatal to him, for he died 
not long after his arrival. He was interred by the emperor 
with the utmost magnificence, and a stately monument was 
raised to his memory. His whole army entered the imperial 
service ; the other chiefs gradually agreed to treaties with 
the emperor ; and thus, within a space of little more than 
four years after the death of Valens, (382,) the victors of 
Hadrianople had become the subjects of the empire. The 
settle nents assigned them were in the provinces of Mcesia 
32 • r V 



378 GRATIAN, ETC. [a. D. 336. 

and the cis-Danubic Dacia, which had been laid desolate by 
their ravages. 

During all this time, the Ostrogoths were far away in the 
north, among the tribes of Gern)any. They at length (3S6) 
appeared once more on tlie banks of the Lower Danube, 
their numbers augmented by German and Sarmatian, or per- 
haps Hunnish auxiliaries, and proposed to renew their dev- 
astation of the Roman provinces. Promotus, the general 
of tlie opposite frontier, had recourse to stratagem against 
tliem. He sent over spies, wl»o stipulated to betray the Ro- 
man army, assuring the barbarians that, if they crossed the 
river in the dead of the night, they might surprise it when 
buried in sleep. Accordingly, on a moonless night, the 
Gotlis embarked their warriors in three thousand munozyls, 
or canoes, and pushed for the opposite shore; but, when they 
approached it, they found it guarded, for the length of two 
miles and a half, by a triple line of vessels ; and, whde they 
were struggling to force their way through them, a tleet of 
galleys came, with stream and oars, down the river, and as- 
sailed them. The resistance which they were able to offer 
was slight; their king or general Odotliajus, and numbers 
of their warriors, were slain or drowned, and they were rtnal- 
ly obliged to solicit the clemency of the victors.* Theodo- 
sius, who was at hand, concluded a treaty with them, by 
which they engaged to become his subjects. Seats were 
assigned them in Lydia and Phrygia, where they were gov- 
erned by their own hereditary chiefs, under the supreme 
authority of the emperor. A body of 40,000 Goths, named 
Foederati, or allies, henceforth formed a part of the army 
of the East, distinguished by gold collars, higher pay, and 
various privileges. 

We will now turn to the West and the emperor Gr;itian. 

Tliis prince, whose character was by nature feeble and 
gentle, had been fostered, as it were, into greatness by the 
wisdom and the counsels of the able preceptors with whom 

* There is some confusion in this account. Zosimus (iv. 35, and 
38, 3!),) makes the Gotlis to be twice defeoted, (A. D. .383 and 38G,) on 
the s:une river, and by the same person, and in the same ntanner, as it 
would appear. The Gothic general in the former he calls GEdotheus ; 
til? same with the Odotheeus of Claudian (De iv. Cons. Hon. 62(j) in 
the second. We cannot, by the way, agree with Gibbon that tl»is wjs 
Aletheus. 

One of the most improbable circumstances in the narrative is, tint 
the Golhs should not have discerned the Roman shipping ; lor the 
Danube is nowhere too wide to be seen across. 



/^.D. 388.] CHARACTER OF GRATIAN. 3^9 

his father had surrounded him.* In the acts of the early 
years of his reign, though he was tlie ostensible agent, they 
were the secret directors; and the youth, whose chief virtue 
was ductility to good, obtained the fame due to higher qual- 
ities,. But when death or other causes had removed these 
able and virtuous advisers, the amiable but indolent prince 
fell under the guidance of men of a different character, to 
vvhoni he intrusted the affairs of the state, while he devoted him- 
self to the delights of the chase, in which he bent the bow and 
flung the dart with the skill of a Commodus. The offices 
and advantages of the court and the provinces were set to 
sale, and the minds of the subjects were thus alienated; but 
this would have signified little had Gratian been careful to 
retain the attachment of the soldiers, which his conduct, 
when directed by worthy advisers, had won. This, how- 
ever, he lost by his own imprudence. He had placed a body 
of Alans among his guards, and, charmed with their dexterity 
in the use of his favorite weapons, he committed to them 
exclusively the defence of his person. He used even to ap- 
pear in public in their peculiar national dress, to the grief 
and indignation of the legionary soldiers, even the Germans 
viewing with horror the Scythian costume. 

While such was the temper of the troops, a revolt broke 
out in the army of Britain, (383,) and a person named Max- 
imus was there proclaimed emperor. This man, who was a 
native of Spain, and the fellow-soldier of Theodosius, was re- 
siding in Britain, but without civil or military rank of any 
importance. His abilities and his virtues are recognized, 
but whence his influence arose we are uninformed ; and if 
we may credit his own positive assertion, his dignity was 
forced on him. He plainly saw that he could not recede; 
and, as the British youth crowded to his standard, he passed 
over to Gaul at the head of a large army.t The troops of 
Gaul all declared for him, and Gratian fled from Paris to 
Lyons with oidy three hundred horse. The gates of all the 
towns on his way were closed against him, and the treacher- 

* Ausonius, the poet (more properly versifier) of Bordeaux, was one 
of his tutors. Gratian honored him with the consulate in 379. We 
cannot see why Gibbon should call Ausonius " a professed pagan." 

t A large emigration of Britons to Armorica is placed in this time, to 
which belongs the leo-end of St. Ursula and her virgins. These are 
said to have been 11,U00 noble and 60,000 plebeian maidens, the des- 
tined brides of the emigrants, who, mistaking their way, went up the 
llhiue, and were massacred at Cologne by the Huns — who were not 
there. 



390 THEODOSIUS, ETC. [a. d. 383-367. 

oils governor of Lyons amused him with promises till those 
sent in pursuit of him arrived, and he was slain as he rose 
from supper, (Aug. 25.) His brother Valentiuum applied, 
but in vain, for his body. Mellobaudes, the Frank king and 
Roman general, shared the fate of his master; but Maximus, 
who was now acknowledged by the whole West, could boast 
'bat no other blood was shed e.xcept in the field. 



Thcodosius, Valcntinian II., and Mazimus. 
A. u. 1136—1141. A. D. 383—388. 

The late revolution had been so sudden that Theodosius 
had been, perhaps, uninformed of it until it was accomplished ; 
and, ere he could determine how to act, he was waited on by 
an embassy from the usurper, headed by his chamberlain, a 
man advanced in years, and, as the historian observes, to the 
praise of Maximus, not a eunuch. The envoy justified the 
conduct of his master, asserting his ignorance of the murder 
of Gratian : he then proceeded to give Theodosius the op- 
tion of peace or war. Gratitude and honor urged the em- 
peror to avenge the fate of his benefactor ; but prudence sug- 
gested that the issue of a contest with the troops of Gaul, 
Spain, and Britain, was doubtful, and that the barbarians, 
who hovered on the frontiers, would be ready to pour into 
the empire when its forces should have been wasted in civil 
conflict. He, therefore, lent a favorable ear to the pro- 
posals of Maximus, and acknowledged him as a colleague, 
carefully, however, stipulating for the security of Valen- 
tinian in his share of the empire. The images of the three 
imperial colleagues were, according to usage, exhibited to 
the people. 

The empire now remained at rest for a space of four years; 
but at length (387) its repose was disturbed by the ambition 
of Maximus; for, not content with his own ample portion, 
this fortunate rebel cast an eye of cupidity on the dominions 
of Valentinian, where many were disaffected on account of 
religion. Having extorted large sums of money from his 
subjects, he took a great number of barbarians into pay ; and, 
when aii ambassador from Valentinian came to his court, 
he persuaded him to accept the services of a part of his 
troops for an imminent Pannonian war. The envoy himselC 
was their guide through the passes of the Alps; Maximus 



A. D. 387.] FLIGHT OF VALENTINIAN. 881 

secretly followed at the head of a larger body, and a precipi- 
tate flight from Milan to Aquileia alone assured the safety of 
Valentinian and his mother. Not deeming themselves se- 
cure even in that strong city, they embarked in a vessel, and, 
sailing round the Grecian peninsula, landed at Thessaloni- 
ca,* whither Theodosius hastened to visit them. He delib- 
erated with his council as to what were best to be done ; the 
same reasons as before urged him to pause before he should 
engage in a civil war ; and the injuries of Valentinian might 
possibly have gone unrevenged, had they not found an advo- 
cate in the beauty of his sister Galla. By the directions of 
her mother, this princess cast herself at the feet of Theodo- 
sius, and with tears implored his aid. Few hearts are proof 
against the tears of benuty — that of Theodosius, at least, was 
not ; his empress was dead, and his aid was assured if the 
lovely supplicant would consent to share the throne of the 
East. The condition was accepted, the nuptials were cele- 
brated, and the royal bridegroom then prepared to take the 
field. Large bodies of Huns and Alans crowded to the 
standard of Theodosius, who found Maximus encamped near 
Siscia, on the banks of the Save. The light cavalry of the 
barbarians flung themselves into that deep and rapid river 
the moment they reached it, and routed the troops which 
guarded the opposite bank. Next morning, a general action 
ensued, which terminated in the submission of the surviving 
troops of Maximus, who fled to Aquileia, whither he was 
rapidly followed by Theodosius. The gates were burst 
open ; the unfortunate Maximus was dragged into the pres- 
ence of the victor, who, having reproached him with his 
misdeeds, delivered him to the vengeance of the soldiers, by 
whom his head was struck off. His son Victor, whom he 
had given the rank of Cjesar, and left behind him in Gaul, 
was put to death by Count Arbogast, one of Theodosius's 
generais, by the order of that emperor; and the whole of the 
West was thus subjected to the rule of Valentinian. The 
generous Theodosius compensated those who had suffered 
by the oppression of Maximus, and he assigned an income to 
the mother of that ill-fated prince, and provided for the edu- 
cation of his daughters. 

* G' bon's account of their voyage is more suited to epic poetry 
tl/an t history. 



382 THEODOSIUS, ETC. [a. d. 390 

Theodosius and Valcntiiiian II. 
A. u. 1141—1145. A. D. 388—392. 

Theodosius, after his victory, remained three years \u 
Italy to regulate the affairs of the West for his juvenile col- 
league, lu the spring of the year 389, he made a triumphal 
entrance into the ancient capital of the empire; but his usual 
abode was the palace of Milan. 

While Theodosius was residing in Italy, (390,) an unhappy 
event occurred, which casts almost the only shade over his 
fair fame. In the city of Thessalonica, an eminent charioteer 
of the circus conceived an impure affection for a beautiful 
boy, one of the slaves of Botheric, the commander of the gar- 
rison : to punish his insolence, Botheric cast him into prison. 
On the day of the games, the people, with whom he was a 
great favorite, enraged at his absence, rose in insurrection, 
and, as the garrison was then very small, they massacred 
Botheric and his principal officers, and dragged their bodies 
about the streets. Theodosius, who was of a choleric temper, 
was tilled with fury when he heard of this atrocious deed. 
His first resolution was to take a bloody revenge ; the efforts 
of the bishops then led him to thoughts of clemency ; but the 
arguments of his minister Rufinus induced him, finally, to 
expedite an order for military execution. lie then attempted 
to recall the order, but it was too late. The people of Thes- 
salonica were, in the name of the emperor, invited to the 
games of the circus. Their love of amusement overcoming 
their fear of punishment, they hastened to it in crowds; when 
the place was full, the soldiers, who were posted for the pur- 
pose, received thesijjnal, and an indiscriminate massacre en- 
sued. The lowest computation gives the number of those 
slain as seven thousand. 

The archbishop of Milan at this time was the intrepid Am- 
brose. When he heard of the bloody deed, he retired to the 
country, whence he wrote to the emperor to say that he had 
been warned in a vision not to offer the oblation in his name 
or presence, and advising him not to think of receiving the 
Eucharist with his blood-stained hands. Theodosius ac- 
knowledged and bewailed his offence, and after some time 
proceeded to the cathedral to perform his devotions ; but 
Ambrose met him at the porch, opposed his entrance, and 
insisted on the necessity of a public penance. Theodosiuf 



A. 1). 390.] ARBOGAST. 833 

submitted ; and the lord of the Roman world, laying aside his 
imperial habit, appeared in the posture of a suppliant in the 
midst of the church of Milan, with tears soliciting the pardon 
of his sin. After a penance of eight months, he was restored 
to the communion of the faithful. 

To the cruelty of Theodosius on this occasion may be op- 
posed his clemency, some time before, to the people of Anti- 
och. This lively, licentious people, being galled by an in- 
crease of taxation, (337,) flung down, dragged through the 
streets, and broke, the images of Theodosius and his family. 
The governor of the province sent to court information of 
this act of treason ; the Antiochenes despatched envoys to 
testify their repentance. After a space of twenty-four days, 
two officers of high rank arrived to declare the will of the 
emperor. Antioch was to be degraded from its rank, and 
made a village, under the jurisdiction of Laodicea; all its 
places of amusement were to be shut up, the distribution of 
corn to be stopped, and the guilty to be inquired after and 
punished. A tribunal was erected in the market-place, the 
most wealthy citizens were laid in chains, and their houses 
exposed to sale, when monks and hermits descended in 
crowds from the mountains, and, at their intercession, one of 
the officers agreed to return to court, and learn the present 
disposition of the emperor. The anger of the generous 
Theodosius had subsided ere he arrived, and a full and free 
pardon was readily accorded to the repentant city. 

Valentinian, after the death of his mother and the departure 
of Theodosius, fixed his abode in Gaul. His troops were 
commanded by Count Arbogast, a Frank by birth, who had 
held a high rank in the service of Gratian, after whose death 
he had passed to that of Theodosius. Aware of the weak- 
ness of his young sovereign, the ambitious barbarian raised 
his thoughts to empire. He corrupted the troops, he gave 
the chief commands to his countrymen, he surrounded the 
prince with his creatures, and Valentinian found himself 
little better than a prisoner in the palace of Vienne. He 
sent to inform Theodosius of his situation ; but, impatient 
of delay, he summoned Arbogast to his presence, and deliv- 
ered him a paper containing his dismissal from his posts. 
" You have not given me my authority, and you cannot take 
it away," was the reply of the general ; and he tore the pa- 
per, and cast it on the ground. Valentinian snatched a sword 
from one of the guards, but he was prevented from using it 



384 THEODosius. [a. d. 392-394. 

A few days after, he was privately strangled, and a report was 
spread that he had died by his own hand, (May 15, 39'2.) 



Theodosius. 
A. u. 1145—1148. A. D. 392—395. 

Arbogast, deeming it more prudent to reign under the 
name of another than to assume the purple himself, selected 
for his imperial puppet a rhetorician named Eugenius, who 
had been his secretary, and whom he had raised to the rank 
of master of the offices. An embassy was despatched to 
Theodosius to lament the unfortunate accident of the death 
of Valentinian, and to pray liim to actjuiesce in the choice 
of the armies and people of the West. Theodosius acted 
with his usual caution ; he disniis.sed the ambassadors with 
presents, and with an ambiguous answer ; but he was secretly 
swayed by the tears of his wife, and resolved to avenge the 
death of her brother. After devoting two years to his prepa- 
rations for this hazardous war, he at length (394) j)ut him- 
self at the head of his troops, nrid directed his march for 
Italy. Arbogast, taking warning by the errors of Maximus, 
contracted his line of defence, and, abandoning the northern 
provinces, and leaving unguarded the passes of the Julian 
Alps, encamped his troops under the walls of Aquileia. 
Theodosius, on emerging from the mountains, made a furious 
assault on the fortified camp of the enemy, in which ten thou- 
sand of his Gothic troops perished. At nightfall he retired, 
baffled, to the adjacent hills, where he passed a sleepless night, 
while the camp of the enemy rang with rejoicings. Arbogast, 
having secretly sent a large body of troops to get in the rear 
of the emperor, prepared to assail him in the morning, 
(Sept. 6.) But the leaders of these troops assured Theodo- 
sius of their allegiance ; and in the engagement a sudden 
tempest from the Alps blew full in the faces of the troops of 
the enemy; and, their superstition leading t^cm to view in it 
the hand of Heaven, they flung down their inns and submit- 
ted. Eugenius was taken and put to death ; Arbogast, after 
wandering some days through the mountains, perished by 
his own hand. 

Theodosius survived his victory only five months. Thougfh 
he was not more thaa fifty years of age, indulgence had un- 



A. D. 395.] CHAKACTER OF THEODOSIUS. 385 

dermined his constitution, and he died of dropsy at Milan, 
(Jan. 17, 395,) leaving his dominions to his two sons, Arca- 
dius and Honorius. 

The character of the great Theodosius is one which it is 
gratifying to conten plate. Called from a private station to 
empire, he was still the same in principle and conduct ;' and, 
the surest evidence of native greatness of soul, he remained 
unchanged by prosperity. He was an affectionate and faith- 
ful husband to both his wives, a fond parent, a generous and 
kind relation, an affable and agreeable companion, and a 
steady friend. As a sovereign, he was a lover of justice, a 
wise and benevolent legislator, an able and successful gen- 
eral. His defects were too slavish a submission to some in- 
tolerant ecclesiastics, which led to the enactment of per- 
secuting laws against heretics and pagans; a violence of 
temper, which we have seen exemplified in the massacre at 
Thessalonica; a love of indolence, and an over-fondness for 
the pleasures of the table, which brought him to a prema- 
ture death, to the great calamity of the empire. 

The reign of Theodosius forms an epoch in the history of 
the Roman empire. He was the last who ruled over the 
whole empire ; and it was in his time that the ancient system 
of religion, under which Rome had risen, flourished, and 
commenced, at least, her decline, was finally and permanent- 
ly suppressed. His reign was also the last in which Rome 
appeared with any remnant of her original dignity on the 
scene of the world. It will surely not be accounted impiety 
or superstition, if we say that the eloquent appeals and lam- 
entations of the advocates for the old religion were not with- 
out foundation ; and that, in the order of Providence, Rome's 
greatness was indissolubly united with her pontifices, augurs, 
and vestals. Such seems undeniably to have been the fact ; 
the cause is probably inscrutable.* 

* [The autlior lias said, only ten lines before, that the decline of 
Rome began under the ancient system of religion. If so, there was, 
of course, no connection between the maintenance of that system and 
the greatness of Rome. Every reader of Roman history must surely 
perceive that her oicn moral degradation, and the advance, of other 
nations, were the causes of her decline. Our author loses, in this in- 
stance, his usual acuteness, or he wotild see that his remark implies a 
tendency in Christianity to weaken morality — a tendency he would 
be the latt to al'.iw. Sec his own words on the last page of this work. 
— J. T. S.] 

CONTIN. 33 W W 



386 THEODosius. [a. d. 395 

If we credit the complaints of contemporary writers, lux 
ury was continually on the increase, and manners became 
more depraved every day. These statements are, however, 
to be received with caution ; and how either luxury or de- 
pravity could exceed that under the successors of Augustus, 
it is not easy to discern. Property had, of late years, been 
somewhat more secure from the rapacity of the court, and the 
terrors of the barbarians were as yet too remote to produce 
that recklessness which consumes to-day what it is not certain 
of possessing to-morrow. The censurers, in fact, are either 
splenetic pagans, eager to cast a slur on the new fiith, or 
Christian ascetics, who viewed all indulgence with a jaun- 
diced eye. We are very far from saying that the morals of 
tiiis period were pure, or at all comparable with those of 
modern Europe ; we only doubt if tliey were worse than 
those of the times of Tiberius and Nero. 

A striking proof, however, was given at this time, that the 
thew and sinew of the Roman soldier were no longer what 
they had been in the days of the republic. The infantry 
craved and obtained permission to lay aside their helmets 
and corselets, as oppressing them with their extreme weight. 
Even future misfortunes could not induce them to resume 
these arms : and this, among other causes, contributed to the 
speedy downfall of the empire. 

Literature continued to share in the general decline. Po- 
etry might be regarded as e.xlinct ; history has only to pre- 
sent the name of Ammianus Marcellinus, who, however, 
among the historians of the empire, stands next in rank to 
Tacitus, though at a very long interval. The Sophists, that 
is, those to whom the manner was every thing, the matter of 
comparatively little importance, were the class of literary 
men held in most esteem. Orations, panegyrics, public or 
private epistles, in which the absence of fruit is sought to be 
concealed by the abundance of foliage and flowers, form the 
store of these men's compositions. The most distinguished 
among them was Libanius of Antioch, the friend of both 
Julian and Theodosius, a large fortion of whose writings 
still exist. Julian himself occupies no mean place among 
the Sophists. His letters, from his station in society, are far 
more impo tant and interesting than those of Libanius. 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 387 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

SUPPRESSION OF PAGANISM. RELIGION OF THE FOURTH CEN- 
TURY. STATE OF MORALS. THE DONATISTS. THE 

ARIANS. OTHER HERETICS. ECCLESIASTICAL CONSTITU- 
TION. FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. THE MANICH.EANS. 

As the reign of Theodosius was the period of the com- 
plete fall of paganism, and final triumph of the Christian 
faith, we will here interrupt our narrative of political events, 
and briefly relate the victories of the church over heathen- 
ism and heresy, and portray its external and internal con- 
dition. 

When Constantine embraced the Christian religion, he 
left the ancient system of the Roman state undisturbed : 
toward the end of his reign, however, he issued edicts for the 
demolition of heathen temples, and prohibited sacrifices. 
Constantius was more hostile to heathenism than his father 
had been; and he executed the laws against it with great 
severity, even punishing capitally those guilty of the crime 
of offering sacrifice to idols. The absurd and fruitless efforts 
of Julian in its favor have been related, and the humane 
and enlightened toleration of Jovian and Valentinian has 
been praised. But Theodosius (much less Gratian) had not 
strength or enlargement of mind to resist or refute the argu- 
ments of the advocates of intolerance, and in their time 
the veneration of the tutelar deities of ancient Rome was 
treated as a crime. 

The preservation of a pure monotheism being the main 
object of the law of Moses, its prohibitions against idolatry 
are numerous and severe ; but the Christian religion, relying 
on its internal worth and its utter incompatibility with idol- 
atry, is less emphatic on that subject. The habit, however, 
of confounding it with the Mosaic law had become so strong, 
and the opinion of the gods of the heathen being evil spirits, 
and not mere creatures of imagination, so prevalent,* that 
the worship of them was held to be the highest insult to the 

* [This idea was not confined to those times. Modern theologians 
have held it. Thus does Prdeaux, in his valuable " Connection of 
Old and New Testaments." - J. T. S.] 



388 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

majesty of the Creator ; and the sovereign who sufft ed im- 
pious rites to be performed, was regarded as participating in 
the guilt. Yielding to these considerations, Gratian, on his 
accession, refused to receive the insignia of a Pontifcx Maxi- 
mus, which even the most zealous of his predecessors had 
not rejected ; and he seized on tlie sacerdotal revenues for 
the uses of the church or state, and abolished all the honors 
and immunities of tlie heathen priesthoods. The imiisie and 
altar of Victory, which were placed in the senate-house, had 
been removed by Constantine and restored by Julian. As 
the majority of the senate still adhered to the old religion of 
the state, the tolerant Valentinian had suffered it lo remain 
undisturbed ; but his more zealous son ordered it to be 
again removed. A deputation of the senate, sent on this oc- 
casion, was refused an audience by the emperor. The year 
after his death, another deputation waited on his brother 
Valentinian : it was headed by Syinmachus, the prefect of 
the city, a pontiff and augur, a man of noble birth, and of 
distinguished eloquence and unstained virtue. He was op- 
posed by Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, and the prayer of 
the Roman senate was rejected. When Theodosius was at 
Rome,* he called on the senate to choose between the two 
religions; and the majority of that body, warned by the fate 
of Symmachus, who had recently been sent into exile, voted 
in accordance with the wishes of the emperor. Pretended 
conversions became numerous, the temples were deserted 
and the clmrclies filled with worshippers, and the religion 
under which Rome had flourished for twelve centuries 
ceased forever. Respect probably for the dignity of the city 
caused the temples to be spared and left to the operation of 
natural decay ; but in the provinces no such delicacy was 
observed, and many Christian prelates, such as Martin of 
Tours, Marcellus of Apamea, and Theophilus of Alexandria, 
headed holy crusades for the destruction of the abodes of the 
idols ; and many a stately edifice, the pride of architecture, 
was thus consigned to untimely ruin. A few escaped de- 
struction by being converted into Christian churches. In 
effect, the fate of the temples seems in general to have de- 
pended on the good sense or fanaticism of the bishop of the 
diocese in which they stood. 

The edicts which Theodosius put forth against sacrifices 
and other heathen rites having been frequently eluded, he at 

* Most probably aftrr his victory over Maximus, though both Zosi 
inus and Prudenlius place it after that over Eugenius. " 



RELIGION OF THE FOURTH CENTURY. 389 

length (392) published one which breathes the very spirit of 
intolerance.* By this he forbids all persons, no matter vvha'. 
their rank, to offer any sacrifice whatever, or even to suspend 
garlands, burn incense or place lights before the domestic 
deities of Roman religion, the Genius, the Lar, and the 
Penates. The penalty was the forfeiture of the house or 
estate in which the rites had been performed, or, if these 
were the property of another person, a fine of twenty-five | 

pounds weight of gold. Prohibited thus in either its public 1 

or private exercise, heathenism gradually died away. Its last | 

lingering footprints appeared in remote villages;! and ir | 

the reign of the grandson of Theodosius, it even was doubted | 

(but without reason) if there were any longer any pagans in | 

existence. | 

Thus have we witnessed the final triumph of the church ,' 

over its open and declared enemy. Before we enter on the ^ 

history of its civil wars, we will take a view of its own nature > 

and character. | 

The Christianity of the days of Constantine and his sue- | 

cessors is most certainly not that of the gospel. In effect, \ 

with the exception of transubstantiation and image worship, j 

(from neither of which it was far distant,) and a few other 
points of minor importance, it differed little from the system 
which our ancestors flung off at the time of the Reformation. 
The church of Rome is, in fact, very unjustly treated, when 
she is charged with being the author of the tenets and prac- 
tices which were transmitted to her from the fourth century. 
Her guilt or error was that of retention, not of invention. 

The learned author whom we have taken for our principal 
guide in this part of our work, presents the following brief 
view of the state of religion at this time.| 

" The fundamental principles of the Christian doctrine were 
preserved hitherto incorrupt and entire in most churches, 
though it must be confessed that they were often explained 
and defended in a manner that discovered the greatest igno- 
rance, and an utter confusion of ideas. The disputes carried 
on in the council of Nice concerning the three persons in 
the Godhead, afford a remarkable instance of this, particu- 

* Yet Theodosius was not of an intolerant temper. He bestowed 
the consulate on Syminachus, and he was on terms of personal friend- 
ship with the Sophist Libanius. 

t Hence the heathens were called Pagans, (Pagani,) or villagers, 
d, pugo. 

X Mosheim, Ecclesiastical History, Cent. iv. Part ii. chap, 'i 
33* 



390 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

larly in the language and explanations of those who approved 
the decisions of that council. So little light, precision, and 
order, reigned in their discourses, that they appeared to sub- 
stitute three gods in the place of one. 

" Nor did the evil end here; for those vain fictions, which 
an attachment to the Platonic philosophy and to popular 
opinions had engaged the greatest part of the Christian doc- 
tors to adopt before the time of Constantine, were now con- 
firmed, enlarged, and embellished in various ways. Hence 
arose that extravagant veneration for departed saints, and 
those absurd notions of a certain^rr destined to purify sepa- 
rate souls, that now prevailed, and of which the public marks 
were every where to be seen. Hence, also, the celibacy of 
priests, the worship of images and relics, which, in process 
of time, almost utterly destroyed the .Christian religion, or 
at least eclipsed its lustre, and corrupted its essence in the 
most deplorable manner. 

" An enormous train of different superstitions were gradu- 
ally substituted in the place of genuine religion and true 
piety. This odious revolution proceeded from a variety of 
causes. A ridiculous preci[)itation in receiving new opin- 
ions, a preposterous desire of imitating the pagan rites, and 
of blending them with the Christian worship, and that idle 
propensity which the generality of mankind have toward a 
gaudy and ostentatious religion, all contributed to establish 
the reign of superstition upon the ruins of Christianity. Ac- 
cordingly, frequent pilgrimages were undertaken to Pales- 
tine, an 1 to the tombs of the imrtyrs, as if there alone the 
sacred principles of virtue, and the certain hope of salvation, 
were to be acquired. The reins being once let loose to 
superstition, which knows no bounds, absurd notions and 
idle ceremonies multiplied every day. Quantities of dust 
and earth, brought from Palestine and other places remark- 
able for their supposed sanctity, were handed about as the 
most powerful remedies against the violence of wicked spirits", 
Qud were sold and bought every where at enormous prices. 
The public processions and supplications, by which the 
pajians endeavored to appease their gods, were now adopted 
into the Christian worship, and celebrated with great pomp 
and magnificence in several places. The virtues that had 
formerly !)een ascribed to the heathen teinples, to their lus- 
trations, to the statues of their gods and heroes, were now 
attributed to Christian churches, to water consecrated by 
certain forms of prayer, and to the images of holy men; and 



RELIGION OF THE FOUivTH CENTURY. 391 

the same privileges that the former enjoyed under the dark- 
ness of paganism, were conferred upon the latter under the 
light of the gospel, or rather under that cloud of supersti- 
tion that was obscuring its glory. It is true that as yet im- 
ages were not very common, nor were there any statues at all ; 
but it is at the same time as undoubtedly certain, a* it is ex- 
travagant and monstrous, that the worship of the martyrs was 
modelled according to the religious services that were paid to 
the gods before the coming of Christ." 

Thus doth this learned and candid historian express him- 
self; and we must remind the reader that it is not of the 
tenth or twelfth century, as might perhaps be supposed, thai 
he is writing, but of the fourth, the period of the Nicene 
council, the age of Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzen, Basil 
the Great, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and others, who 
are regarded as the great Fathers of the Church. All these 
superstitions are to be found in their writings, and mostly 
mentioned in terms of approbation. 

The great parent of the external corruption of the pure 
and simple faith of the gospel seems, as we have already ob- 
served, to have been the law of Moses; for this law, which 
was at the same time a system of religious and of civil polity, 
was, in accordance with the designs of Providence and the 
state of the world at the time, so framed as to bear a certain 
degree of resemblance to the civil and religious institutions 
of the neighboring nations. Hence it had its priesthood, its 
sacrifices, its splendid ceremonies and ritual observances. 
When, therefore, the Christians, from the natural love of 
parade and magnificence, or with the specious view of gain- 
ing over the heathen, wished to introduce rites and ceremo- 
nies into the church, they found them ready to their hand in 
the law of the Israelites; and, when once the practice had 
begun, the step was easy to the introduction of various tenets 
and practices of heathenism, for which the Mosaic law fur- 
nished no precedent. 

The Mosaic religion, for example, had no mysteries, and 
no mythology and worship of heroes ; yet the Christianity of 
the fourth century had both. We have already shown how 
the simple rites of baptism and the Eucharist were converted 
into mysteries. The notion of their importance became 
every day more and more deep and solemn ; they were 
termed awful and tremendous mysteries, by the greatest of 
the Fathers ; and such were the miraculous powers ascribed 
to the elements of the Eucharist, that St. Ambrose; in a pub- 



392 THE CHRISTIAN 3HURCH. 

lie discourse, affirmed that his own brother, happening to 
have them about his person, was by their efficacy saved in a 
shipwreck. 

Cliristianity obtained its heroes and mythology in the fol- 
lowing manner : The memory of the Martyrs, (i. e. wit- 
nesses,) or those who had testified their faith in Oirist by 
sealing it with their blood, and, in a less degree, that of the 
Confessors, who had shown their willingness to do tiie same, 
was naturally held in reverence and respect by the mendjers 
of the church. The.princij)le of human nature from which 
pilgrimage arises caused tlie pious to resort to the places 
where their remains were deposited ; these places were soon 
regarded as being possessed of superior sanctity, which could 
ordy arise from the mortal relics of the holy men which lay 
there ; and the sanctity, being inherent in these remains, would 
of course accompany them, if transferred. Hence arose the 
translation of the bodies of the apostles, and other holy men, 
from tlie humble tombs in which they had hitiierto reposed, 
to capital cities and other places, to give holiness to stately 
churches which were to be erected in their honor. Every, 
even the smallest, fragment of the body of a saint, every thing, 
in short, that had touched that hallowed frame when ani- 
mated, was held to possess virtue; and wonderful tales were 
told each day of the nuraclcs performed by them. As it 
might seem absurd that the earthly portions of the holy men 
should possess such power, and their spiritual have no influ- 
ence in the lower world, a kind of ubiquity was ascribed to 
their glorified spirits, and it was believed that they could 
hear prayer and give aid to the supplicant. False miracles, 
false relics, even false saints, were rapidly manufactured,* 
and the church had soon a mythology which far exceeded in 
copiousness that of ancient Greece. t A maxim of the most 
pernicious nature now greatly prevailed in the church, 
namely, " That it was an act of virtue to deceive and lie, 

* " Certain tombs were fulsely wiven out for the sepulchres of saints 
and confessors ; the list of the sainLs was augmented with fictitious 
names, and robbers were converted into martyrs. Some buried the 
bones of dead men in certain retired places, and then affirmed that they 
were divinely admonished by a dream, that the body of some friend of 
God l.iy tiiere," &c. &.c. Mosheiin, ut sujirn. 

t " l^he sublime and simple theology of the primitive Christians," 
says Gibbon, " was gradually corrupted ; and the monarchy of heaven, 
already clouded by metaphysical subtilties, was degraded by the infro- 
■';:''tion of a populir mythology which tended to restore the reign of 
polytheism." 



RELIGION OF THE FOURTH CENTURY. 393 

when by such means the interests of the church might be 
promoted." This had, no doubt, been of long standing, for 
pious fraud and pious fiction early began, but it was now at 
its acme ; and even the greatest of the Fathers are charged 
with acting on this maxim,* and thus transforming Chris- | \ 

tianity into polytheism and idolatry. i | 

" If, in the beginning of the fifth century," says Gibbon, j | 

whom we may here safely quote, " Tertullian or Lactantius i; \ 

had been suddenly raised from the dead to assist at the festi- \ \ 

val of some popular saint or martyr, they would have gazed j I 

with astonishment and indignation on the profane spectacle j \ 

which had succeeded to the pure and spiritual worship of a \k 

Christian congregation. As soon as the doors of the church | [t 

were thrown open, they must have been offended by the i | 

smoke of incense, the perfume of flowers, and the glare of 1 1 

lamps and tapers, which diffused at noon-day a gaudy, super- J | 

fluous, and, in their opinion, a sacrilegious light. If they 1 1 

approached the balustrade of the altar, they made their way 
through the prostrate crowd, consisting for the most part of 
strangers and pilgrims, who resorted to the city on the vigils f| i 

of the feast, and who already felt the strong intoxication of || 

fanaticism, and perhaps of wine. Their devout kisses were \\ 

imprinted on the vvalls and pavement of the sacred edifice, ji | 

and their fervent prayers were directed, whatever might be || 

the language of their church, to the bones, the blood, or the 1 1 

ashes of the saint, which were usually concealed by a linen | \ 

or silken veil from the eyes of the vulgar. The Christians ij K 

frequented the tombs of the martyrs in the hope of obtaining || 

from their powerful intercession every sort of spiritual, but ■ || 

more especially of temporal blessings. They implored the |j 

preservation of their health or the cure of their infirmities, j| 

the fruitfulness of their barren wives, or the safety and hap- 
piness of their children. Whenever they undertook any dis- 
tant or dangerous journey, they requested that the holy mar- 
tyrs would be their guides and protectors on the road; and 
if they returned without having experienced any misfortune, 
they again hastened to the tombs of the martyrs to celebrate 
with grateful thanksgivings their obligations tc the memory 
and relics of those heavenly patrons. The walls were hung 
round with symbols of the favors which they had received; 
eyes and hands, and feet of gold and silver; and edifying 
pictures, which could not long escape the abuses of indis- 

* Mosheim, ut supra. Paragraph xvi. 

X X 



n 



394 THE CHKISTIAN CHURCH. 

creet or idolatrous devotion, representing the image, the at- 
tributes, and the miracles of the tutelar saint. The same 
uniform original spirit of superstition might suggest, in the 
most distant ages and countries, the same methods of deceiv- 
ing the credulity and of affecting the senses of mankind ; 
but it must ingenuously be confessed that the ministers of 
the Catholic church imitated the profane model which they 
were impatient to destroy. The most respectable bishops 
had persuaded themselves that the ignorant rustics would 
more cheerfully renounce the superstitions of paganism if 
they found some resemblance, some compensation, in the 
bosom of Christianity. The religion of Constantine achieved 
in less than a century the final conquest of the Roman em- 
pire, but the victors themselves were insensibly subdued by 
the arts of their vanquished rivals." 

Nothing is more characteristic of the corruption which 
Christianity had undergone than the high hotior in which 
the various classes of ascetics were held. These useless or 
pernicious beings now actually swarmed throughout the East- 
ern empire, and were gradually spreading themselves into the 
West. We have shown how asceticism has been derived from 
the sultry regions of Asia, and how it originates in the Gnos- 
tic principles. It had long been insinuating itself into the 
church; but, after the establishment of Christianity, it burst 
forth like a torrent, spreading from Egypt over Syria, Meso- 
potamia, and the other provinces, at such a rate, that, " in a 
short time," observes Mosheim, " the East was filled with a 
lazy set of mortals, who, abandoning all human connections, 
advantages, pleasures, and concerns, wore out a languishing 
and miserable life amidst the hardships of want and various 
kinds of suffering, in order to arrive at a more close and rap- 
turous communion with God and angels." 

Of these fanatics there were two classes, the Coenobites 
and the Eremites, a branch of which last were the Anacho- 
l rites.* The former, as their name denotes, lived together 

I in a fi.\ed habitation under an abbot, a word signifying Ja- 

thcr. The founder of this order was a man named Antony, 
who drew together a number of the Eremites of Egypt, and 
gave them fixed rules of conduct. There is a life of this 
hero of the monastic orders, which has been written by the 

* Koiroliia*3t, livers-in-common ; ^Eitr^ftlrai, dwellcrs-qf-the-desert, 
(fp>;><oc,) whe 'ce our word Hermit; ^tujfunjr^ral, retirers. The gen 
oral term was AJotu/ol, solitaries, whence our Monk. 



STATE OF MORALS. 395 

great Alhariasius.* The Eremites, on the contrary, dwelt 
solitary in caves or in wretched cottages of the desert; while 
the Anachorites, rejecting even this faint semblance of hu- 
manity, lived like the beasts of the field, wandering without 
certain abode, lying down wherever night overtook them, 
and feeding on the spontaneous produce of the earth, shun- 
ning the sight and the society of all human beings. The 
most distinguished of the Eremites was Paul, a recluse of 
the Thebai's, a kind of semi-savage, whose life and acts St. 
Jerome did not think it beneath him to record as an ensam- 
ple of true Christian holiness and perfection. Beside the 
above-mentioned classes of ascetics, we read of an order 
named in Egypt Sarabaites, who travelled about from place 
to place, working fictitious miracles, selling ftdse relics, and 
performing various other frauds to deceive the credulous 
multitude. These, like the corresponding Mohammedan 
dervishe?, were mostly notorious profligates : heavy com- 
plaints are made also of the Coenobites ; but the hermits 
were in general mere fanatics or spiritual madmen. 

The hope of acquiring heaven by virginity and mortifica- 
tion was not confined to the male sex; woman, with the en- 
thusiasm ayd the devotional tendency peculiar to her, rushed 
eagerly toward the crown of glory. Nunneries became nu- 
merous, and were thronged with inmates. Nature, however, 
not unfrequently asserted her rights, and the complaints' and 
admonitions of the most celebrated Fathers assure us that 
the unnatural state of vowed celibacy was productive of the 
same evils and scandals in ancient as in modern times. 

The state of morals among Christians in general was. 
according to the testimony of the contemporary Fathers 
and other writers, extremely low. " When," says the writer 
already quoted, " we cast an eye toward the lives and morals 
of Christians at this time, we find, as formerly, a mixture of 
good and evil, some eminent for their piety, others infamous 
for their crimes. The number, however, of immoral and 
unworthy Christians began so to increase, that the examples 
of real piety and virtue became extremely rare. When the 
terrors of persecution were totally dispelled ; when the 
church, secured from the efforts of its enemies, enjoyed the 
sweets of prosperity and peace; when the major part of bish- 
ops exhibited to their flock the contagious examples of arro- 
gance, luxury, effeminacy, animosity, and strife, with other 

* The next place in fame to St. Antony is occupied by St. Pacho- 
mius. 



396 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

vices too miraerous to mention; w.ien the inferitr rulers and 
doctors of the church fell into a slothful and opprobrious 
negligence of the duties of their respective stations, and 
employed in vain wranglings and idle disputes that zeal and 
attention which were due to the culture of piety and to the 
instruction of their people; and wben (to complete the enor- 
mity of this horrid detail) multitudes were drawn into the 
profession of Christianity, not by the power of conviction 
and argument, but by the prospect of gain or by the fear of 
punishment, — then it was indeed no wonder that the church 
was contaminated with shoals of profligate Christians, and 
that the virtuous few were, in a manner, oppressed and over- 
whelmed by the superior numbers of the wicked and licen- 
tious. It is true that the same rigorous penance which had 
taken place before Constantine the Great, continued now in 
full force against flagrant transgressors ; but when the reign 
of corruption becomes universal, the vigor of the law yields 
to its sway, and a weak execution defeats the purposes of the 
most salutary discipline. Such was now unhappily the case : 
the age was sinking daily from one period of corruption to 
another, the great and the powerful sinned with impunity, 
and the obscure and indigent alone felt the severity of the 
laws." 

W^hen such was the state of morals, it is natural to be sup- 
posed that heresy and schism should prevail, and the unity 
of the church be torn by feud and faction. We shall there- 
fore proceed to enumerate the principal sects and here.<ics 
of the fourth century. 

The first of these was the Donatists, so named from Do- 
natus, one of their most active partisans. It was a sect, not 
a heresy, for the orthodoxy of its members never was ques- 
tioned. It originated in the following circumstance : On 
the death of the bishop of Carthage in 311, the clergy and 
people of that city chose the r.rchdeacon Ciecilianus for 
his successor, and he was con.secrated by the bishops of Af- 
rica Minor, without waiting for those of Numidia. These 
last, highly oflended, summoned Cajcilianus before them; 
his disappointed competitors were active in their hostility, 
and a wealthy lady, named Lucilla, whom he had reprimand- 
ed for her superstitious practices, with all a woman's appe- 
tite for vengeance, lavished her money on the Numidians, to 
keep up their zeal. Cfecilianus having refused to submit to 
*heir jurisdiction, they declared him unworthy of his dignity, 
and appointed in his stead his deacon Majorinus; and the 



THE DONATISTS. 397 

churcli of Carthage had thus two rival bishops. The rea- 
sons given for the sentence against Cfecilianus were, that 
Felix of Aptungus, by whom he was consecrated, was a Tra- 
ditor, and that he himself, when a deacon, had shown, in the 
time of the late persecution, great cruelty toward the martyrs 
and confessors, actually leaving them to perish for want of 
food in their prisons. 

The Donatists having appealed to Constantine, that em- 
peror (313) directed the bishop of Rome, aided by three 
Gallic prelates, to examine the cause. The decision was 
in favor of Cascilianus, who was acquitted of the charges 
brought against him, as also was Felix of Aptungus, whose 
cause was examined by the proconsul of Africa. The Don- 
atists were dissatisfied ; and the emperor ordered (314) a 
greater number of prelates to meet at Aries, and examine the 
cause anew. The result of this inquiry also was adverse to 
them; they then appealed to the emperor in person, who 
examined the cause at Milan, (316,) and confirmed the pre- 
ceding sentences. They acted after this with so much inso- 
lence, that Constantine lost patience, and deprived them of 
their churches, banished their bishops, and even put some of 
their more refractory prelates to death. 

As the Donatists were numerous and powerful, tumults 
ensued, which Constantine sought in vain to allay. The 
savage and ferocious populace, which sided with them, un- 
der the name of Circumcellions, massacred, ravaged, and 
plundered their opponents all through the province; and 
matters were approaching to a civil war, when Constantine 
abrogated the laws made against the Donatists. The empe- 
ror Constans endeavored to heal the schism; but the Dona- 
tists would listen to no terms, and the Circumcellions even 
ventured to give battle to the imperial troops. They were, 
however, defeated ; and a persecution ensued, which lasted 
till the accession of Julian, when the Donatists again raised 
their heads. Their numbers were so great that they counted 
no less than four hundred bishops of their party ; but they 
split into two factions. The eloquent Augustine, bishop 
of Hippo, wrote, preached, and spoke against them ; arid 
this sect, the offspring of episcopal arrogance, gradually 
died away. 

The era of the establishment of Christianity [as the state 
religion] witnessed another schism in the church, of fat 
greater and more lasting importance than that caused by the 
CONTIN. 34 



398 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

Donatists. This was the celebrated Arian controversy, of 
which we will now briefly trace the history. 

The lantjnage of the New Testament, respecting the (Hg- 
nity of Clirist, is lofty, but, at the same time involved in a 
certain t egree of obscurity, if we may venture so to express 
ourselves, which, acting on the natural diversity of human 
minds, has, in all ages, caused a difference of opinion lO 
exist on this mysterious subject.* It would probably have 
been better if the church had been content on this, as on 
other high matters, to confine itself strictly to Scripture lan- 
guage, and not to have attempted to be " wise beyond what 
is written." On this, however, as lying without our prov- 
ince, we venture not to speak decidedly; our task is simply 
to state ficts and opinions. 

That the Christians of the first century worshipped Christ, 
is a fact not to be disputed ; the testimony of Pliny is con- 
clusive on the subject. They believed firmly in his divinity, 
but they did not anxiously seek to fathom the mystery which 
enveloped it. Yet there were those, .as we have seen, when 
treating of the Gnostic sects, who speculated on this lofty 
subject; and in the church itself, Praxeas and others ad- 
vanced some very hazardous conjectures. As the fondness 
for Platonism advanced, that portion of the Christian doc- 
trine which seemed most akin to the airy speculations of the 
Athenian sage, drew more and more the attention of learned 
Christians ; and, about the middle of the third century, Sa- 
bellius, a bishop or presbyter of Cyrene in Africa, advanced 
a theory which drew to him a considerable number of fol- 
lowers. He maintained that a certain nurffi/ proceeded 
from the Father, and united itself to the Son, the man 
Jesus, and he regarded the Holy Spirit as in the same way 
a portion of the Father. Hence the Sabellians are called 
Patripa-^sians. The opinions of Sabellius were, however, 
refuted by Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria. 

Beryllus, bishop of Bozrah in Arabia, taught that Christ 
did not exist before Mary, but that, at the time of his birth, a 
spirit, issuing from God himself, and therefore a portion of 

* No one, surely, will deny the sense, the learning, or the honesty, 
of those who have held opinions different from the one generally re- 
ceived on this subject. If any one text more than another would seem 
to make in favor of Arianism, it is Phil. ii. 6 — 9 ; yet Dr. Lardner, in 
his Letter on t le Logos, declares that it was this very text that made 
him a Soclnia: ! 



THE ARIANS. 399 

the Divine Being, was united to him. Beryllus was refuted 
by Origen, and he acknowledged and recanted his error. 

Paul, the celebrated bishop of Samosata, a man whom 
looseness of morals, and pride and arrogance, fostered by 
wealth, had rendered generally odious, was degraded from 
his episcopal dignity by a council in the year 269, on ac- 
count of his heretical opinions on this subject. He appears 
to have held that the Son and Holy Ghost exist in God as 
reason and activity exist in man ; that Christ was born a 
mere man, but that the reason or wisdom of the Father de- 
scended on him, and abode with him while on earth, and 
that hence he might, though improperly, be called God. 

It will be observed that the substance of these heresies of 
the seco;id and third centuries, was the confounding of the 
Son and Holy Ghost with the Father. The church, on the 
other hand, had frequently decided that there was a real dif- 
ference, and that three distinct persons existed in the Deity, 
but without making any exact definition of the nature of 
their relation; and the utmost liberty of sentiment and ex- 
pression was allowed respecting it. Yet the most prevalent 
opinion in Egypt and the adjacent countries, was that of 
Origen, who held that the Son was in God, as reason is in 
man, and that the Holy Ghost was simply the divine energy 
— a notion not very far removed from Sabellianism. 

In the year 319, in an assembly of the clergy of Alexan- 
dria, the bishop Alexander took occasion to communicate 
to them his. sentiments on this head; and he asserted that the 
Son was not only of the same eminence and dignity, but of 
the same essence with the Father. One of the presbyters, 
named Arius, treated this opinion as false, and as little re- 
moved from Sabellianism. He was then led to state his own 
opinions, which tended to the opposite extreme; for he held 
that the Son had been created by the Father before all 
things, but that time had elapsed before his creation ; that 
he was created out of nothing; that he was the instrunient 
by whom the Father gave existence to the universe; he was 
superior, therefore, to all other beings, but inferior, both in 
nature and dignity, to the Father. These opinions, when 
promulgated, found numerous favorers in Egypt and else- 
where; but Alexander caused them to be condemned in two 
councils v^hich he summoned, and their author to be excom- 
municated. Arius withdrew to Palestine, whence he wrote 
numerous letters to eminent men, and drew many of them 
over to his sentiments. The controversy was maintained 



400 THE CHUISTIAN CHURCH. 

With great heat ; and the emperor Constantine, who at first 
treated it as trifling and unimportant, and wrote to the par- 
ties enjoining peace, was at length induced to summon a 
general council for its decision. 

This council, the first of those named QEcumenical or 
General, met at Nicaea in Bithynia, in the year :325. Three 
hundred and eighteen bishops, it is said, appeared in it, and 
the emperor in person was present at their deliberations. 
They commenced with personal altercation, and presented 
the emperor with libels or written accusations against each 
other, which Constantine, however, burned, exhorting them 
to peace and unity. Of the proceedings of this council we 
have only very imperfect accounts; but its decision was 
ao-ainst the Ariaus. It was determined that the Son was 
consubstantial {uuooloio:) with the Father, as it is expressed 
in the Niccne creed. The council further terminated the 
dispute about the time of keo[)ing Easter, regulated soi,ne 
points of discipline, and then separated. It had been very 
near cominij to a resolution of imposing on the clergy the 
yoke of celibacy, such progress had that unnatural tenet of 
the Gnostics made in the churcli. 

Persecution was of course employed against the defeated 
party, and Eusebius, bishop of Nicoinedia, and others, were 
banished ; but an Arian, who had been commended to the 
emperor by his sister when on her death bed, found means 
to convince him that the decision of the council was unjust, 
and Arius, Eusebius, and others, were recalled from exile 
Athanasius, the successor of Alexander, however, refused tc 
restore Arius to his rank and oflice in the church, for which 
he was himself deposed, by a council holden at Tyre in 335. 
and banished to Gaul. But the people of Alexandria refused 
to admit Arius; and he died the following year at Constanti- 
nople, of a bowel complaint, as it would appear, which some 
suspect was brought on by poison administered by his ene- 
mies, who affected to view in it a judgment of Heaven. The 
moral character of Arius, it may be here observed, was with- 
out stain ; and of his religious sincerity there seems to be lit- 
tle ground of doubt. 

Of the sons of Constantine, two were orthodox; but Con- 
stautius, into whose hands the entire empire finally fell, was 
strongly attached to the Arian system. Persecution and .se- 
duction were employed against the Ilomoousians ; frequent 
synods were convened; so that, as Aminianus observes, " bj 
the troops of bishops who were hurrying backwards and 



THE ARIANS. 401 

forwnrds on the beasts devoted to the public service, to the 
synods, as they call them, in order to draw the whole sect to 
their own opinions, the entire posting establishment was well 
nigh ruined;" and Athanasius expressed his fears that the 
clergy would thereby draw on them the derision and con- 
tempt of unbelievers. At length, a general council of the 
East was held at Seleucia in Isauria, (359,) and one of the 
West, at Rimini [Ariminum) in Italy, (360.) The former 
separated without coming to any decided conclusion ; the 
latter, which sat seven months, was, by proper management, 
brought to sanction a creed sufficiently Arian for the empe- 
ror's purpose, and " the whole world groaned," says Jerome, 
" and wondered to find itself Arian." Julian was indifferent, 
Jovian and Valentinian were orthodox but tolerant, Valens 
was an Ari.ui and a persecutor. Theodosius was rigidly 
orthodox ; and the second general council which he assem- 
bled at Constantinople (381) condemned the Arians anew. 
Intolerant edicts were' forthwith issued against them ; they 
were deprived of their churches, banished, and otherwise 
persecuted. Their sect gradually declined in the East ; it 
had never flourished in the West ; but the Goths and other 
barbarians, who had been converted by Arians, carried their 
religious system with them when they became conquerors; 
and it was not till the close of the sixth century that Arian- 
ism became extinct in Spain. 

The Arians shared the general fate of all who, on points 
beyond human comprehension, venture to exercise the pow- 
ers of their mind ; they at length came to hold different shades 
of opinion, and thus became subdivided into sects. Their 
varieties may, however, be reduced to three : — 1. The prim- 
itive and proper Arians, who held simply that the Son was 
created out of nothing. 2. The Semi-Arians, who asserted 
that the Son was of similar essence (owo/ooi'cr/o;) with the 
Father, but by a peculiar privilege, not by nature. This was 
the doctrine favored by Constantius, and it was the prevalent 
sentiment in the council of Seleucia. 3. The Aetians, or 
Eunomians, so named from their chiefs, Aetius and Euno- 
mius, who may be regarded as pure Arians, for they held 
that the Son was unlike {ui'Sfinmc) the Father, and o^ another 
essence, {lir-qovaioi.) Of the Acacians, Eusebians, and other 
minpr divisions, we will not speak. 

The Arian controversy gave rise to other heresies. Apol- 
linaris, bishop of Laodicea, iii his zeal for the divinity of 
Christ, went near to denying his humanity. He held that 

34 * Y Y 



402 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

the body of Christ had only had a sensitive soul, and that 
the divine nature assumed in him the office of the rational 
soul, whence it seemed to follow that his divine as well as 
his human nature suffered on the cross. This opinion, we 
may perceive, was indebted for its origin to the author's Plat- 
onism. 

iMarcellus, bishop of Ancyra, regarded the Son and Holy 
Ghost as emanations of the divine nature, which, after per- 
forming the functions appointed to them, were to return into 
the substance of the Father. Hence it plainly followed that 
there could not be three distinct persons in the Godhead. 

Phulinus, bishop of Sirminin, the disciple of Marcellus, 
taught that Jesus was born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin 
Mary ; that the Word, i. e. a divine emanation or ray, de- 
scended on him, and that hence he was called the Son of 
God, and even God; that the Holy Ghost was only a virtue 
proceeding from the Deity. These opinions were condemned 
by both orthodox and Arians, and Photinus was degraded 
from his dignity. 

Macedonius, a Semi-Arian, being deposed from the see 
of Constantinople in 3G0, by the influence of the Eunomi- 
ans, taught openly an opinion which he had hitherto held in 
secret; namely, that the Holy Ghost is a divine enerjy dif- 
fused through the universe, and not a person distinct from 
the Father and Son. The second general council was 
assembled at Constantinople in S^'l, chiefly on account of 
this heresy. It completed what that of Nicaja had left im- 
perfect, establishing the doctrine of three persons in one God. 
which is still generally received. It also condemned and 
anathematized all heresies hitherto known, and it assigned 
the first rank after the bishop of Rome to the bishop of 
Constantinople. 

Such were the principal heresies which divided the church 
in the fourth century. They all arose from the vain attempt 
of rendering clear and definite that which had been left ob- 
scure and mysterious ; and they were combated too often by 
force and cruelty, rather than by reason and charity. The 
fourth was, in fact, a century of persecution : as soon as the 
church obtained temporal power, it abused it ; for church- 
men are nothing more than men. He who has power will 
take delight in its exercise; and when he can silence an op- 
ponent by force, he will be willing to avoid the more tedious 
course of reasoning, or the nobler one of tolerance. In this 
condemnation the orthodox and the Arians are alike in- 
cluded. 



FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 403 

In consequence of its establishment as the rel gion of the 
state, the church underwent a change in its constitution. 
Tlie emperor assumed the entire control of its external 
administration. He alone had the power of convenino- a 
General Council; he appointed judges to decide religious 
controversies; he took cognizance of all civil causes between 
members of the hierarchy, regulated disputes between the 
bishops and people, and exercised a general superintendence 
over the church. The bishops, on their part, had made a mo- 
nopoly of the internal administration: people and presbyters 
alike were excluded from their original share, and of the an- 
cient government of the church there now remained nothino- 
more than the shadow. 

The government of the church was modelled after that of 
the state. The prelates of the four principal cities of the 
empire answered to the four praetorian prefects, and seem, 
even in this century, to have been termed Patriarchs. The 
Exarchs, corresponding with civil officers of the same title, 
had the inspection of several provinces. The Metropolitans 
had the government of one province; the Archbishops were 
over certain districts ; the Bishops were next in rank ; the 
inferior clergy, headed by Arch-presbyters and Arch-deacons, 
completed the sacred edifice. 

The bishop of Rome, chiefly in consequence of his supe- 
rior wealth and magnificence, and the civil dignity of his 
see, enjoyed a certain preeminence in rank, but nothing 
more. He had no power of making laws for the church, or 
of appointing bishops to their sees ; and the other prelates 
strenuously maintained their equality with him, as deriving 
their authority from the same divine source. 

The fourth century and the early part of the fifth were the 
golden age of the literature of the early church. The most 
distinguished of the Fathers then flourished, and a large 
proportion of their works have come down to modern times. 
We will here enumerate some of the principal. 

Athanasius, the secretary and the successor of Alexander 
in the see of Alexandria, was, throughout the whole of his 
life, the invincible opponent of Arianism. In his opposition 
to that heresy, he braved the resentment of emperors ; and 
he was five times expelled from his episcopal throne, and 
passed twenty years of his life in exile. His energy was in* 
domitable; his sinceiity was beyond question; his talents 
qualified him to rule an empire. As a writer and a speaker, 
he was clear, forcible, and persuasive ; but his style was un* 



404 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

polished, and his learning was inferior to that of some of his 
conten)poraries.* 

Gregory, named Nazianzen from the town of Nazianzes 
in Cappadocia, of which his father was bishop, was a man of 
great piety, and considerable learning and eloquence. He 
also was an inveterate foe of Ariauism ; and Theodosius, 
when, in his zeal for orthodoxy, he obliged the Arian prelate 
of Constantinople to resign his dignity, seated Gregory by 
force of arms on the archiepiscopal throne. But tiie pious 
prelate finally experienced the ingratitude of courts and 
bishops, and he resigned his see, and retired to a solitude in 
his native province, where he passed the remaining years of 
his life in the cultivation of poetry and the exercise of devo- 
tion ; for his heart was naturally tender, and his genius 
elegant. 

The rival of Gregory in genius and in eloquence, was his 
early friend, companion, and countryman, Basil, surnamed 
the Great, archbishop of Cajsarea. But Basil had a pride of 
character from which Gregory was free; and the real Chris- 
tian knowledge of the great promoter of Oriental monas- 
ticism may not unreasonably be called in question. Basil 
and Gregory Nazi-inzen may be termed the great Christian 
sophists. In their works, as in those of Libanius, the anxiety 
as to form and manner, in preference to matter and import, 
may be discerned; the dignity of simplicity was uidtnown 
to or despised by them, and the glitter of false eloquence 
assumes its place in their writings. 

Gregory, bishop of Nyssa, the brother of St. Basil, was 
also a writer of some eminence. His oration on the life of 
Gregory the Wonder-worker, proves him, however, to have 
been a man of great credulity. 

Eusebius, bishop of Ca;sarea, was the author of various 
works. It is to his Ecclesiastical History that we arc chiefly 
indebted for our acquaintance with the early fortunes of the 
church; and his Life of Constantino is a principal source of 
our knowledge of the events of that emperor's reign. But 
the credit of this prelate as an historian is greatly diminished 
by the rule which he declares he had laid down for his guid- 
ance, namely, to relate nothing to the disadvantage of those 
whom he celebrates, of which proceeding we have noticed 

* The account of Athanasius given by Gibbon (chap, xxi.) is in the 
historian's best manner, and does hini credit. It shows that " even in 
a bfe'iop lie could spy desert." 



FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. 405 

an instance in his suppression of the murder of Crispus. 
Hi; justifies this conduct by the specious, but untrue, pretext 
that this course is the more edifying one ; it being more edi- 
fying and profitable, for example, to blazon forth the virtues 
of the early Christians, than to narrate their dissensions 
and portray their wickedness and apostasies. History would 
thus become mere panegyric, and be of little more use than 
romance. Happily the prelate did not always adhere to his 
own rule ; and he occasionally lets us see that all was not 
purity and perfection in the church. 

These were the principal fathers of this century who used 
the Greek language. The following wrote in Latin : 

Lactantius, named the Christian Cicero from the elegance 
of his rich and copious style, is supposed to have been an 
African. His principal work, the Divine Institutes, is a 
refutation of paganism. His own notions of Christianity 
seem to have been of a more philosophic cast than those of 
most of his contemporaries. Like the apologists in general, 
his arguments often are weak, and his conclusions not justi- 
fied by his premises. 

Ambrose, a native of Gaul, the Becket of antiquity, was 
the civil governor of Liguria. When, on the occasion of a 
dispute between the orthodox and the Arians for the vacant 
see of Milan, (374,) he addressed the people in the cathedral 
in order to appease the commotion, he was greeted with the 
unanimous cry, " We will have Ambrose for our bishop." 
Ambrose, who was thirty-four years old, had not yet been 
baptized ; his religious instruction had necessarily been ex- 
tremely slight, and, in his desire to escape the elevation, for 
which he deemed himself unfit, he publicly committed some 
acts of gross injustice and immorality. But the people cried, 
" Thy offence be upon our heads;" they drew him from a 
concealment which he had sought, and conducted him in 
triumph to Milan. He was thus forced to yield, and on the 
eighth day after his baptism, he was consecrated. He im- 
mediately made over the whole of his property to the church 
or the poor ; and spiritual ambition took entire possession 
of his soul. In the cause of orthodoxy, he resisted Justina, 
the Arian mother of Valentinian II. ; in the cause of the 
authority of the church, he humbled even the great Theodo- 
sius. As a writer, Ambrose is entitled to but moderate 
praise. His works discover a fondness for the prevalent su- 
perstitions of the age, and he lays claim to the power of per- 
forming miracles. He was an able statesman, a bold, am- 
bitious prelate, but a man of unblemished private life. 



406 THE CHHIsr AN CHURCH. 

Augustine, bishop of Hippo Regius in Africa, was a man 
of considerable mental power. He was engaged in con- 
tinual controversy with the Donatists and other heretics. 
His writings are numerous ; his most remarkable work is 
his Confessions, the earliest piece of autobiography tiiat we 
possess. Augustine entered more deeply into the abstruse 
questions of grace, free will, and original sin, than the Fa- 
thers in general. He is regarded as the chief author of the 
opinions known by the name of Calvinism. 

Jerome, a native of Illyricum, had conceived such a pas- 
sion for a monastic life, that he left his own country and 
shut himself up in a convent at Bethlehem, where he de- 
voted all his days to devotion, study, and composition. He 
applied himself to the Hebrew language, and translated the 
Old Testament into Latin ; and as a translator and critic he 
ranks far above his contemporaries. He also engaged warm- 
ly in controversy, and earned the fame of being the most 
foul-mouthed of all the Fathers. On heretics and reformera 
alike the vials of his wrath were poured forth; the opposers 
of mortification, celibacy, pilgrimage, saint-worship, and 
other superstitions which he chose to admire and rcconnnend, 
however exemjjlary their lives, received no better treatment 
than the obstinate heretic or sinner, from this most choleric 
of saints. Even age brought no cooling to his fervent spirit; 
and his very latest writings are as fierce and fiery as those 
composed in his prime of life. 

Such were the principal Fathers of the fourth century ; 
and, viewing their writings, and those of their predecessors 
and successors, we think that any person of candor will agree 
with us in saying, that neither in critical skill, in learn- 
ing, in judgment, or in correct morality, can they stand a 
comparison with the Protestant divines of the si.xteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, or even with the Galilean divines of 
the same period. In gaudy, glittering, theatric elocjuence, a 
Basil, a Gregory, a Chrysostom, may claim the precedence ; 
but what work can the ancient church produce to be placed 
alongside of the Ecclesiastical Polity of Hooker? or where 
can we find in it reasoning equal to that of Chillingworth 
and Barrow? The Fathers may be read with profit, but 
cannot be safely taken as guides, unless 'we are willing to 
end in submission to the church of Rome. The Christian 
religion is contained in the New Testament alone, and is 
thence to be derived, by the application of the principles of 
sound criticiairj in a spirit actuated by the sincere love of 
tiuth. 



THE MANIC HJEANS. iQl 

We will conclude this chapter by an account of the Mani« 
cha;an heresy. 

This heresy, which arose in the middle of the third centu- 
ry, may be regarded as the last and most permanent form of 
Gnosticism. Its founder, from whom it derived its name, 
was Manes, a Persian by birth, and one of the sacerdotal 
caste of the Magians, who embraced Christianity, and en- 
deavored to am-ilgamate it with his original faith. Of the 
history of his life little is known with certainty. He is said 
to have been put to death by the Persian king Varanes I. 

As the foundation of his system, Manes laid down the two 
principles of Light and Darkness, with their respective chiefs 
(the Ormuzd and Ahriman of Persian theology) and their 
countless myriads of subordinate spirits. The prince of 
Darkness was long ignorant of the existence of the realm of 
light; but when he accidentally discovered it, he invaded it. 
The armies of Light, headed by the First Man, opposed him, 
but could not prevent his seizing a large portion of it, and 
mingling it with matter. The Living Spirit, the second 
leader of the troops of Light, had more success; yet still 
much of the pure element remained immersed in matter. 
From the mixture the prince of Darkness formed the parents 
of the human race, who had therefore a material body, in 
which were two souls, one sensitive and lustful, the other 
rational and immortal, as being produced of Light. The 
Living Spirit then created the earth out of matter, as a 
habitation for the human race, in order to their gradual puri- 
fication from the influence of corrupt matter ; and to aid 
them in their efforts, God produced, from his own substance, 
two beings, named Christ and Holy Ghost, the former of 
whom, (the Persian Mithras,) a splendid substance, subsist- 
ing in and by himself, filled with life and infinite in wisdom, 
resided in the sun; while the latter, also luminous and ani- 
mated, pervaded the atmosphere of the earth, illumining the 
minds of men, giving fertility to the soil, and drawing out 
from it the particles of celestial heat, and restoring them to 
their native region. 

The Supreme Deity sent a succession of angels and holy 
men to admonish and exhort the souls imprisoned in matter 
At length, he directed Christ to quit his abode in the sun, 
and, taking on him the semblance of a body, to appear on 
earth. Christ obeyed the mandate, performed miracles, and 
gave precepts to man; but the prince of Darkness stirred up 
the Jews against him, and, in appearance, he suffered death 



408 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

on the cross. He reascended to the sun, having appointed 
apostles to propagate his religion, and promised a Paraclete 
or Comforter, who would add what was needful to his doc- 
trine, and dispel all error from the minds of his servants. 
This great Paraclete was Manes; and those who obeyed the 
laws of Christ as enlarged by him, would gradually be freed 
from the influence of matter, but not wholly in this life ; for, 
after death, they must first proceed to the moon, which is 
composed of purifying wat(r, after an abode in which of fif- 
teen days, they were to ascend to the sun, whose fire would 
remove all remaining stains. The souls oi the wicked were, 
after death, to migrate into the bodies of animals and other 
natures, till they should have expiated their guilt. The 
world was finally to be consumed with fire, and the prince 
and powers of D:irkness be compellnd to return to and abide 
forever in tlieir original gloom and misery. 

The moral system of Manes was severe and rigorous in 
the extreme; but, aware that celibacy, long fasting, and 
mortification, were not suited to mankind in general, he 
made a distinction similir to one already noticed,* dividing 
his followers into the Elect and the Hearers, from the former 
of whom alone ol)edience was exacted to his ascetic system. 

Manes rejected all the books of both the Old and the New 
Testament, except St. Paul's Epistles, which, however, he 
regarded as greatly interpolated and corrupted. He gave 
his disciples a gospel of his own, named Ertang, dictated to 
him, as he said, by God himself. The Manichajan assem- 
blies had always a president, who represented Jesus Christ, 
twelve rulers or masters, and seventy-two bishops, to corre- 
spond with the apostles and disciples; under the bishops 
were presbyters and deacons, all selected from the body of 
the Elect ; and the hierarchy was thus completed. 

The Manich.-ean system long contitjued to flourish. It 
spread itself over both the empires. We believe there is 
little doubt, that those who, under the names of Albigenses, 
Panlicians, Cathari, and other denominations, wore so cru- 
elly persecuted by the church of Rome in the middle ages, 
were the descendants of the Manichaeans. There is reason 
to sui)pose that the mistresses and the loves of the trouba- 
dours of the South of France were not earthly ; that the 
conventional language, retained by the Soofees in Persia, 
had ')een carried by the Manichsans to Spain and France ; 

* See abuTC, p. 233. 



A. r>. 395.] HONORius. 409 

that in Italy, this language, which had hitherto been con- 
fined to religion, was, by Fredeiick II. and his friends, ex- 
tended to politics, and made the bond of union of the 
Ghibellines; and that it is only by a knowledge of it, that 
the writings of Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio, and the other 
writers of that age, can be understood.* In fine, it might 
appear that Manichaeism eventually led to the Reformation. 



CHAPTER Vll.t 

HONORIUS, VALENTINIAN III., ETC. 

A. u. 1148—1229. A. D. 395—476. 

DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE. RUFINUS. THE GOTHS IN 

GREECE. GILDO. INVASION OF ITALY BY ALARIC. 

BY RADAGAISUS. MURDER OF STILICHO. CLAUDIAN. 

ALARIC'S SECOND INVASION. SACK OF ROME. DEATH 

OF ALARIC. BARBARIANS IN THE EMPIRE. VALENTIN- 
IAN III. BONIFACE AND ^TIUS. GENSERIC. HIS CON- 
QUEST OF AFRICA. ATTILA. THEODORIC. BATTLE i I 

OF CHALONS. ATTILA's INVASION OF ITALY. MURDER 

OF ^TIUS AND OF VALENTINIAN. — MAXIMUS. SACK 

OF ROME BY GENSERIC. AVITUS. MAJORIAN. SEVE- 

RUS. ANTHEMIUS. NEPOS AND GLYCERIUS. ROMULUS 

AUGUSTUS. END OF THE EMPIRE. CONCLUSION. 

Honorius. 

A. u. 1148—1176. A. D. 395—423. 

With Theodosius the unity of the Roman empire termi- 5 I 

nated ; it never again obeyed a single ruler, and henceforth 
the empires of the East and the West are as distinct as any 
independent kingdoms of ancient or modern times. As the 
history of that of the East, during the remaining period of 
our narrative, presents no events of much political impor- 

* The proofs will be found in the various works of Signor Rossetti, 
the learned and saijacious expounder of Dante. 

t Authorities : Zosimus, Claudian, Jornandes, the EcciesiasticaJ 
Historians, and t le Chroniclers. 

CONTIN. 35 Z Z 



410 HONORIUS. [a. D. 395. 

tance, we will confine ourselves to that of he West, and 
rapidly relate its fall. 

Theodosius had two sons : to the elder, named Arcadius, a 
youth of eighteen years of age, who had been left behind in 
Constantinople, was assigned the empire of the East , to the 
younger, Ilonorius, a boy of eleven years, that ot the West.* 
The care of both the emperors and their dominions was 
connnitted by Theodosius, on his death bed, to Stilicho, a 
mnn of great talent, civil and military, and of incorrupt in- 
tegrity, to whom he had given his niece and adopted daugh- 
ter Serena in marriage, and had raised him to the high 
rank of master of both the cavalry and infantry of the 
empire. 

After the decease of Theodosius, Stilicho remained in 
Italy with the young Honorius. The chief minister of Ar- 
cadius was Rufinus, the prefect of the East, a native of 
Gaul, who, having devoted himself to the practice of the law 
j. \ at Constantinople, by his talents and by his profound hypoc- 

risy gained the favor of the late emperor, who had gradually 
raised him to his present dignity. As soon as death had 
relieved him from the restraint which his knowledge of the 
latent vigor of Theodosius's character imposed, Rufinus 
flung off the mask, and gave free course to his cruelty and 
his avarice. In the gratification of this last ignoble passion, 
he passed all bounds. Justice was sold, offices were sold, 
oppressive taxes were imposed, testaments were extorted or 
forged, ruinous fines were exacted, properties were confis- 
cated on the slightest pretexts. The wealth thus acquired 
was retained by the most rigid parsimony, and Rufinus was 
consequently the object of hatred to many, and of sincere 
attachment to no one. 

The ambitious prefect hoped to unite his only daughter to 
his youthful sovereign ; but he seems not to have reflected 
on the secret machinations of a despotic court ; and while 
he was absent on a journey of vengeance to Antioch, where, 
without even a shadow of proof, he judicially murdered the 
count of the East, a secret conspiracy in the palace, headed 
by the chamberlain Eutropius, undermined his power. Dis- 
covering that their young monarch had no affection for his 
destined bride, the confederates planned to substitute for her 
the fair Eudoxia, the orphan daughter of Bauto, a Frank 
general in the imperial service. They inflamed the imagina* 

* The province of lUyricum was divided between the two empires. 



A- p. 395.] RUFINUS. 411 

tion of the emperor by their commendations of her charms, 
the view of her picture confirmed the impression, and when, 
on the day fixed for the royal nuptials, after the return of 
Rutinus, (April 27,) the bearers of the diadem, robes, and 
ornaments, of the future empress, issued from the palace, 
they entered not the mansion of the prefect, but the house 
in which Eudoxia was dwelling, and conducted the daughter 
of Bauto to the imperial residence. The sense and spirit 
exhibited by the new empress soon filled Rufinus with alarm; 
and it is not unlikely that, in the rage of disappointed ambi- 
tion, and the dread of a hostile faction, he may, as he is 
charged, have resolved to aim at the empire, and with this 
view have secretly encouraged the Goths and Huns to renew 
their ravages. 

But Rufinus had a foe to encounter more formidable than 
the eunuchs of the palace. He had long since drawn on 
himself the enmity of Stilicho; and that general, who had 
already divided between the royal brothers the jewels and 
other private property of their deceased father, now pre- 
pared to apportion between the two empires the troops 
which had been assembled under the imperial standard for 
the late war. Under the pretext of the ravages of the 
Goths, he marched in person at the head of the troops that 
were to return to the East ; and he had reached Thessalonica 
when he received an order from Arcadius, dictated by the 
fears of Rufinus, to send on the troops, but to advance no 
farther himself. He obeyed, committing to the soldiers the 
execution of the designs which he had formed against Rufi- 
nus. The army, led by Gainas, a Goth, marched for the 
capital : not a soldier divulged the secret of Stilicho ; Rufi- 
nus was led to hope that they would aid his ambition, and he 
freely distributed to them a portion of his hoarded treasures. 
When they were within a mile of the city, (Nov. 27,) he and 
the emperor advanced to salute them. As he was passing 
along the ranks, the wings gradually closed and surrounded 
him : Gainas then gave the signal ; a soldier plunged his 
sword into his breast, and he fell dead at the feet of the em- 
peror. His lifeless body was abandoned to the rage of the 
populace, wlio treated it with every species of horrid indig- 
nity. His wife and daughter found sanctuary in a church, 
and they ended their days in a convent at Jerusalem.* 

* The power now fell into the hands of the eunuch Eutropius, whom 
Claudian, the panegyrist of Stilicho, lashes in so fearful a manner. Of 
the poet's satiric powers, the following is a specimen : — 



412 HONORius. [a. D. 396-398 

The Goths, under the guidance of an intrepid young 
prince named Alaric, after ravaging the northern provinces, 
had advanced into Greece, (39G.) They no where encoun- 
tered opposition ; from Mount Olympus to the extremities of 
Tajnaron and Malea, they ravaged the country and piliageri 
the towns. At length (307) Stilicho debarked an army on 
the isthmus of ('orinth, and advanced into Arcadia, to engage 
the invaders. By skilful movements he forced them to re- 
tire to Mount Pholoe, and, having diverted the course of the 
only stream that supplied them, and drawn a line of posts 
round them, he withdrew to share in the pleasures of the 
stage and dance in the cities of Greece. The soldiers, not 
being controlled by the presence of their general, quitted 
the works, and spread themselves over the country. Alaric, 
watching his opportunity, marched out with his booty and 
captives, crossed the Corinthian Gulf, and was master of 
Epirus before Stilicho knew of his escape. The Gothic 
prince had meantime been secretly negotiating a treaty with 
the ministers of Arcadius; and just at this conjuncture he 
was api)ointed to the military comujand of eastern Illyricum, 
and Stilicho received orders to depart from the dominions of 
the emperor of the East. 

The attention of Stilicho was next directed to Africa, 
where Gildo, the brother of the unfortunate Firmus, ruled 
in nearly total independence ; for, after the suppression of 
that rebel, the government of Africa had been conferred on 
Gildo, who had risen to the rank of count in the service of 
Rome. At a distance from the seat of empire, and there- 
fore secure from putiishn)ent, he indulged all his passions 
without restraint, and the unhappy country groaned beneath 
his tyranny. Persons of wealth were poisoned in order to 
obtain their properties ; the fairest matrons and maidens, 
after being forced to submit to the embraces of the tyrant, 
»vere abandoned to his swarthy Moorish and Gxtulian guards. 

Asporius nihil est hurnili, cuin surgit in ahum; 
Cuncta ferit dum cuncta timet ; desmvit in omneB, 
Ut se posse putent ; nee bellua tetrior uUa 
Qiiain servi rabies in libera terga furentis. 
Agnoscit geniitus, et poence parcerc nescit 
Quam subiit, doininique memor qucni verberat odit. 
Adde quod eunuchus nulla pielate inovetur, 
Nee gen^i nalisve cavet. dementia cunctis 
In similes, animosque ligant consortia damni. 
Iste nee eunuchis placidus, sed pejus in aurum 
iEstaat ; hoc uno f ruitur succisa libido. 

In Eutrop. I. 181, seq. 



A. D. 398.] GiLDO. 413 

His excesses were unnoticed by Theodosius, who resided at 
a distance ; but he saw that from Stilicho he had no favor to 
expect, and he therefore craftily tendered his allegiance to 
the throne of Arcadius. The ministers of that priuce, re- 
gardless of faith or honor, grasped at the delusive offer, and 
signified to Stilicho their right to Africa. Their claim was 
met by a decided negative. Stilicho instantly accused the 
African as a rebel to the senate, and that body declared him 
the enemy of the republic. The prudent Symmachus sug- 
gested the danger of the corn-ships being kept back, and the 
city being thus exposed to famine; but Stilicho had already 
provided for this case, and abundant supplies of corn from 
•Gaul were poured into the granaries of Rome. 

The command of the force destined for the reduction of 
the Moorish tyrant was committed to his own brother Mas- 
cezel, whom he had forced to fly for his life, and whose 
innocent children he had murdered. The army of Mascezei 
consisted of only five thousand Gallic veterans ; but these 
were deemed sufficient to overcome the naked and disorderly 
barbarians, who, to the number, it is said, of seventy thou- 
sand, marched under the banners of Gildo. Shortly after 
his landing, (398,) Mascezei gave the signal for engagement. 
He himself advanced before his troops with offers of par- 
don ; one of the enemy's standard-bearers met him, and 
Mascezei, on his refusal to yield, struck off" his arm with his 
sword. The standard fell to the ground ; the supposed vol- 
untary act was imitated by all the other standard-bearers : 
the cohorts proclaimed the name of Honorius ; the barba- 
rians dispersed and returned to their homes ; and the victory 
was thus gained without the slightest effusion of blood. 
Gildo fled to the sea-shore, and, throwing himself into a 
small vessel, made sail for the East ; but the wind drove him 
into the port of Tabraca, where he was seized by the inhab- 
itants and cast into prison, and he terminated his existence 
by his own hand. Mascezei, on his return, was received at 
court with great favor ; but, shortly after, as he was riding 
with Stilicho over a bridge, his horse threw him into the 
river; and the attendants, observing that Stilicho smiled, 
gave him no aid, and he was drowned.* The guilt of his 
death was accordingly charged on the envy of Stilicho. 

* So Gibbon " softens," as he terms it, the narrative of Zosiinus, 
"which, in its crude simplicity," he says, "is almost incredible." 
Zosiinus sii' ply says (v. ii.) that the guards, on a given signal, pushed 
him into th river, and that Stilicho laughed. 

35* 



414 HONORius. '400-403 

The young etnperor, now in his fourteenth year, was uni- 
ted in marriage at this time with his cousin Maria, the 
daughter of Stilicho; but the consummation was deferred; 
and ten years after Maria died a virgin. Honorius, who was 
utterly devoid of talent or energy, passed his days in feeding 
poultry; and Stilicho, while he lived, was in reality the mon- 
arch of the West. 

This able man had soon again to measure arms with the 
ambitious Alaric. The Gothic prince, in addition to his 
rank of master of Illyricum, was now, by the unanimous 
suffrages of his countrymen, king of the Visigoths. For 
some years he acted a dubious part between the emperors of 
the East and the West ; but he finally (400) resolved on the 
invasion and plunder of Italy. By arts or by arms he was 
for three years withheld from treading its plains; but at 
length (402) the court of Milan was alarmed by intelligence 
of the approach of the Goths. The council of the young 
emperor proposed an instant flight to Gaul. Stilicho, alone 
undismayed, pledged himself, if the court would only remain 
tranquil during his absence, to return, within a limited time, 
at the head of a powerful army. He accordingly crossed the 
Alps in the depth of winter, collected the troops of Gaul and 
Britain, and took into pay a large body of Alemannic cav- 
alry. But, while he was thus engaged, the Goths had ad- 
vanced to Milan; and Honorius had fled and slmt himself 
up in the town of Asta (Asti) in Liguria, where he was 
clo.sely besieged by the Gothic monarch. Stilicho hastened 
to his relief; by skilful manoeuvres he cut off the supplies of 
the barbarians, and he gradually drew round them a line of 
fortifications. 

During these operations, the festival of Easter arrived, 
(403.) While the Goths were devoutly celebrating it, their 
camp at Polletitia (twenty-five miles south-east of Turin) 
was assailed by the imperial cavalry. Alaric speedily drew 
out and formed bis men ; the battle was maintained through- 
out the day with mutual valor; but in the evening the Goths 
retired. Their camp was forced ; the booty and captives 
were all recovered ; and the wife of Alaric remained a pris- 
oner in the hands of the victors. Alaric was, however, pre- 
paring, at the head of his remaining troops, to cross the 
Apennines and push on for Rome; but his council of war- 
riors forced him to listen to the offers of Stilicho, and con- 
clude a treaty for the evacuation of Italy. He repassed the 
Po, with the secret design of seizing the city of Verona 



A. D. 404-406-] INVASION OF ITALY. 415 

advancing rapidly into Germany, passing the Rhine, and 
invading the defenceless provinces of Gaul. But Stilicho, 
who had a secret intelligence with some of the Gothic 
chiefs, learned his design, and, at a short distance from 
Verona, the Goths werfe assailed on all sides by the imperial 
troops. Their loss was considerable; Alaric himself owed 
his safety to the swiftness of his horse. He then assembled 
his remaining forces amid the adjacent rocks, where he pre- 
pared to stand a siege ; but hunger and desertion soon forced 
him to accept another treaty; and Italy was at length de- 
livered from the Goths, though but for a time. 

In the following year, (404,) Honorius visited the ancient 
capital of the empire. He entered it in triumphal pomp, 
Stilicho seated in his chariot by his side. His abode in 
the capital is distinguished by an edict abolishing the 
combats of gladiators ; for, as these inhuman contests were 
going on one day in the amphitheatre, an Asiatic monk, 
named Telemachus, urged by a generous impulse, sprang 
into the arena to separate the combatants. The enraged 
spectators overwhelmed him with a shower of stones ; and 
he perished a martyr in the sacred cause of humanity. 
When the rage of the people subsided, they were filled with 
penitence; a ready obedience was yielded to the edict is- 
sued on the occasion by the emperor, and the barbarous and 
inhuman gladiatorial combats ceased forever. 

As invasions of the barbarians were now matter of con- 
stant apprehension, and neither Rome nor Milan was con- 
sidered to be sufficiently secure for the imperial residence, 
Honorius fixed his abode at Ravenna. This city, situated 
on the Adriatic, was strongly fortified ; and its only approach 
on the land side was by a causeway leading through a deep 
morass.* Strong thus by nature and art, Ravenna hence- 
forth continued, for more than three centuries, to be the seat 
of government in Italy. 

The apprehensions of the emperor and his court were not 
unfounded ; for, within two years after the departure of Al- 
aric, a numerous host of Germans poured into Italy, (40C.) 
This host, which is stated at 200,000 fighting men, accom- 
panied by their wives, children, and slaves, was composed of 
adventurers from most of the German and Sarmatian tribes 
The leader-in-chief was named Radagaisus. The task of 

* Owing to the recession of the waters of the Mediterranean,, Ra 
venna is now four miles from the sea. 



416 HONORius. [a. d. 407-408. 

defending Italy fell, as before, to Stilicho; he caused the 
feeble emperor to shut himself up in Ravenna; while he 
himself, with an army of between thirty and forty thousand 
men, the utmost force he was able to collect, took his post 
at Pavia, (Ticinum.) The barbarian's advanced unopposed, 
pillaging the towns and cities on their way ; they crossed 
the Po and the Apennines, and laid siege to the city of Flor- 
ence in Tuscany. Stilicho, who had, at length, been joined 
by the troops which he had summoned from the provinces, 
and by barbarian auxiliaries, now advanced to its reliet. 
Adopting his former policy, he avoided a general action, and 
gradually drew a strong line of fortifications around the posi- 
tion occupied by the host of Radagaisus. Famine soon 
spread its ravages among the men and horses ; their furious 
assaults on the lines of circumvallation were repelled; and 
they were at length obliged to surrender at discretion. 
Radagaisus was beheaded by order of Stilicho; the common 
barbarians were sold for slaves. 

The principal nations composing the host of Radagaisus 
were the Suevians, Burgundians, Vandals, and Alans; and 
only a portion of their immense force had entered Italy. In 
the following winter, those who had remained in Germany 
crossed the Rhine never to retreat ; and, in less than two 
years, after devastating the Gallic provinces, they had 
reached the Pyrenees. At this time, the trans-Alpine prov- 
inces had ceased to obey the emperor Ilonorius. The 
army of Britain had invested with the purple a private sol- 
dier of the name of Constantine, (407 ;) and, on his passing 
over to Gaul, all the cities which had escaped the barbarians 
yielded him submission. The troops of Ilonorius besieged 
him in Vieime, but they were forced to make a precipitate 
retreat over the Alps; and, in the following year, (408,) 
Constantine, with little dithculty, made himself master of 
Spain. 

After the retreat of Alaric from Italy, relations of friend- 
ship were formed between that prince and Stilicho; and the 
Goth, quitting the service of the emperor of the East, was 
appointed commander of the Roman forces in all Illyricum ; 
the eastern portion of which region Stilicho reclaimed from 
the court of Byzantium. A semblance of war ensued be- 
tween the two empires ; and Alaric carried on some feeble 
operations in Epirus and Thessaly, for which he furnished a 
long account of expenses to the court of Ravenna, intima- 
ting, though in respectful terras, that a refusal to comply 



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A- D. 408 J MURDER OF STILICHO. 417 

with his demands might prove hazardous Stilicho deem 
ing it the wiser course to yield, his autl.ority silenced all 
opposition ; and the sum of 4000 pounds of gold, under, the 
naiue of a subsidy, was promised to Alaric. 

While the empire was thus distracted and menaced on all 
sides, court intrigue deprived it of the only man capable of 
saving it. Olympius, a man whom the influence of Stilicho 
had advanced to a high office at court, and who concealed 
his vices under the mask of extreme piety, was secretly un- 
dermining his benefactor in the mind of the feeble emperor. 
He made Honorius believe that Stilicho had formed designs 
on his life and throne. As the troops, which, on account of 
the menaces of Alaric, were lying north of the Po, were 
composed of different elements — some devoted, others hos- 
tile to Stilicho — Honorius, at the instigation of Olympius, 
announced his intention of reviewing them in their different 
quarters. He visited Stilicho at Bologna, where the barba- 
rian troops (those most devoted to the general) lay, and 
thence proceeded to Pavia, to the camp of the Roman troops, 
the enemies of Stilicho and the barbarians. By the arts of 
Olympius, these troops had been prepared to enact the part 
required of them, and, after listening to an address from the 
emperor, they rose and massacred all the friends of Stilicho, 
including the highest officers of the empire. Honorius, who 
was ignorant of the projected massacre, was filled with ter- 
ror ; but he was finally persuaded to approve of what had 
been done, and commend the actors. Stilicho, on hearing 
of the massacre at Pavia, held a council of the leaders of the 
auxiliaries ; they were unanimous in urging him to ven- 
geance, but he hesitated to involve the empire in a civil war. 
His confederates retired in disgust at his irresolution, and in 
the night his camp was assailed by the troops of a Gothic 
leader named Sarus, who was one of the band of his enemies 
His faithful Hunnish guards were cut to pieces, and he him- 
self escaped with difficulty. He retired to Ravenna, and took 
sanctuary in a church ; by artifice and perjury the bishop was 
induced to yield him up, and he was beheaded as soon as 
he had passed the sacred threshold, (Aug. 23.) His son 
was shortly after put to death ; his daughter Thermantia, 
who, like her sister, was the emperor's virgin wife, was di- 
vorced ; his memory was defamed ; his friends were tortured 
and murdered. 

Among those involved in the fate of the great Stilicho was 
the poet Claudian, the last ancient poet in whose verses the 

AAA 



418 HONORIUS. [a. d. 40S 

Latin language appears with any lustre. Claudian \v;is born 
at Alexandria ui Egypt. The Latin, therefore, was not his 
mother tongue; yet lie made it the graceful and elegant ve- 
hicle of such poetry as had not been equalled, except by 
Statins, since the Augustan age. Panegyric and satire were 
the principal themes of his muse. He may be culled the 
poet laureate of Stilicho, whose victories he celebrates, and 
whose enemies he overwhelms with invective. His diction 
is haruionious, though not perfectly pure; his descriptions 
are rich and luxuriant; he possessed the rare talent of ele- 
vating the mean and diversifying the similar without offend- 
ing the good sense or taste of the reader. In a word, Clau- 
dian closes with dignity the band of Latin poets.* 

While, by the base arts of courtiers, Italy was thus de- 
prived of her only stay, Alaric lav encamped on her confines. 
As if t(» aid him in his projects, tJie fanatic Olympius caused 
an edict to be issued excludingr all those who did not hold 
the orthodox creed from civil and military employment; and 
on one day the wives and chddreii of the barbarians in the 
Roman service (a body of :iO,0()U men) were massacred in 
the towns of Italy, in which they were dwelling as hostages. 
These troops vowed a heavy revenge; and Alaric, certain of 
their cooperation, hesitated not to enter Italy as the avenger 
of the death of Stilicho, and of his own wrongs. Stilicho 
had ])erished in the month of August, and in the following 
October, Alaric passed the Alps, the Po, the Apennines; and 
Rome, for the first time since the days of Hannibal, saw a 
foreign enemy before her gates. The Gothic forces closely 
blockaded all the approaches, and slopped the navigation of 
the Tiber. Famine and pestilence soon began to spread 
their ravages through the crowded population. At length, 
two senators were sent as envoys to the Gothic camp. When 
led before Alaric, they spoke of the dignity and number of 
the Roman people, and bade him to prepare tor battle if he 
would not grant reasonable terms. " The thicker the hay, 
the easier it is mowed," replied the Goth, with a laugh. He 
then demanded, as a ransom, all the gold, silver, and preckous 
movables in the city, and all the barbarian slaves. He final- 

* Gibbon (chap, x.xx.) draws the character of this poet with tolerable 
accuracy. He evidently admired him. We cannot, however, con- 
cede, tliat in Claudian " it would not be easy to produce a passage that 
deserves the epithet of sublime or pathetic ; to select a verse that melts 
the heart ol enlarges the imagination." Of the last, at least, there are 
many 



\.D 409.] ATTALUS MADE EMPEROR. 419 

ly consented to take 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 of silver, 
3,000 of pepper, 4,000 robes of silk, and 3,000 pieces of 
scarlet cloth ; and, on the delivery of these articles, Alaric led 
his troops into Tuscany for the winter. His army, aug- 
mented by the barbarians who had been in the Roman ser- 
vice, and by 40,000 slaves, counted, at the least, 100,000 
fighting men, (409.) 

The early part of the year was spent in fruitless negotia- 
tions for peace. Olympius was in his turn undermined by 
the intrigues of the palace, and forced to seek his safety in 
flight. A brave barbarian officer, named Gennerid, was 
placed at the head of the army, and 10,000 Huns were taken 
into pay. But the intrigues of the palace still prevailed, and 
an oath was extorted from the principal officers of the state 
and army, never, under any circumstances, to consent to a 
peace with the insolent invader of Italy. All hopes of accom- 
modation being thus cut off, Alaric led his troops once more 
toward Rome. By making himself master of the port of 
Ostia,* where the corn for the supply of the city was ware- 
housed, he speedily put an end to all thoughts of resistance; 
and the senate, at his dictation, invested with the purple At- 
tains, the prefect of the city. The new emperor bestowed 
on his benefactor the rank of commander-in-chief of the 
armies of the West, which he had sought in vain from the 
ministers of Honorius, and made Adolphus, {Athaulf,) the 
Gothic monarch's brother-in-law, count of the domestics, 
\vith the custody of the royal person. Milan cheerfully ac- 
knowledged the new emperor, whom Alaric conducted in 
triumph almost to the gates of Ravenna, where an embassy 
from Honorius, offering to divide the empire with him, en- 
tered the camp. Attalus insisted on his resignation ; and so 
desperate in reality did the affairs of Honorius now seem, 
that Jovius, his principal minister, and Valens, his general, 
two of the envoys, went over to the side of his rival. 

Honorius was in despair, preparing to fly to the Eastern 
court, when a body of four thousand veterans landed in Ra- 
venna, As these sufficed for its defence, he now felt some- 
what reassured, and he was soon further cheered by the 
arrival of a large sum of money, sent by Count Heraclian, 
who had defeated the troops sent to Africa by Attalus, and 
distressed the Romans by preventing the exportation of corn 
and oi . Alaric, wearied with the insolence and imprudence 

* See above, p. 80. 



120 HONORIUS. [a. D. 1»0-412. 

of the emperor of his own creation, and acted on by tlie arts 
of the treacherous Jovius, at length publicly stripped him 
of his diadem and purple, which he sent to Honorius as a 
pledge of amity. He then advanced to within three miles of 
Ravenna, in the full expectation that a peace would now be 
concluded; but Sarus the Goth, at the head of three hun- 
dred men, sallied from one of the gates, and cut to pieces a 
division of his troops ; and a herald soon after appeared to 
declare that the emperor would never enter into friendship 
with the invader of Italy. 

The Gothic monarch, bent on vengeance, led his troops 
once more to Rome. The senate prepared to make a des- 
perate resistance ; but treachery rendered their plans unavail- 
ing. At midnight, (Aug. 24, 410,) the Salarian gate was 
silently opened, and the Goths were admitted ; and Rome, 
for the first time since the days of Camillus, (a spice of cii(ht 
centuries,) became the prey of a foreign enemy. All the 
horrors and atrocities consequent on the capture of a large 
town by storm, were felt by the unhappy city; but the evils 
were mitigated, in many instances, by the Christian feeling 
of the Arian Goths ; and it is acknowledged that Rome 
suffered far less at their hands, than it ditl afterwtirds, in the 
16th century, from the Catholic troops of the orthodox em- 
peror Charles V. Numbers were, of course, reduced from 
affluence or comfort to slavery or poverty, and the provinces 
of Africa and the East were filled with fugitives from the 
ancicmt capital of the empire. . 

Alaric remained oidy six days in Rome ; he then led his 
troops southwards, captured Nola and other towns, and, on 
coming to the Straits of Rhegium, prepared to pass over and 
make the conquest of Sicily prelusive to that of Africa. But 
a storm shattered his transports, and a premature death ter- 
minated his visions of dominion. To form a grave for the 
mighty Alaric, the course of the Busentinus, a small river 
which washes the walls of Consentia, was diverted, and his 
corpse, royally arrayed, was deposited in its bed. The 
stream was then restored to its original channel ; and, that 
the secret of the resting-place of Alaric might never be 
known, a massacre was made of all the prisoners who had 
been engaged in the work. 

The royal dismitv, after the death of Alaric, was conferred 
on Adolphus. This prince, who was of a prudent and mod 
erate temper, effected a treaty with the court of Ravenna, 
and the Visigoths at length (412) evacuated Italy, after a 



A. D. 413.] BARBARIANS IN SPAIN. 421 

possession of four years. But they never again returned to 
theii former seats; Adolphus, in the character of a Roman 
general, led his troops against the invaders and the usurpers 
of southern Gaul ; and his authority was speedily acknowl- 
edged from the Mediterranean to the Ocean. A marriage 
into the royal house of Theodosius also contributed to give 
him consequence. Placidia, the daughter of that monarch 
by Galla, had been detained in the Gothic camp since the 
period of the first siege of Rome by Alaric; and, though the 
court of Honorius rejected with disdain Adolphus's propo- 
sals of marriage, and insisted on her restitution, the princess 
herself was less haughty, and she readily gave her hand to 
the brave and handsome monarch of the Goths. 

Count Heraclian, who liad been loyal to Honorius wlien 
his cause seemed nearly hopeless, became a rebel when Italy 
was delivered of the Goths. He assumed the purple, (41:3,) 
and, embarking a numerous army in a large fleet, sailed from 
Africa, and entered the Tiber. But, as he was on the road to 
Rome, he was met and defeated by one of the imperial gen- 
erals, and he fled back to Africa in a single ship. He sought 
refuge in the temple of Memory, at Carthage, whence he was 
taken and beheaded. 

It would be tedious were we to relate the actions and 
deaths of Constantine, of Maximus, Jovinus, Sebastian, and 
others, who at this period aimed at empire in Gaul and Spain, 
and perished in the attempt. We therefore pass them over 
in silence, and proceed to relate the conquest of Spain by 
the Goths. 

The fruitful and wealthy provinces of Spain had, in conse- 
quence of its position, been strangers to war for the last four 
centuries, with the exception of the irruption of the Germans 
in the time of Gallienus; it was now to sufler in common 
with the rest of the empire. The barbarians who had passed 
the Rhine in 406, had reached the foot of the Pyrenees, and 
the barbarian mercenaries, called Honorians, to whom the 
usurper Constantine had committed the passes of those 
mountains, turning traitors to their trust, admitted the con- 
federate Germans and Alans into the heart of Spain, (409.) 
Rapine and devastation traversed the land from the Pyrenees 
to the Straits of Gades ; and when Spain had thus been ex- 
hausted of its strength and wealth, the conquerors set down, 
resolved to occupy it permanently. The Suevians and Van- 
dals settled in the north; the Alans spread over the central 
region from sea to sea ; a branch of the Vandals took posse* 

CONTIN. 36 



4*22 VALENTINIAN III. [a. d. 414-423. 

sion of B?etica. They were not, however, suffered to remain 
long undisturbed. Adolphus, covetous of military fame, 
readily accepted the task of recovering Spain for the empire. 
He led his Goths througli tlie Pyrenees, (414,) and surprised 
tiie city of Barcelona. His career of victory, however, was 
cut short ere long (Aug. 415) by the dagger of an assassin ; 
and Singaric, a brother of Sarus, was placed on the vacant 
throne. The six children of Adolphus by a former marriage 
were put to death, and Placidia was treated as a slave by 
this tyrant. But ha also perished by assassination on the 
seventh day of his reign, and the choice of the nation gave 
the throne to a chief named Wallia. Within the space of 
four years, this valiant warrior restored Spain to the empire ; 
and he then (419) repassed the Pyrenees, and fi.xed his royal 
residence at Toulouse, ruling the country from the Loire to 
the confines of Spain. 

When the Goths were thus established in the south and 
west of France, the Burgundiaus ol)tained permanent posses- 
sion of the Upper Germ;uiy, and their name remains in its 
modern ap])ellation. The Lower Germany was at the same 
time occupied by the Franks. Armorica, or the north-west 
portion of Gaul, and the island of Britain, being left to their 
o\vn resources, assumed an attitude (jf independeuce. 

In this condition of his empire, that most feeble and con- 
temptible of princes, Honorius, emperor of the West, died 
(42^3) of dropsy, after an inglorious reign of twenty-eight 
years. 



Valcntinian III. 

A. u. 117— 6120S. A. I). 423--455. 

Honorius died childless ; but the western branch of the line 
of Tbcodosius did not expire with him. Placidia, whom we 
have seen treated with such indignity after the death of her 
husband, had been redeemed for ()(H),0()() measures of wheat; 
and her brother had obliged her to give lier baud to a brave 
and riithful general, named Consfantius, by whom she had 
two children, a flaufrhtcr named Honoria, and a son Valeu- 
tinian. At her iinpulsion, Constantius claimed and obtained 
the title of Augustus, and a share in the empire; but he died 
shortly after, and, by the intrigues of a steward and a nurse, 
enmity was excited between the emperor and his sister, to 
whom he had been hitherto most foudlv attached. As the 



A. D. 425-428.] COUNT boniface. 423 

Gothic soldiers took tlie part of their queen, and the city of 
Ravenna was filled with tumult, Placidia was induced to re- 
tire from the scene. She went to the court of Byzantium, 
where she was most kindly received by the reigning empe- 
ror, Theodosius II. ; and when, a few mouths after, intelli- 
gence arrived of the death of Honorius, the Eastern monarch 
prepared to assert by arms the claim of her son to the vacant 
throne, which had been occupied by John, the Primicerius, 
or principal secretary of the late emperor. 

It was some time before the troops of the East were in 
readiness to attempt the conquest of Italy. At length (42)) 
they set forth ; Acjuileia was surprised, and one of the Eastern 
commanders, who had been made a prisoner and carried into 
Ravenna, having contrived to gain over the garrison, the 
usurper was seized and beheaded. Though Theodosius 
might have asserted his claim to the whole empire, he con- 
tented himself with the addition of western Illyricum to his 
dominions, and he caused his young cousin, Valenlinian, to 
be invested with the monarchy of the West. A marriage, 
which afterwards took place, was agreed on, Valentinian be- 
ing to espouse, when of suitable age, Eudoxia, the daughter 
of Theodosius. As the young monarch was now only six 
years old, the government of himself and his empire naturally 
fell into the hands of his mother, and she retained her power 
for a space of five-and-twenty years. 

The armies of the West were commanded by two able men, 
Boniface and Jiltius. The former, who held the government 
of Africa, had been at all times attached to the cause of Pla- 
cidia; the latter, who was of barbaric origin, had joined the 
late usurper, and had even brought a force of 60,000 Huns as 
far as the confines of Italy, to his aid, when he heard of his 
fate. Having negotiated a treaty for the retreat of the bar- 
barians, he entered the service of Valentinian ; and he soon 
gained great influence over the mind of Placidia. This in- 
fluence he employed for the destruction of his rival. He se- 
cretly persuaded Placidia to recall Boniface from his govern- 
ment, and he at the saine time advised Boniface to refuse obe- 
dience, assuring him that his death was intended. Boniface 
fell into the trap laid for him. He armed in his defence, and 
repelled the first attacks made on him ; but feeling that he 
could not long resist single-handed, he sent to propose an al- 
liance to the king of the Vandals, (428.) 

When the Goths recovered Spain for Honorius, the Sue- 
viais and Vandals still remained unsubdued in Gallicia. 



424 VALENTINIAN III. A. D. 429-439 

Dissension soon broke out between them; .he Vandals pre- 
vailed ; but, on the approach of an imperial army, they broke 
up, and marched for Ba&tica, and, having there defeated a 
superior force of Romans and Goths, they became masters 
of the entire province, which has derived from them its 
name of Andalusia. 

The king of the Vandals at this time was named Gen- 
seric. He is described as of middle stature, slow of speech, 
a contemner of luxury, prone to anger, covetous of gain, 
skilled in gaining nations and in sowing dissensions among 
his enemies. In the May of 4'29, he embarked his troops 
in vessels furnished by Boniface and the Spaniards, and 
crossed the Straits of Gades. His whole force, composed 
of Vandals, Alans, Goths, and others, did not exceed 50,000 
men; but he ensily induced the Moors to unite with him, 
and the persecuted Donatists regarded as a deliverer the 
Christian, though not orthodo.v, Geuseric. Boniface, when 
too late, saw the error he had committed ; the letters of 
.(Etius being shown and compared, in an interview between 

[ him and an envoy sent from court, he discovered the fraud 

of which he had been the victim, and he resolved to re- 
turn to his allegiance ; and when Geuseric refused to evac- 
uate the country, he led out his troops and <rave him battle. 
But he met with a totnl defeat, (4:30;) the whole country, 
fnr and wide, was now exposed to the ravages of the Van- 
dals, and the cities of Carthage, Cirta, and Hippo Regius, 
alone remained to the empire. In this last, the modern 
Bona, Count Boniface shut himself up, and held it for four- 

1 : teen months against the Vandals. At length, (4:H,) being 

reenforced by troops from the East, he marched out and 
gave them battle, but again met with a total defeat. Giving 
now all up for lost, he got on shipboard, and sailed for Italy. 

I [ Placidia received him with favor, and raised him to high rank ; 

but .(Etius, who was in Gaul, soon appeared with a body of 
barbarians. The quarrel between the rivals was decided by 
arms, (4;J2;) victory declared for Boniface, but he received 
a mortal wound in the conflict, .^iitius was proclaiuied a 
rebel ; he sought refuge vvitli the Huns, and the empire thus 
remained without a general. Nevertheless, the progress of 
Geuseric, retarded by other means, was slow. Cirta and 
Carthage still held out ; and it was not till the tenth year at 
ter his landing in Africa, (439,) that the latter was taken, 
and that by surprise, not force. 

iEtius did not long remain in exile. Supported by the 



A. D. 439.] ATTILA. 425 

arms of 60,000 Huns, he was soon able to dictate his own 

terms to the empress Placidia, and, with the title of Patrician 

and the command of the entire army, he in effect governed 

the empire, which he alone was able to preserve from ruin. 

He still kept up an intercourse with the Huns ; he was on j 

terms of friendship with their king, in whose camp his son | 

was educated ; he employed Huns in the defence of Gaul, 

and he placed colonies of Alans in the territories of Valens ! 

and Orleans. \ 

The monarch of the Huns at this time was the mighiy | 

Attila. His power was obeyed from the banks of the Rhine | 

to fiir beyond the Volga ; the Scandinavian peninsula is said •; 

to have yielded him tribute ; his possessions extended south- \ 

wards fifteen days' journey below the Danube ; the empire of { 
the East, which he had ravaged to the very gates of Constan- 

tinople, paid him an annual subsidy ; and all the influence ' 

of .-Etius had been unable to preserve that of the West from \ 

a similar degradation. I 

Genseric, menaced by both empires, had sought the alliance ' ^ 

of the potent monarch of the Huns ; and it was at his insti- \ | 
gation that Attila had invaded the Eastern empire, and thus 
obliged an expedition destined for Africa to be recalled. 

The same artful prince was the cause of the Hunnish hordes | I 

being poured into the Western empire. The occasion was | 

as follows : \ 

The successor of Wallia on the throne of the Visigoths | 
was Theodoric, the son of the great Alaric, a prince of con- | 
siderable ability and vigor. Ambitious to extend his domin- | 
ions, he laid siege to the city of Aries ; but ^tius hastened j 
to its defence, and the Goths were forced to retire with loss. I 
Shortly after, Count Litorius, a Roman general, advanced at | 
the head of an army of Huns to the very gates of Toulouse ; \ 
but his rashness brought on him a total defeat and personal f 
captivity. iEtius soon appeared with a powerful force ; an in- 
stant engagement was expected, but the generals on both sides | 
were prudent, and a treaty of amity was concluded, (439.) | 
Theodoric thenceforth devoted himself to the promotion of 1 
the welfare of his subjects, and he became universally loved \ 
and respected. He had six sons and two daughters ; the \ 
two latter were married, the one to the son of the king of | 
ihe Suevians in Spain, the other to Hunneric, the eldest son 
of Genseric. But, high as she stood in birth and alliance, 
the Goth c princess was doomed to be the victim of tyranny. 
36 * B B B 



426 VALENTINIAN III. [a. D. 451. 

Genseric, suspectinjr that she had conspired to poison him, 
cut off her nose and ears, and sent her back thus mutilated 
to her fattier. Theodoric resolved to avenge her injuries ; 
the Romans agreed to supply him with ships, arms, and 
money, and he was preparing for the invasion of Africa, 
wlien Genseric once more called on Attila for aid, and the 
Btorm was again diverted. 

It is also said that Attila was incited to arms by a Roman 
!ady of royal descent. Ilonoria, the sister of Valentinian, 
had had an intrigue with her chamberlain Eugenius. When 
the consequences of her frailty became apparent, her mother 
sent her away to Constantinople, and caused her to be im- 
mured in a nunnery. Hating a life of celibacy and restraint, 
Honoria despatched a trusty eunuch to Attila, with a ring as 
the pledge of her affection. Attila accepted the gift, and he' 
sent to demand the princess and a share of the empire. His 
demand was of course refused ; and Honoria w^as sent back 
to Italy, where the ceremony of her marriage with some ob- 
scure person having been performed, she was shut up in 
prison for the rest of her days. 

Urged by the various claimants for his aid, Attila moved 
from his royal village in the plains of Hungary, (451.) Di- 
visions of all his subject nations marched beneath his banneV. 
He cro.ssed the Rhine at its confluence with the Neckar, and 
poured his hordes over the plains of Belgium and France. 
The celestial aid of saints or the strength of fortifications 
))reserved Troves and Paris, but other towns and cities were 
taken and plundered without mercy, and the Hunnish mon- 
arch at length pitched his tents l>eneath tlio walls of Orleans, 
which Sangiban, king of the Alans, had engaged to betray. 
But the plot was discovered, the attacks of flic Ilims were 
repelled, and at the sight of the banners of ^tius and The- 
odoric, who were marching to its relief, the prudent Hun 
drew off his troops, and retired to the plains of Champagne, 
which were better adapted for the operations of cavalry. 

-Etius, aided by the eloquence of the senator Avitus, had 
succeeded in inducing Theodoric, whoso first plan had been 
to await the inv'aders within his own territories, to share in 
the common defence of Gaul. The Burgundians, the Salian 
Franks, the Saxons, Alans, Armoricans, and others, had also 
been prevailed on to aid the common cause ; and at the head 
of a host composed of such various materials, y^^tius and 
Theodoric prepared to engage the host of Attila. 



A. D. 451-452.] ATTILA IN ITALT. 427 

The armies encountered on the plains of Clialons. Attila, 
with his Huns, occupied the centre of his line; the Rugians, 
Herulans, Franks, Burgundians, and others, were ranged on 
each side of them ; the right wing was formed by the G^pi- 
daus, the left by the Ostrogoths. On the side of the allies, 
Sangiban and his Alans were placed in the centre, where 
they might be watched. ^Etius commanded on the left, 
Theodoric on the right. The battle was long, obstinate, and 
bloody. The Huns easily pierced through the yielding 
centre, and then directed their whole force against the Visi- 
goths ; and Theodoric, as he was cheering his men, fell by 
the javelin of an Ostrogothic chief But his son Torris-» 
niond, who was stationed on an adjacent eminence, when he 
saw the Visigoths yielding, hastened to restore the battle, 
and Attila was forced to retreat. The approach of night 
saved 4iis troops from a total defeat ; they secured themselves 
within their wagon-fence, and Attila caused a pile to be 
made of saddles and horse-furniture, determined to fire it, 
and rus'h into the flames if his camp should be forced. But 
the dread of the valor inspired by despair withheld the allies 
from the attack ; and ^tius also feared the power of the 
Goths, if the Huns should be destroyed. He therefore pre- 
vailed on Torrismond to be content with the vengeance al- 
ready exacted for the fate of his father, and return to Tou- 
louse to secure his throne. The allies broke up and retired, 
and Attila was allowed to repass the Rhine unmolested. 

The policy of ^Etius, in thus dismissing the Huns, was 
fatal to the empire. In the following spring, (452,) Attila 
again claime.d the princess Honoria and her treasures, aud^ 
meeting again with a refusal, he advanced and laid siege to 
Aqnileia. After a siege of three months, this important 
city was carried by assault. All the cities north of the Po 
surrendered or were taken, ^tius in vain sought to retard 
the myriads of the barbarians; the timid Valentinian fled to 
Rome, and an embassy composed of Leo, the bishop of that 
city, and two eminent senators, was sent to deprecate the 
wrath of Attila, who now lay encamped on the shores of the 
Lake Benacus. Attila was superstitious; when he was re- 
minded that Alaric had not long survived the taking of 
Rome, he secretly shuddered at the omen ; and he consent- 
ed, on receiving an immense sum under the name of the 
Jower of the princess Honoria, to evacuate Italy. He re- 
tired threatening dreadful vengeance if the princess were not 



428 VALENTINIAN III. [a. d. 453-455. 

delivered to his ambassador ; but in the following year, (453,) 
having drunk too freely on the night of his adding another 
maiden to his harem, he burst a vessel in his lungs, and was 
suffocated in his own blood. His funeral was celebrated 
with magnificence, after the usage of his nation. His 
mighty empire fell to pieces, and the Huns ceased to be 
formidable. 

Valentinian, worthless and dissolute, instead of viewing in 
JEtius the saviour of his empire, feared and hated him with 
aJJ the rancor of a petty mind. The son of ^tius was be- 
trothed to the emperor's daughter ; and when, one day, (45 1,) 
in the palace his father was urging the immediate marriage, 
Valentinian drew his sword for the first time in his life, and 
pluriged it into the general's bosom ; the eunuchs and others 
hastened to follow his example, and /Etius expired pierced 
by a hundred wounds. His principal friends were* sum- 
moned separately to the palace before the event could be 
known, and all were murdered. The loss of .^tius was 
universally deplored, and the contempt in which the em- 
peror had been held was converted into abhorrence. " I 
know not your motives and provocations," said a Roman 
<\hom he asked to approve the deed; "I only know that 
you have acted like a man who cuts off his right hand with 
his left." 

The feeble emperor did not long survive his able general. 
Among his other vices, Valentinian was addicted to gaming. 
He won, one day, a large sum of money from a wealthy sen- 
ator named Petronius Maxinuis, on whose chaste and beau- 
tiful wife he had long cast an eye of lust. As Maximus had 
not the money about him, the emperor exacted his ring from 
him by way of security ; and he forthwith sent it to his wife, 
with an order, in her husband's name, to wait on the etnpress 
Eudoxia. The lady, on arriving at the palace, was led into 
a private apartment ; Valentinian soon entered, and extorted 
by force the favors which she would not yield to solicitation. 
Her tears and her reproaches when she reached home ex- 
cited Maximus to vengeance. Two of the guards who had 
been attached to ^Etius readily consented to be his instru- 
ments, and, as Valentinian was viewing some military sports in 
the Field of Mars, they rushed on him, and stabbed him, none 
of th:)se present offering to resist them, (March 16, 455.) 



k. D. 455.] MAXiMUS, 429 



Maximus, Avitus, Majorian, Severus, Anthemius, Olyhrius^ 
Glycerins, Nepos, Augustulus. 

A. u. 1208—1229. A. D. 455—47(5. 

The revenge of Maximus may have been stimulated by 
ambition, for he became the successor of the destroyer of his 
honor ; but the happiness, of which he had enjoyed a large 
portion when in a private station, departed the moment he 
mounted a throne, and he was heard to exclaim, in reference 
to a well-known story, " O fortunate Damocles ! thy reign 
began and ended with the same dinner." * 

Maximus married his son to the daughter of the late em- 
peror, and, as his wife died opportunely, he forced the re- 
luctant empress Eudoxia to give her hand to himself. In an 
unguarded hour he revealed to her the secret of his share in 
the death of her former husband ; and Eudoxia, who had 
loved Valentinian, worthless and faithless as he was, resolved 
to avenge him. She sent a secret invitation to Genseric, and 
ere long a fleet bearing a numerous army of V«ndals and 
Moors entered the Tiber. Maximus hastened to fly from 
the city ; but the moment he appeared in the streets, he was 
assailed by a shower of stones; a soldier gave him his first 
wound, and his mangled body was flung into the Tiber, (June 
12.) His reign had not lasted quite two months. 

As Genseric was approaching the city, he was met by a 
procession of the clergy headed by ti»v» bishop Leo. The 
bold and eloquent prelate, who had turned away the wrath 
of Attila, was able also to mitigate the ferocity of Genseric, 
who promised to spare the people and the buildings of Rome. 
But this promise was little more than illusory. Rome was 
delivered to pillage for a space of fourteen days: churches, 
temples, and private houses, were plundered alike, and thou- 
sands of captives, among whom were the empress Eudoxia 
and her two daughters, were embarked for Africa. This 
calamity gave occasion to a noble display of genuine Chris- 
tian feeling in Deogratias, bishop of Carthage. He con- 

* [Damocles, having declared Dionysius of Sicily the happiest man 
on earth, was, by him, induced to try the happiness of royalty. No 
sooner had he mounted the throne, than he saw a sword hanging- by a 
single ha.r just over his head: he was glad to yield his place imme- 
diately. — J. T. S.] 



430 AVITUS, MAJORIAN. [a. I 456—457 

verted two large churches into hoi^pitals, and hiiraelf attend- 
ed most assiduously to the sick among the unhappy captives. 

Maxinms had committed tlie conjmand of the troops in 
Gaul to the senator Avitus, a native of Auvergne, who, after 
passing tiiirty years of his life in the public service, had re- 
tired to the enjoyment of private life. Avitus was at Tou- 
louse negotiating a treaty with Theodoric, who by the murder 
of his brother Torrismond had occupied the Gothic throne, 
when lie received intelligence of tlie death of Maximus. 
The prospect of empire attracted him ; the Goths gave him 
their suffrage ; an assemblage of the provinces of Gaul at 
Aries elected him, (Aug. 15 ;) the people of Italy submitted 
to him, and the emperor of the East acknowledged him. 

While the new emperor proceeded to Rome, Theodoric, 
as his general, crossed the Pyrenees to recover Spain, which 
had nearly all fallen under the power of the Suevians. His 
success was complete; he elfectually broke the Suevian 
might, and he captured and put to death his brother-in-law, 
their king. But meantime Avitus had ceased to reign. The 
Romans disliked him as a foreigner, and Count Ricimer, a 
Goth, one of the commanders of the barbarian troops, having 
acquired fame by a victory over a Vandal fleet off Corsica, 
took advantage of it, and ordered Avitus to resign his dig- 
nity. He obeyed, (Oct. IG, 4.5G,) and was made t)isliop of 
Placentia. But the senate voted his death ; and he died or 
was murdered as he was on his way to secure hitn^;elf in his 
native province. 

Ricimer, who, as being a barbarian by I. h, could not 
himself mount the throne, governed Italy for some months 
under the title of Patrician. He then (457) bestowed the 
purple on his intimate friend Majorian, a man of primitive 
Roman virtue, who, in the words of the historian Procopius,* 
" excelled in every virtue all who had ever reigned over the 
Romans." To restore the state to its former strength by the 
abolition of abuses, was the great object of this excellent 
man, and he made, with this view, many wise and salutary 
regulations. But the course of decline is not to be stopped ; 
and the reformer Majorian became an object of aversion to 
the degenerate Romans. 

Majorian, who was a warrior as well as a statesman, re- 
solved to achieve the conquest of Africa, and destroy the do- 

• De Bell. Vandal, i. 7. 



a. D. 451.] EMPEROnS OF THE EAST. 431 

minion of the VanJals. As it was only among the barbarians 
thai soldiers were now to be found, he enlisted troops from 
among the nations north of the Alps. He defeated Theodo- 
ric in battle, and, having reunited the greater part of Gaul 
and Spain to the empire, he assembled, in the port of Car- 
thagena, a lieet of three hundred ships, with a l&rge number 
of transports, for the invasion of Africa. It is said that he 
even ventured to appear as his own ambassador at Carthage, 
having changed the color of his hair.* But treachery ren- 
dered all his preparations unavailing. Guided by secret in- 
telligence, Genseric succeeded in destroying the imperial 
fleet in the harbor, and Majorian was forced to consent to a 
treaty. He returned to Italy to carry on his plans of refor- 
mation, and to prepare for future war ; but a sedition, fo- 
mented by Ricimer, broke out in the camp near Tortona, at 
the foot of the Alps, and Majorian was forced to abdicate. 
Five days after, (Aug. 7, 461,) he died, as was said, of a dys- 
entery. 

Ricimer, whose object was to reign under the name of an- 
other, resolved not to commit again the error of selecting a 
man of virtue and energy : his choice therefore fell on Se- 
verus, a man so obscure, that even his origin is hardly known ; 
and for a space of niore than five years he governed Italy 
(almost all that remained of the empire) -under the name of 
his puppet. But Marcellinus, who commanded in Dalmatia, 
disdaining to submit to him, held that province in independ- 
ence; and /Egidius, a general of much ability, maintaii^ed 
his dominion over nearly the whole of Gaul. Meantime the 
piratic squadrons of Genseric ravaged the coasts of Italy, 
and Ricimer was forced to seek, as a suppliant, aid from the 
court of Byzantium. 

Arcadius, who died in the year 408, had been succeeded 
by his son Theodosius II., a child of seven years of age ; but 
fluring the reign of this prince, who was more conspicuous 
for piety than for the regal virtues, the empire was in reality 
governed by his sister Pulcheria, the only one of the descend- 
ants of the great Theodosius who inherited any portion of his 
talents. On his death, (450,) Pulcheria was proclaimed em- 
press. She had, after the fashionable superstition of that age, 
made a vow of perpetual virginity ; but, aware of the pre- 
judices to which her sex was expo.sed, she selected as her 

* Procopius, ut supra. 



132 ANTHEMius. [a. D. 457-412 

nominal husband a respectable senator named Marcian, a 
man now sixty years old, and made him her colleague in the 
empire. Marcian survived his wife; and on his death, (457,) 
tlie patrician Asper, who was in the East what Ricimer was 
in the West, conferred the vacant dignity on Leo, the steward 
of his household, who proved himself to be a monarch of 
ability and energy, and scorned to be the mere puppet of the 
patrician. 

It was to this emperor that Ricimer made application for 
aid against the Vandals. Assistance was promised on condi- 
tion of the West receiving an emperor chosen by the court 
of Byzantium. Ricimer accepted the terms, and the person 
selected (4G7) was Anthemius, the son-in-law of the late em- 
peror Marcian. On his arrival at Rome, (Apr. 12,) Anthe- 
mius gave his daughter in marriage to Ricimer. Marcellinus 
readily acknowledged the new emperor, and accepted a com- 
mand in the expedition prepared against the Vandals. Vigor- 
ous exertions were made by both euipires; and in the follow- 
ing year, (46S,) while the troops of tlie West under Marcelli- 
nus were recovering the isles of the Mediterranean, an army 
from Egypt moved westwards, and a fleet of 1100 shi[)s, carry- 
ing upwards of 100,000 men, sailed from the Hellespont, and 
entered the Bay of Carthage. Its commander, Basiliscus, the 
brother of Leo's empress, was, however, utterly devoid of tal- 
etit or experience. Instead of marching at once against the 
capital, he listened to the insidious proposals of Genseric, till 
the crafty Vandal, taking advantage of a change in the wind, 
sent, in the night, fire-ships among the imperial vessels. Bas- 
iliscus flrd to Constantinople, after the loss of one half of his 
fleet and troops. Marcellinus was a.ssassmated in Sicily; and 
that island fell into the hands of Genseric, whose fleets now 
met nowhere with resistance. 

Unity did not long continue between Anthemius and his 
haughty son-in-law. Ricimer quitted Rome, (471,) and fixed 
his abode at Milan. Italy was on the point of being the scene 
of a civil war, when the mediation of the bishop of Pavia 
succeeded in averting it. But the delay was brief, for the 
next year (472) Ricimer encamped with his army on the 
banks of the Anio, where he was joined by the man whom he 
had selected for the purple, Olybrius, a noble Roman, the 
husband of Placidia, the daughter of Valentinian III. Rome, 
after standing a siege of three months, was taken by storm 
and pillaged. Anthemius was put to death by order of hia 



A. D. 475-476.] FALL OF THE EMPIRE. 433 

ruthless son-in-law, who followed him to the tomb within forty 

days, (Aug. '-iO,) being cut off in the midst of his triumph by 
a painful disorder. Oiybrius himself was carried off by death 
only two months later, (Oct. 23.) 

The court of Byzantium, after some delay, bestowed the 
sceptre of the West on Julius Nepos, the nephew of Marcel- 
linus. But meantime, Gundobald, a Burgundian, who had 
succeeded his uncle Ricimer in the command of his army, 
had invested a soldier named Glycerius with the imperial 
purple. Gundobald, however, having departed to assert his 
claim to the kingdom of Burgundy, Glycerius did not feel 
himself strong enough to maintain a contest for the empire, 
and he retired and became bishop of Salona. Nepos, after a 
brief reign of less tlian three years, (475,) on the occasion of 
d revolt of the barbarian troops, abandoned the empire, and 
fled to his principality in Dalmatia. 

These barbarians in the Roman pay were termed Confed- 
erates; they were drawn from various nations, of which the 
principal were the Herulans, Alans, Turcilingans, and Rugi- 
ans. Their commander was Orestes, a Pannonian by birth, 
who had been secretary to Attila. On the death of that mon- 
arch, he had entered the Roman service ; and Nepos had raised 
him to the dignity of Patrician, and given him the command 
of the army. By his artful conduct, Orestes gained the troops 
over to his interest, and at his impulsion they rose against 
Nepos. From some unknown motive, Orestes, though not a 
barbarian, did not himself assume the purple. He conferred 
it (476) on his son, named Romulus Augustus, or, as he is 
usually called, Augustulus, under whose name he preferred to 
reign. But his power was of brief duration ; his barbarian 
soldiers, excited by the example of their brethren in Gaul, 
Spain, and Africa, where they had acquired permanent landed 
possessions, insisted on a third part of the lands of Italy being 
divided among them. Orestes gave a prompt refusal. One 
of the commanders, named Odoacer, then proposed to his 
comrades to unite under him, and they would soon, he assured 
them, make the patrician yield to their demands. Forthwith 
they flocked from all parts to the standard of Odoacer. Ores- 
tes shut himself up in Pavia ; but the town was taken by 
storm, and he was put to death by the victors. His son, on 
laying down his purple, was allowed to retire to the villa of 
Luculhis in Campania, with an annual pension of 6,000 
pieces of gold. Odoacer took the title of king of Italy, under 
CONTIN. 37 c c c 



'*34 FALL OF THE EMPIRE 

"vhich he reigned for a space of eighteen years, when his do- 
minion was overthrown by the Ostrogoths. 

The empire of the West was now at an end.. The parts of 
which it had Ijeeii composed were never again united; thev e;»c!i 
formed a separate and independent state. In all, the govcri;- 
nient and the lands were held by the Germnti conquerors. 
We will brielly notice these new states. 

After the defeat and death of Odoacer, the Ostrogoths re- 
tained possession of Italy for a term of seventy-five years, 
when (aGS) their power was overthrown by the Laiigobards. 
or Lombards, whose dominion lasted for two centuries. 

The Vandids retained possession of Africa till about the 
middle of the sixth century, when they were conquered by 
the great Beiisarins, the general of Justinian, enperor of the 
East. Africa remained part of the Eastern em])ire till it was 
con(juered l)y the Arabs in the following century. 

The Visigoths obtained possession of the entire S|)ailisl) 
peninsula, which they retained till the period of the invasion 
of the Arabs. Their dominions in the south of France were 
all, excepting a small portion, reduced by Clovis, the first king 
of the Franks. 

'I'he Burgundians and Alemans had founded states in Swit- 
zerland, the east of France, and along the Rhine; but, like 
the Goths, they wore successively reduced, and obliged to ac 
knowledge the dominion of Clovis the Frank. Nearly the 
whole of France obeyed this able prince; but at bis death 
(oil) his dominions were divided among his tour sons. 

In the reign of Valentinian 111. the Roman troops had 
been witlidrawii from Britain. The unwarlikc inhabitants, 
unable to defend themselves against the savage Caledonian.':, 
called to their aid (449) the Sa.xon chiefs Ilengist and Ijorsa. 
Their allies became their enemies, and in a short time tl>e 
greater part of the island was conquered by the Sa.\ons and 
their kindred tribes. 



We thus have witnessed the rise and progress, the decline 
and fall, of that mighty empire, which, conunencing in a vil- 
lage on thj banks of the Tiber, finally made the Ocean and 
the Euplratcs its boundaries. Its fdl was in the order of 
Nature, vvnich has set limits to all things human ; but it is not 
unworthy of remark that, at the time when the Roman repub- 



FALL OF THE EMPIRE. 



435 



lie was at the very height of its power, the Tuscan augurs 
ventured to foretell the period of Roman dominion. Accord- 
ing to the rules of their art, they inferred that the twelve vul- 
tures seen by Romulus^ denoted the twelve centuries of rule 
assigned to his city by the decrees of Heaven. The accom- 
plishment of that prophecy is a curious fact ; but history con- 
tains many such coincidences. Th6 rise of Rome is one of 
the most extraordinary phenomena in the annals of the world; 
its fall was an ordinary event, and contains nothing, to excite 
surprise. The Roman empire, as left by Augustus, embraced 
the whole civilization of the West, while on all its confines 
dwelt poor but brave and energetic nations, eager, when an 
occasion should offer, to rush in and seize its wealth, it was 
only therefore by the conservation of the military spirit, by 
which it had been acquired, that it could be retained ; but we 
have seen how early and how totally this spirit became ex- 
tinct. When the nobles and men of property were immersed 
in luxury and sensual indulgence; when the country was de- 
populated or filled only with slaves, the cities thronged with 
an idle, beggarly, turbulent population, vigorous only for evil; 
when the provincials were so beaten to the earth by excessive 
taxation, that the rule of barbarian conquerors was looked to 
as an alleviation; when the noble, elevating, soul-expanding 
religion of the gospel had been degraded by Oriental ascet 
icism into a slavish, enervating superstition ; when, finally, the 
defence of the empire against the barbarians was intrusted 
to the barbarians themselves, — its fall was assured. A new 
order of things was to arise out of the union of German energy 
with Roman civilization, from which, after a series of many 
centuries, were to result the social institutions of modern Eu- 
rope, the colonization of the most distant regions of the earth, 
and the mighty political events which yet lie hidden in tie 
womb of Time. 



APPENDIX. 



A. Page 1. — Authorities. 

Dion Cassias wrote the history of Rome, from tiie foundation jf the 
rity to his own consulate, in the reign of Alexander Severus. Of thij 
v/ork the first books exist only in fraijinents, and the portion fr(jrn the 
reign of Claudius to the end only in the Hpitome of the modern Greek 
Xiphiliiius. For the period from the death of M. Aurelius to the end, 
Dion is a contemporary authority. 

Velleius Paterculus was the contemporary of Augustus and Tiberius, 
(see above, p. 11;");) the second book of his history extends from the 
Viriathian war, B. C. 148, to the death of Livia Augusta, A. D. 2'J. 

Tacitus lived in the period from Nero to Trajan, both inclusive. His 
Annals, in sixteen books, extended from the death of Augustus to that 
of Nero. Of these, the part of the fifth book containing the fall of 
Sejanus, the seventh to the tenth, and part of the eleventh, to A. D. 47, 
and the end of the sixteenth, are lost. The greater portion of his His- 
tories, which extended from the death of Nero to that of Domitian, has 
also perished. They end with the conference between Cerialis and 
Civilis, (above, p. 150.) 

Suetonius Tranquillus, the contemporary of Tacitus, (above, p. !(>",) 
has left minute biographies of the Caesars from C. Julius Caesar to 
Domitian, inclusive. 

Herodian was the contemporary of Dion Cassius, to whom, as an his- 
torian, he is much inferior. His work extends from the death of M. 
Aurelius to the reign of Gordian. Gibbon calls him "an elegant" 
historian, and, to a certain extent, he is such; but he is feeble, negli 

fent, devoid of political wisdom, and utterly careh'ss of chronology 
le reminds us more of Dionysius Halicarnassensis than of Thucyc 
ides. 

The Augustan History consists of a series of lives of all the emperora 
and tyrants or aspirants to empire, from Hadrian to Carus and his sons. 
The authors are iJMius Sparlianus, Julius Capitolinus, iElius Lamprid- 
ius, Trebellius Pollio, and Flavins Vopiscus. As writers, none of them 
possess any merit; but they may claim some praise on account of the 
letters and other orisjinal documents which they have preserved. 

Ammianus Marcellinus, a Greek by birth, wrote in Latin. His 
object seems to have been to be the conlinuator of Tacitus; for his 
work, which extended from the accession of Nerva to the death ol Va- 
lens, commenced where Tacitus had ended. Of the thirty-one books 
of which his work originally consisted, the first thirte'^n are lost ; the 
fourteenth commences with the account of the conduct of the Cajsar 



APPENDIX.. ^37 

Gallus, in the reign jf Constantius. Ammianu/s is a judicious aonest 
and impartial historian, but his style is inflated and disagreeanle. 

Zosimus wrote in Greek about the time of the fall of the Western 
empire. His work, of which only six books remain, after a sketch ot 
the history of the emperors from Augustus to Diocletian, relates public 
events in detail thence to the attack on the Goths by Sarus, (above, 
p. 420.) The remainder of the work is lost, as also are the end ot the 
first and commencement of the second books, whicli contained the 
reign of Diocletian. Zosimus was a pagan, and he is mveterately hos- 
tile to Constantine and the Cliristian emperors. 

The Epitomators are, in Greek, Zonaras ; in Latin, Eutropius, Festus 
Rufus, Aurelius Victor, and Orosius. The first of these was a modern 
Greek monk, who wrote a Chronicle in IS books, which e.xtends from 
the Creation to tlie death of the Byzantine emperor Joim Alexius. 
Eutropius, who had been secretary to Constantine, and had shared in 
Julian's expedition to Persia, wrote, for the use of the emperor Valens, 
an epitome of the Roman history, from Romulus to the death of Jovian. 
His work was continued by the Lombard historian, Paulus Diaconus. 
A similar epitome, embracing the same period, was addressed to Valen- 
tinian by Festus Rufus. Under the name of Aurelius Victor, the eon 
teinpoi-ary of Ainmianus. we possess two short pieces; the one, De 
Cccsaribus, containing brief notices of the emperors, from Augustus to 
Juliau ; the other, the Epitume, similar notices of all, from Augustus to 
Theodosius. The History of Orosius, a Christian presbyter, extends 
from the Creatioi to Wallia, the Visigoth king, (above p. 422.) 

The Panegyrises, Mamertinus, Eumenius, Nazarms, pronounced lau 
datory discourses before the emperors Maximian, Constantine, and Con 
etantius. Mamertinus the younger delivered the eulogium of Julian 
Ausonius, that of Gratian and Pacatus, and that of Tlieodosius. These 
laudatory effusions contain many facts of which we find no account 
elsewhere. It is to be observed that their authors were all born and 
brought up in Gaul. The modern French have retained the custom 
of pronouncing ^ioo'e^. 

The Ecclesiastical historians also furnish many events to civil histo- 
ry. Eusebius wrote a life of Constantine. The history of Socrates 
extends from the conversion of that emperor to the 17th consulate of 
Tlieodosius H.; that of Sozomen, from the same event to the death 
of Honorius; that of Theodoret, from the rise of Arianism to Tlieodo- 
sius II., with whose reign the history of Evagrius commences, and 
extends into the sixth century. The history of the Arian Philostor- 
gius, of which only fragments remain, extended from the rise of 
Arianism to the reign of Valentinian III. 

The Chronologists, Eusebius Cassiodorus, Jerome, Idatius, and oth' 
ers, supply occasional historic facts ; so also do the writings of the 
contemporary Fathers, Ambrose, Jerome, etc. In like manner, the 
poets Claudian, Sidonius ApoUinaris, and Prudentius, and the sophists, 
such as Libanius, are at times historic authorities. 

For the affairs of the Goths, tlieir national historian Jornandes ia 
often our best guide. 

On looking over this list of authorities, it will be seen that the im- 
portaut reigns of Trajan and Diocletian are those for which we have 
tlie least materials: for the former, we have only the Panegyric of 
Pliny, Xiphilin's epitome of Dion, and the Epitomators; for the latter, 
onW tliese last. 



438 APPENDIX. 

C. Page 14. — The German Tribes. 

5 i The following trans-Rhenic German tribes and nations are men 

J! I "loned in the preceding History. The seats assigned them arc eithei 

j| p tliose where tney were first found, or where they subsequently settled. 

■} Frisians. In West Friesland, Groningen, and north part of Over- 

f Yssel. 

I Chnucans. Along the coast, from the Ems to the Elbe in East 
Friesland, Oldenburg, and Bremen. 

iMiigobards, (j. e. Longbeards.) West of the Elbe in Luneburg 

j and Alt-Mark. 

Jiuiriiins. On the Oder, in Pomerania. 

j BuTgundians. Original seats between the Oder and the Vistula, in 

" the Netz district. 

|( Vandals. North side of the RicsengebUrg and Lausitz. 

[j Heruluns. Upper Hungary. 

1< BruUerans. To the south of the Frisians, between the Saal and the 

\ Ems. 

S Sicavtbriuns. Along the Rhine, from Emmerich to the Sieg; east- 

< wards to the Bructerans; part ot Cleves and adjoining states. 

\ Jingritaiiaiis. South of the Chauoans, along the Ems. 

j Clmmaraiis. From the south of the Angrivarians to the Lippe. 

4 Usiprtans. South of the Lippe. 

jj Teiiclerans. Soutli of the Usipetans; on the Rhine, about Cologne 

i and Bonn. 

J Cheruscans. In and on both sides of the Hartz forest. 

5 Chattans. South of the Clieruscans, in Hesse, Fulda, Nassau, and 
i parts of Franconia and Weatphalia. 

I jilemuns, (>. e. All-men.) Along the Rliine, from the Main to the 

■I Neckar. 

i Su'viuns. Under this general name are included the Quadans, 

I Maroonians, and other nations. The proper Suevians seem to bavo 

[ inhabited the modern Siiabia. 

f .V«/'Ow«w.v, (i. e. Marcli-men, or Borderers.) In Bohemia, and 

i Houlh wards. 

' l^uaduns. Alan;j the Danube, train the Gran into Austria and Mo- 



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